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.

[Topshotta]

@JKWiniger took the words right out of my mouth! isc2 only teaches surface level you need a deep dive if you want to pass. Thank you

[csjohnng]

@Topshotta 

Sorry to hear.

I don't need this certification but for the sack of able to look at the difficulty of the exam, I took this exam 2 months ago.

I do not have any chance to review the material offered by ISC2 or any third party's one, I just walk into the examination straight, given my knowledge. background and experience, so I can't comment how helpful is the official training material (or other material) related to the CC exam, however, I can only speak for the exam on

a) how relevance are the questions asked? do they match the domain

b) the difficulty of the question for an entry level exam

c) is sufficient time given for this exam (100 questions)?

Coverage and Level of difficulty

I can say the exam questions are mostly (95%) appropriate and able to test and measure an entry level  capacity, just 2-3 questions maybe is a bit off (In my opinion) and I really need to take time to look at it and trying to understand the question and answer carefully and the rest is pretty easy and straight forward (the way they ask in compare to SSCP and CISSP)

Exam length/Time-wise

I completed the cc test with 35 mins (I schedule the exam at 08:30, I parked my car at 08:10, checkin at the reception counter at 8:20 and I return to my car before 9am), given I have spend more time in that 2-3 odd questions which I am not 100% sure the questions or the answers. And given you have 2 hours for the exam, I think it's more than sufficient. For a junior one, I think the candidate with the right skill (or understanding) should able to finish in 90-100 minutes (ie in less than 1 minute for each question)

[fsohrabi]

Hello there, I want to make it clear that I am not here to create any trouble or influence anyone's opinions, nor do I want to distract anyone from taking their test. I am also studying and preparing to take the test myself. However, I do have to express my concern about the high price of the CISSP exam, which is almost $600. I have taken other exams before, such as the MCSE and Microsoft Azure exams, and they were not as costly. If you fail those exams, it only costs $100 to $160 to retake them. But with the CISSP exam, the price is too steep, especially if you fail it more than once. Most people cannot afford to retake the exam, even with a free voucher. It would cost $600 each time, which can add up to a significant amount of money if you have to retake it multiple times. Therefore, I think the price of the CISSP exam should be reconsidered to make it more accessible to everyone.

[JKWiniger]

@Topshotta I mean back when I took the test it was pencil and paper with a 6 hour time limit. I finished in I thing 4. It was only given twice a year in certain locations. And then! You had to wait months to find out if you passed or failed! Thing are much easier now a days... I think I took the exam like 2000 or 2001... my ID is 31964 to show how long it was, I think the numbers are in the millions now.

I will try to say this within limits, but there was a question about a light pole and I was like what the hell, so yes you will see things you never expected...

John-

[fsohrabi]

Hello there, I want to make it clear that I am not here to create any trouble or influence anyone's opinions, nor do I want to distract anyone from taking their test. I am also studying and preparing to take the test myself. However, I do have to express my concern about the high price of the CISSP exam, which is almost $600. I have taken other exams before, such as the MCSE and Microsoft Azure exams, and they were not as costly. If you fail those exams, it only costs $100 to $160 to retake them. But with the CISSP exam, the price is too steep, especially if you fail it more than once. Most people cannot afford to retake the exam, even with a free voucher. It would cost $600 each time, which can add up to a significant amount of money if you have to retake it multiple times. Therefore, I think the price of the CISSP exam should be reconsidered to make it more accessible to everyone.

[JKWiniger]

@fsohrabi I can only speak for myself, but I feel arguments and challenges bring the best things about and make us think. While the exam price is more than others, believe it or not other are more! I have a friend who got the free retake, he missed both times. If he passed his work would pay for it, but not if he failed..

John-

[fsohrabi]

@JKWiniger. You are correct, your workplace will pay for the test only if you pass it. If you have to take the test 3 times and you fail the test 2 out of the 3 you are paying out of pocket.

[csjohnng]

@fsohrabi 

in replying, I think it's better to stick the context ( which is CC)

1) Exam Type CAT.

CC is not a CAT, CISSP is CAT. 

Also I take CISSP after it's CAT, back in 2018 which is 3 hours exam. Back in the old day, the 6 hours paper base is a torture which make me not to take and I wait for the shorten one when it's CAT. 

2) Unreasonable time

I have shared my opinion time given on the CC, which is more than sufficient. 

 I am not a native English speaker and I took 10 ISC2 exam/test in English and I passed all in the first attempt with fairly good amount of time left (mostly), except ISSEP which I got only a couple minutes left. If you found it's insufficient, then it's back to your knowledge and how you familiar with the domains being tested.

3) CC has 100 questions, even if there is experiential questions, they are not counted in the scoring. Also security is not a "static" one.

I don't think ISC2 is intentionally set-up for candidate for failure, but rather one's insufficient knowledge, experience is setting up their own failure for the exam/test in the first place.

[emb021]

@dcontesti wrote:

"The organisation has always had a policy of not teaching the exams and have built firewalls between the exam development and any trainings they may provide."

This is important that everyone understand this point:

THIS IS NOT A CHOICE FOR ISC2.   This is *required* to obtain ANSI/ISO/IEC 17024 certification.  And having ISC2 certs be 17024 certified is very important for having them be recognized by other orgs, like the US DOD.

An element of this certification is that professional certifications are based on a "body of knowledge", and that training is to this BOK and the certification is to the BOK.  HENCE, there HAS to be a separation between the people who develop the exam and exam questions and the people who develop the training and sample questions.

Hence the sample questions are NOT old exam questions or the like.  They are created by separate groups of people.

And so this is ALSO true of ISACA, SANS/GIAC (who actually have the training and the certifying as separate orgs), CompTIA, EC-Council, PMI, etc etc etc 

[emb021]

@fsohrabi write:

" However, I do have to express my concern about the high price of the CISSP exam, which is almost $600. I have taken other exams before, such as the MCSE and Microsoft Azure exams, and they were not as costly."

Uh, I wouldn't compare those to the CISSP.  

Take a look at the costs of ISACA or GIAC certs, or other professional associations like IAPP, PMI, etc.  They are around $500 or more.

I don't think the Azure exams are for certifications, but for certificates.  And there IS a difference between the two.