topic Re: CISSP - How Many Questions Did You Actually See on the Exam? in Exams

CISSP - How Many Questions Did You Actually See on the Exam?

Mike1 — Mon, 09 Oct 2023 09:49:16 GMT

Hi All!

I'm wondering what the typical number of questions a test taker ACTUALLY sees when taking the exam. I'm confident people on these threads know they will see somewhere between 100 and 150 questions, but what's the typical number of questions most test takers have answer before seeing whether they've passed or failed? I've seen some people say they've passed in 100, I've seen some people say they saw all 150 questions and passed, and I've seen everything in between.

So what's the average number of test questions people actually see before their exam ends? This helps people understand how well they're doing during the exam. Is answering only 100 question unusual? How common is it to see 150? If your'e taking the exam, should you start getting concerned because you're at question 130 and you know most people pass by now, or should you feel OK since you know most people will see about that many questions?

For what it's worth, I passed the exam at 107 questions. I didn't know if I should be worried when I started answering questions in the 100+ range.

Re: CISSP - How Many Questions Did You Actually See on the Exam?

ddrake — Tue, 02 Mar 2021 12:55:47 GMT

The CISSP exam is a Computer Adaptive Test (CAT) that adjusts with the test taker along the way. As a candidate answers test questions correctly or incorrectly, it formulates whether to ask more or fewer questions within a domain to validate mastery of the concepts. If one proves mastery within a domain, the exam calculates proficiency for that domain. If all domains are scored proficient before the 150 question mark, the exam will end. Candidates are not required to have the same proficiency across all domains, but once the threshold is met for passing (700), the exam will end.

Candidates should not worry too much about approaching the 150 question mark, as there may only be a couple of domains the CAT is still calculating proficiency on. A candidate could test poorly in one domain but still pass the exam. There are a number of unscored questions on the exam that are evaluated statistically for quality and validity as part of the (ISC)2 continual improvement process. These items do not affect a candidate's score in any way. Including those unscored questions, the minimum amount of questions a candidate would see on an exam is 100, and the maximum would be 150.

Please feel free to ask for any further clarification.

Have a great day!

Re: CISSP - How Many Questions Did You Actually See on the Exam?

Jeff37 — Tue, 02 Mar 2021 17:50:41 GMT

Question on the 1 may changes for the test. Will there be new study materials available such as a new revision of the Official (ISC)² CISSP Practice Tests and Official (ISC)² CISSP Study Guide.

Re: CISSP - How Many Questions Did You Actually See on the Exam?

Oneil425 — Thu, 11 Mar 2021 03:57:40 GMT

@FaceTime wrote
Hi All!

I'm wondering what the typical number of questions a test taker ACTUALLY sees when taking the exam. I'm confident people on these threads know they will see somewhere between 100 and 150 questions, but what's the typical number of questions most test takers have answer before seeing whether they've passed or failed? I've seen some people say they've passed in 100, I've seen some people say they saw all 150 questions and passed, and I've seen everything in between.

So what's the average number of test questions people actually see before their exam ends? This helps people understand how well they're doing during the exam. Is answering only 100 question unusual? How common is it to see 150? If your'e taking the exam, should you start getting concerned because you're at question 130 and you know most people pass by now, or should you feel OK since you know most people will see about that many questions?

For what it's worth, I passed the exam at 107 questions. I didn't know if I should be worried when I started answering questions in the 100+ range.

100 question boundary and I was little bit relaxed that I am still in the race 🙂 But I crossed 110 question , 120 question , 130 questions and I was almost running out of time and it was keep on going but as earlier someone mentioned on reddit that keep calm and keep focusing on right answer and I was exactly following the same. But My exam went till 150 question and my time was exactly over at 150th question. I felt very nervous since exam got ended due to time and I was not sure if I passed or Failed. The exam is 3 hours long and I finished with exactly at 3 hours.

Re: CISSP - How Many Questions Did You Actually See on the Exam?

Mike1 — Wed, 10 Mar 2021 16:40:36 GMT

So how many questions does the typical test taker see?

Re: CISSP - How Many Questions Did You Actually See on the Exam?

Mike1 — Wed, 10 Mar 2021 16:41:11 GMT

Thanks!

Appreciate you contributing to my question!

Sincerely,
Mike

Re: CISSP - How Many Questions Did You Actually See on the Exam?

shubsens — Mon, 05 Apr 2021 22:35:07 GMT

I just passed today and I thought I was 100% positive I just answered question 94 and looked up at the time and it said 68 minutes and thought wow I better pick up the pace because I won't make 150, I clicked next and the screen changed to - You have completed the test.

Everyone is telling me that is impossible as it's a minimum of 100 questions. So either I am in a time warp and reached 100...............

This was my second attempt as I failed 2 years ago on about 120 questions and decided to take studying seriously this time.

Re: CISSP - How Many Questions Did You Actually See on the Exam?

abrahamtz — Mon, 19 Apr 2021 21:38:03 GMT

I just passed with 100 questions. Studied hard, though.

