How did you crack your CISSP exam

[SMallick]

Hi CISSPs, 

Can you please share how did you crack you CISSP Exam? what was the preparation? what challenges you faces? 

I think Your experiences is also the part of another important material. Specially expect your Tips (Preparation-Exam).

Thanks

[swh5a01]

Hi, this is Sam here.

Hm.....That's the good question. For me, I passed the exam in 14th Dec, 2021 and finished endorsement today.

I had prepared it for three years and I had some experience to share with you and hope you could go for a more strict way.

First, I think you should choose one major book for your reference. OSG and AIO were good materials but just choose one. Believe me, it would definitely distract you if you got both of it since the presentation method are different. Just request for the sample chapter and check which would better for you.

Then, you could find some video tutorials for knowing the concepts. Thor, Kelly or ISC2 official course would be the good choice for you. Again, find their videos on YouTube that explain the concepts and pick the one you most convenient (Besides the ISC2 official one, they had no free resources but it presents in the good way).

After that, it would the long journey for your study and you would feel stressed and depressed during the study and you would think it totally the crap.

And try to write your notes and remember you do not need to write it in perfect at once. It would revolute time-to-time by you got the knowledge. I had 6 version of my notes and remember to gather your notes into something you can know the whole syllabus in a week which could help on revision before the exam.

This is some suggestions on your study and this exam really really need you work really hard but it definitely worth.

By SAM CHAN 

[wfriedlein]

I took the exam prep course at global knowledge and then used the course manuals as study guides.  The guides were broken down by domain and I then went though each domain and created my own notes trying to pull out the key knowledge in each section.  I then studied the class materials and my own notes for two weeks prior to taking the test.  

[GerryS]

My experience was a week long boot camp of 12+ hour days followed by taking the exam on that Saturday afternoon.

Luckily I had been working in the industry for many years prior and had a good base knowledge to build off of.

It was difficult but worth it.

[SMallick]

Thank You very much SAM CHAN.

[SMallick]

ok...
helpful, i started with OSG.
Thanks a lot ?

[swh5a01]

You're welcome. Just ping me when you need more study tips. I had spent almost 3 years for CISSP and I believe I could help a little bit on your journey.

[ericgeater]

The first year was all books, self-study and lots of practice exams.  I took a six day boot camp and took the exam four hours after my last class. 

Books, in order:

• CISSP for Dummies
• Adam Gordon's 4E CBK
• Wiley's Official Guide 8E (Chapple)

Regarding ...for Dummies, as kindly as I can say it, don't bother.  The 4E CBK made it painfully clear how vacant it was.  The CBK was a hard slog in itself, because of the sheer amount of material.  Everything fell into a more systemic context with Chapple's 8E book.  Still, there were some elements which were abstracted out, so I took the boot camp as a finisher.

I had one other thing at my advantage, though: I flew to a different city for the boot camp and exam.  All distractions were removed, so I could solely focus on the outcome.

[Mojegwo]

😀..what a way to start with the community. 

Well...working for more than 15years in areas of Information Technology, I realized after a week of course training that reading the current official study guide (2021) captured my interest as it revealed many blind spots for knowledge update, and so at a point my focus was no longer on the exam but reading and enjoying all that the book said. I must say that I love the content of that book and it general overview of all the domains. And so I ended up moving the exam to a later date to enable me continue reading and to eventually finish the 1175 pages along with all the review questions in each of the 21 chapters. I am happy that I did that as it gave me a general overview and an updated understanding of all the domains and subtopics. This I think especially came handy as the exam itself tested a broad understanding of all the domains. I have thus not only pass the exams but have deepened my knowledge in all areas and will recommend the same approach to anyone wishing to crack the CISSP exam.😊