Failed CISSP on 21DEC2020

rburg350 — Tue, 22 Dec 2020 12:53:45 GMT

HELP!

This is the 2nd time that I have taken the CISSP exam and failed. I have been in the security field for over 15 years as a security analyst, Security Manager, and IT Security Director. I have been working in IT for over 30+ years. After the first failure I was below proficiency in 3 domains. I took on the attitude that I got knocked down but I am going to get right back up and try again. So this time I purchased the ISC2 online self study course with 100+ videos and went through them twice taking a tremendous amount of notes. I took the domain tests, and the domain exercises. I read the Sybex Official Study Guide 8th edition from front cover to back. I studied the official practice tests 2nd ED and scored 95-100% on all domains. I used the flash cards which came with the online course and knew them all. On my second attempt today I failed even worse than the first time. I cannot talk about the specific questions on the exam but I will say that the questions were so long and confusing it was disappointing. Nothing on OSI, nothing on protocols or the threats at the different levels, nothing on code of ethics, nothing on encryption, nothing on DR, nothing on backups, nothing on SLE & ARO, nothing on OWASP....I could go on. I think it is more about comprehension of the English language and being a good test taker. I have spent over $2K trying to pass this exam and many many hours of dedicated studying. I don't even know how to suggest a study method. This is a money making machine. Very disappointed.

Re: Failed CISSP on 21DEC2020

rburg350 — Tue, 22 Dec 2020 12:48:20 GMT

Re: Failed CISSP on 21DEC2020

rslade — Tue, 22 Dec 2020 18:43:18 GMT

> rburg350 (Viewer) edited a topic in Exams on 12-22-2020 07:47 AM in the (ISC)Â² Community :

> HELP! This is the 2nd time that I have taken the CISSP exam and failed.Â I
> have been in the security field for over 15 years as a security analyst,
> Security Manager, and IT Security Director. I have a MBA and graduated from
> MIT.Â I have been working in IT for over 30+ years.

OK, I have to admit that I find it really bizarre that someone with that level of
experience failed the exam. I've never encountered a similar situation, and I've
got to admit that my first thought is to wondere whether you've actually got 15
years expereince, or one year fifteen times over.

> I took on the attitude that
> I got knocked down but I am going to get right back up and try again.

Which is good ...

> So
> this time I purchased the ISC2 online self study course with 100+ videos and
> went through them twice taking a tremendous amount of notes. I took the
> domain tests, and the domain exercises. I read the Sybex Official Study
> Guide 8th edition from front cover to back. I studied the official
> practice tests 2nd ED and scored 95-100% on all domains. I used the flash
> cards which came with the online course and knew them all.

Which is not a guarantee, unfortunately. Read "Security Engineering," by Ross
Anderson. You don't even have to buy it:
http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~rja14/book.html

> I cannot talk about
> the specific questions on the exam but I will say that the questions were so
> long and confusing it was disappointing.

Yeah, the questions can be long, and you do have to work at understanding them.
It's the same as doing security.

> Nothing on OSI, nothing on
> protocols or the threats at the different levels, nothing on code of ethics,
> nothing on encryption, nothing on DR, nothing on backups, nothing on SLE &
> ARO, nothing on OWASP....I could go on.

Yeah, when I took the exam I got fixated on RADIUS, and figured I was going to
fail if I didn't know absolutely everything about the protocol. Of course, there
wasn't a single question on RADIUS on the exam I took ...

> I think it is more about
> comprehension of the English language and being a good test taker.

Yeah, you do have to work at understanding the questions. Check out:
https://community.isc2.org/t5/Exams/CISSP-questions/m-p/18626

> I have
> spent over $2K trying to pass this exam and many many hours of dedicated
> studying. I don't even know how to suggest a study method.

Yup, when I took the test I wasted $300 on absolutely the worst study guide ever
written. (It was*so* bad that, when I was doing seminars, I told people not to buy
it. One candidate said that he alsready had. I asked if he had read it, and he said
no. I said not to read it, just leave it in a cool dark place and avoid it until after
he'd passed the exam.) But the two things I've suggested should save you some
money ...

======================
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"Cybersecurity Lessons from CoVID-19" CRC Press 978-0-367-68269-9
============= for back issues:
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Re: Failed CISSP on 21DEC2020

rburg350 — Tue, 22 Dec 2020 23:29:45 GMT

Thanks for the advice.

Yes I do have 15 years of experience in IT Security not "one year fifteen times over."

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Failed CISSP on 21DEC2020

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