Re: CISSP - How Many Questions Did You Actually See on the Exam?

ToniHahn — Wed, 12 May 2021 19:21:44 GMT

@Jeff37

to answer your question about study materials

Question on the 1 may changes for the test. Will there be new study materials available such as a new revision of the Official (ISC)² CISSP Practice Tests and Official (ISC)² CISSP Study Guide.

Yes - all the materials have been updated

Re: CISSP - How Many Questions Did You Actually See on the Exam?

Kepa — Wed, 26 May 2021 06:31:48 GMT

Hello Mike,

Before the exam I was considering exactly what you mentioned, how many questions is good/bad to have in the CAT exam?

Clearly there is not a "perfect" answer, as far as you managed to pass the exam. Actually, my experience and from what I read in forums, once you finish it, you do not know if you passed it or not until you get your printed results.

The nearer you finish to 100 questions, the better or wrost you have done it depending if you passed it or failed it.

In my case, I took all the required time to complete the exam, and when I finished it, I still have 49 questions to the 150 and only 50minutes to go. But I was lucky and the exam just finished, at 101 questions... lucky me.

Kepa,

Re: CISSP - How Many Questions Did You Actually See on the Exam?

Metalbone — Tue, 01 Jun 2021 09:57:35 GMT

I passed on 150 questions with 8 mins left. I nearly panic right at the end as time is running out and I have a feeling the exam will go all the way to 150 questions.

Re: CISSP - How Many Questions Did You Actually See on the Exam?

Kepa — Tue, 01 Jun 2021 10:01:24 GMT

Hello,

Myself, I passed the exam after 101 questions, I took the required time for each question, 2h10min. So I had 50 minutes for the remaining 50 questions. A little tight on time, but luckily the system finished @101Q.

Re: CISSP - How Many Questions Did You Actually See on the Exam?

MP1985 — Tue, 06 Jul 2021 21:37:40 GMT

1st Time Go. Passed after 150 questions with 12 mins left. Not knowing if I passed or not until the paper sheet was handed to me was the worst. After the first three questions I knew I was not going to enjoy this test. After answering 100, 110, 120, 130, 140, 145, and ultimately 150, I just figured they must feel sorry for me and they are trying to get me to the 700 out of 1000. I do not know how "adaptive" this test really is, but I do know it is hard. I do know I had to read the results five+ times because I was sure I failed.

Good Luck to anyone taking this test.

Re: CISSP - How Many Questions Did You Actually See on the Exam?

Mike1 — Tue, 06 Jul 2021 21:51:01 GMT

Congratulations on passing!

Sent from the all new AOL app for iOS

Re: CISSP - How Many Questions Did You Actually See on the Exam?

mv202 — Tue, 06 Sep 2022 14:07:47 GMT

Hi,

Did the test always operate like this (adjusting with the test taker)? if not, when did this change go into affect?

Thanks,

Mike

Re: CISSP - How Many Questions Did You Actually See on the Exam?

JoePete — Tue, 06 Sep 2022 15:36:25 GMT

@mv202 wrote:
Did the test always operate like this (adjusting with the test taker)? if not, when did this change go into affect?

If I recall correctly, 2017, the adaptive test came about. It used to be (again IIRC) 200 questions and four hours on paper. I'm sure there was an interim step of it being computerized before it went to this format. If you hunt back through posts, I think you will find a fair amount of chatter about the computer adaptive test (CAT).

Re: CISSP - How Many Questions Did You Actually See on the Exam?

AndreaMoore — Tue, 06 Sep 2022 17:58:09 GMT

CAT Testing Blog post from 2017: https://blog.isc2.org/isc2_blog/2017/12/4-things-you-need-to-know-about-the-isc%C2%B2-cissp-cat-exam.html

Re: CISSP - How Many Questions Did You Actually See on the Exam?

Nuwancha — Mon, 08 Apr 2024 04:06:39 GMT

Hi, I faced 174 questions and even saw the 175th, then got the msg that time is over. This was yesterday.

Unfortunately, failed after facing 174 questions.

I was more comfortable when I passed 100 then 150, but it went to 175 😀.

So, be ready guys.

Re: CISSP - How Many Questions Did You Actually See on the Exam?

Rider — Sat, 23 Nov 2024 19:21:13 GMT

Nov, 2024. 102 total questions.

Re: CISSP - How Many Questions Did You Actually See on the Exam?

tmcdonald030 — Sun, 24 Nov 2024 01:15:35 GMT

So the test is like the "AI" Training i bought? It passes you before finishing all the questions? I just completed the 8 domains and planned to spend the holiday on practicing before taking the test. I assumed it be a set # of questions. Glad I came here!

I was kind of bothered that it kept telling me I passed a domain without seeing all the questions. It bothers me even more that I can't figure out how to reset all domains so I could do it again prior to taking the test. That was my plan at least.