Passed CCSP Exam - My Experience

[Masahiro]

I (provisionally) passed the CCSP exam today. Good luck to the next one!

Related Certifications

• Dec-2019: Certificated as CISSP (attended official training）
• Dec-2019: Certificated as CCSK by CSA (attended official training）

Relevant Work Experience

• Developed security guidelines for AWS, Azure and GCP users based on CIS Benchmarks
• Developed security guidelines for users of cloud services based on CIS Controls and ISO/IEC 27017
• Support for CASB demonstration experiments
• Support for defining digital workplace requirements (zero-trust security)

Motivation for taking CCSP exam

• To provide an opportunity to relearn cloud security experience in a systematic and comprehensive way
• To be a pioneer since there is probably no one in our company who has taken CCSP

Study period and time

• Period: July 4, 2021 - October 5, 2021
• Daily time: 1 to 2 hours/day
• Total time: about 140 hours

Materials used

1. CCSP Official Practice Tests Online Test Bank (Chapter 1 - 6)
2. Textbook of CCSK Plus (CCSK official training)
3. CSA Guidance V4.0
4. CCSP For Dummies with Online Practice (Kindle version)

Collaborators

1. Japan Chapter's Cloud Security Study WG members
2. Several people who replied to my questions in (ISC)2 Community
3. Experts in my company

Study procedure

1. Each day, I solved 20 questions of the material #1
2. First, I focused on extracting questions that I got wrong, and ones that I got right but wasn't confident about (setting flags).
3. Next, I re-solved the questions I got wrong, flagged the questions I got right but wasn't sure about, and repeated until I got all the questions right.
4. Then, as I solved the flagged questions, I removed the flags from the questions that I got wrong and the ones that I answered correctly and with confidence.
5. Finally, I repeated steps 3 and 4 until I answered all the questions correctly and the flags were removed.

Mindset

1. When I am in a questions-setting situation in the consulting field, I ask myself if I can accurately give correct advice to my client with reasons.
2. First of all, try to clear my doubts by using the materials and the Internet.
3. If I still have questions, ask them first to the WG, then to the experts or to (ISC)2 Community, and leave no question unclear.

Thoughts on the exam

1. I left about 40 minutes after finishing the exam and felt it was easy to finish the exam in 180 minutes.
2. There were many unfamiliar words and questions that I had never seen before, but I think I was able to cope with them because I had a deep understanding of each question in CCSP Official Practice Tests.
3. I was a little worried that I had not read through CCSP reference books such as the material #4, but it was not a problem.
4. As expected, I feel that I was able to organize, cover, and strengthen my knowledge of cloud security.

[ccboy981]

Glad to hear it. Congrats!

[Divyesh]

Hi,

Its really great to hear that, my exam is also scheduled in upcoming days, so just wanted to go through some practice test, so can you please share the link by which you accessed CSP Official Practice Tests Online Test Bank and other practice test prior attempting exam..it will be really helpful for me. thanks. 

[francisbandi]

Congratulation.
I did my AWS SA in 2019. and Azure 900 at the same time. I did also MicroMaster on the cloud with MARYLAND. Now I planning to take CCSP in the 1st week of March.
I have been studying 2hrs per day. Looks so far great. Any Tips. Someone says refer to the NIST docs also.

[RogerSwanson]

Awesome, congrats.  Can you share your study plan and materials that most helped you get the job done!

Thanks,

R

[RogerSwanson]

sorry to hear you didn't pass - what can I do to help?

I am asking anyone who is interested to jump into a study group, daily unstuck and weekly check-ins...lmk if you are interested.

Please connect to me https://www.linkedin.com/in/rogerswanson/

I am using the following resources:

- Michael Chapell LinkedIn course also using the following books:

- ISC2 CBK CCSP

- ISC2 CCSP Study Guide 

- LearnZApp for CCSP practice test questions - ISC2 Official Study App

Here is what I am thinking:

1. Daily "get unstuck" - we would ask everyone who is actively studying to make a short post of what they are working on and if they are in an area that has them stuck

2. Weekly check-in on what you are studying, post if you are not able to take time on zoom call

3. Weekly Meetup - - I have a zoom account where we can have up to 100 join in to share ideas, only one person can speak at a time but it would be great to meet and encourage one another.  We need to sort out what is the best time to have the zoom meeting

[gdunphy]

Thank you Gerardo for sharing your experience. Your efforts are helping me as I now prepare to write the CCSP. Congratulations on your new achievement.
Gerard Dunphy

[gdunphy]

Thank you Masahiro for sharing your experience. Your efforts are helping folks like me as I now prepare to write the CCSP. Congratulations on your new achievement.
Gerard Dunphy

[Kkrish]

Hi, Firstly congratulation, I am curious as where you found the Textbook of CCSK Plus  please ? 

[Shannon]

Thanks for your informative feedback @Masahiro --- I'm planning to take a shot at the CCSP shortly, after which I'll provide some info here as well. Cheers...

[bughunter449]

I appeared for exam today, but did not clear it. I was unaware that we cannot go back to the previous questions and neither we have a review option at the end to review our answers.

When you appear for exam please note that you answer the question at your best as you cannot come back.