Opinion about exam, just finished !!

[Topshotta]

Good day everyone, hope all is well. I just completed my exam and wow it was challenging. To start off I read a lot of reviews saying to outsource to different material and I agree 100 percent. isc2 is no where near enough to help you pass this exam. Unfortunately, I failed as well. Just focusing on isc2 will set you up for failure in my opinion. The material in isc2 goes over the bare minimum or surface level and on the exam its more deep dive or advanced in my opinion. I don't like to talk bad but I feel they set us up to fail on this one. I studied my butt off with different material daily and I felt like I had to take a guess and hope I was right  on atleast a third of the exam. Some questions are worded weird to throw you off but other than that, this is not a friendly/beginner course in my opinion. My advice to anyone taking the test is to STUDY HARD AND OUTSOURCE!! Take multiple courses, read multiple books , etc. Don't rely just on isc2.  To be frank, I did do mike chappels CC study guide (which is amazing in my opinion) and a couple of other things but I guess it wasn't enough. The worst part about it was when I got my scores back they tell you what you were proficient in and what you aren't and it said I was below proficient in a majority of the categories which makes me feel like idk what I'm doing. But like i said I studied the isc2 material, Aced all their exams and what not so idk. Anyway thanks for reading, hope this helps someone. Going to figure out my next move. God Bless.

[kkw1985]

Thank you for the transparency!

[93]

I agree - you echo my words. I just wish I had read them sooner. I did the Try 2 option and now on a clock from today to study hard and other sources so I can pass this second time. 

[FatimahSOC]

I booked the exam in next month could you help me by sending the study plan for CC 

my email: fatimahsaleem94@gmail.com

[abhishekdaga]

Are these details given anywhere? 

I am due to appear for the exam on 19th. I was hoping for a cakewalk, but now, I am not so sure. It is quite surprising, the points mentioned by you. It would be very difficult for exam takers in such circumstances.

[Early_Adopter]

Just for clarity, the thought of the premise is preposterous, ISC2 is pushing CC as hard as it can so has a vested interest in enough candidates passing.

Nobody, least of all ISC2 set anyone up to fail CC.

1. It’s got a free course, exam and ISC2 only make that money back if you pay AMFs, do you have to pass.

2. It’s even got a digital book from ISC2 and there is a book being published.

3. If it needs a CBK in this decade, well so do the newly standalone ISSAP, ISSEP, ISSMP certifications and others that have not changed like CSSLP etc…

4.Personally from speaking to people who know their stuff in depth and Sat CC, I think the courseware might need to emphasise certain teaching points, and could do with better domain coverage but it’s a year old and it got pushed out and heavily marketed.

5. Lot’s of people are taking it who have no experience even in IT. This is new territory for ISC2 as most people sitting a cert previously would at least be working in IT.

6. Exam material/development process ISC2 is transparent where they get their material from, and what the exams are made of in terms of who writes them etc. in my experience (I’ve four ISC2 exams and passed them all, as well as IAPP, Microsoft, CompTIA, CSA, and a host of others) ISC2 in my experience are not the best at this(ISC2 can be very comprehension heavy, their instructor led review sessions are good, elevating tends to be horribly cheesy) but they are far from the worst.

So if you work hard do the course, get a book and revise what you don’t understand you should have a very good chance of passing.

Good luck!

[JoePete]

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@Early_Adopter wrote:
So if you work hard do the course, get a book and revise what you don’t understand you should have a very good chance of passing.

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A lot of this job is knowing how to dig for answers. This is one of the problems we are beginning to see in the industry (much the way we have seen it in the past): a lot of low-hanging credentials on a resume, but do they help differentiate - or obfuscate - the capabilities of the individual.  There may be shortcomings in the CC, but he information is out, and it pretty much costs nothing. If someone stumbles on that hurdle maybe it is a good qualifier to see whether you are cut out for this type of work.

[Early_Adopter]

@JoePete

Yes, totally agree. CC course where and curriculum might not fully cover everything in the exam. It’s a bit rushed and over-marketed plus once you get there there’s not that much employer side demand. I think systems approach to training should be fixing these - just look at stats folk fail on and beef the training up in that area - I do hear that perhaps it’s considered too thin/short by people I speak to. Hard to tell without going and sitting it myself. Of course that marketing is pulling in people who don’t have too much aptitude for the perceived great remuneration - sadly it’s going to disappoint a lot of people. Lastly there are a number of people who don’t have test centre coverage - so even if they wanted to it’s hard for them to get to take the exam. I think in some ways ISC2’s reach has very much exceeded its grasp and people start doing the work before checking the dependencies(which ISC2 of course hasn’t considered properly).

I guess this last to your point ends up being a filter on who really is cut out for cybersecurity, individual and organisation.

[fishmangr11]

I only wish to read your comment before... I just took the exams and failed hard! I didnt pass not even one domain of the five. I did take 6 times the post course quiz and pass it with very high scores (92%+), but the exam had nothing to do with the practice material they provide. So I will agree that you need to study different material from what is provided... The whole thing seems like a scheme to hook you on! It will be nice and way more straightforward if the company simply charge for the certificate and provide the correct material!

[Early_Adopter]

Sorry that you didn’t pass.

ISC2 can’t train the exam due to the methodology used, however they can take feedback and improve areas of course material that seem to be lacking. Folk I speak to with decent experience in IT/Security don’t have too many issues - but people with no prior,(except for certain people) do seem to struggle.

Did you feel there were whole concepts you didn’t cover in the official training or did it seem to be the depth of the training?

ISC2 won’t be trying to have people fail to ‘hook’ them with a scheme - it’s entry level so they almost certainly want people to pass(if you think about it very few people would elect to take a basic exam with a 50% candidate failure rate, plus if a lot of those candidates left after failing then ISC2’s 600k candidates, associates and members would be heavily reduced, and this would look bad for an organisation wanting to grow.

Taking a confirmation exam six times won’t help much as you’ll end up getting a bad reading of your readiness, get one good one and take it once to gauge your readiness.

ISC2 does have a 199 USD package for training and retakes when you feel ready to try again. Good luck!

[fishmangr11]

Dear Early Adopter, of course the experienced people in cybersecurity and IT will found easy the entry level exam....They are entry level exams after all.
Also having rate of success 50% must worrying your organization because is very low percentage... And in addition of the hundreds comments of the people saying that your materials are way off, must trouble your organization.
Please put some extra thought on your comment of me taking 6 times the prep test as not wise and I should take it only once...
And finally you proving my sayings of the organization being unethical and scheming with your sales pitch at the end.
Thank you.