CC exam was strange.

[Byronvaz47]

Today i took my CC exam i was excited because i knew i had studied i knew i was ready i had learned all the Terminology that was taught on the 5 chapters. i took practice exam after practice exam and was passing with an average 85% went and reran through the modules again. welp i failed. maybe 10-14 questions were actually about what i studied so hard for and 100 questions in 2hrs is not enough time in the end i had to rush through the test because i had no time to think about the questions. So when all said and done i was thinking to myself about how i will take it again but thats when i stopped and notice well i cant even use the modules and chapters in the self paced course because the questions almost had nothing to do with what i learned. So now im taking a google cybersecurity certificate course. I was set up for failure and the practice exams dont even matter cuz not 1 question was even close to the style or format as the practice questions.

[Early_Adopter]

Sorry that you failed, and good luck with the Google course(IBM also has a course jointly developed with ISC2)that we believe is also free currently.

ISC2 definitely didn’t intentionally set you up for failure, despite how it might feel. They lose money on every exam that’s taken but not passed(everyone likes a 50 USD PUPY income stream from more new members). The marketing about not needing experience etc I think sets a false expectation on behalf of some candidates especially those without the benefit of a year or two in IT.

It’s very likely that ISC2s question approach and style doesn’t work as well for beginners as it’s asking questions about skills and scenarios rather than using simulations etc. in addition it’s a first rev of the course as well so it might improve with feedback.

I notice that folk worried about the exam tent to spend(in my opinion too much time on practice test questions “hundreds or even thousands” and I feel the time would be much better spent day learning the CISSP CBK via the All in One study guide - it’s a lot of knowledge that changes only slowly and if you understand and master it you’d have no issues with the CC. For practice questions quality over quantity every time.

Good luck with your next steps.

[rick0603]

I completely agree with you. I failed the first time as well. I am do to take it again 3/23. I found a good source on youtube. The channel by Prabh Nair is very good because the questions are similar to the exam questions. He also explains the reason for the answer. Hope this helps.

[Leandave]

Hey big guy, sorry you had a bad experience but you must remember the real exam and practice exams are not going to be verbatim.  The material in the learning modules IS in the exam its just a matter of logically thinking through the questions and searching for the best answer.  If you're looking for a "These questions will be on the exam as they are" you won't find that.  You must seek to understand the context of the material not rote memorization of material.

Other avenues to help in your pursuit of the CC are youtube videos of material and Q&A videos, i recommend https://www.youtube.com/@PrabhNair1 which is what i watched in addition to training videos.  i just used 1.5 days of study time and passed.  Now that i'm thinking about it ALSO https://skillsbuild.org/students/course-catalog/cloud-computing cloud computing fundamentals had a lot of good material that was on the exam, so this is another free resource to learn and understand.

Remember, don't seek to memorize, seek to understand.  
Good luck and you got this

[wmheid]

Did you use the ISC2 materials for this exam?  That's what I used.  

From the time that I signed in until the time I signed out after achieving a passing score was 35 minutes. 

Since the ISC materials are currently free, I would recommend going through them.  I'm not a big fan of Youtube, so I never use some of the other things suggested below.  There is a course on LinkedIn Learning by Mike Chapple that may help, but understand the subscription costs $30 a month.

As someone said in another reply, you need to learn the concepts, not memorize answers.  

Good luck getting ready for the next round of testing.

[cgoyard]

Sorry for you. I had the same feeling. Some questions seemed a bit off or tricky.

But on the overall, the exam is not so much about hard knowledge, but on what's the best answer. A few questions looked like all options were wrong or equally correct. For these, you have to reflect a bit from a business perspective, not a tech perspective.

[gpbak359]

Friend, I just took the CC exam today and even though I was successful, it’s only because I have experience in information security and other certs. I completely agree with you - so many of the questions on the test are not at all covered in ISC2’a own self preparation materials. or the other book I used which is quite good and also quite reputable. I don’t expect the exam to be the same as the book but so many maybe ½ or more of the questions were like from another book. 😂 the test was more tough than any of the exam prep tests including ISC2’s own.

[Albion]

I'm taking the CC self-paced classes right now. I'm currently in Domain 4 network security. I've noticed a strangeness about the questions there as well. Most of the questions that I get wrong are not about the subject of the slide/video but instead about the content. For example, I just finished up with redundancy. When I saw the slide I immediately thought about my dual routers and high availability. I skimmed the slide because honestly, I've been managing a network for nearly 30 years and understand redundancy. The question ends up being about transfer-switches and transformers. I remember thinking to myself, I sure hope I don't have to be a licensed electrician to get this CC. 🙂  I agree with another commenter here, Coffee with Prabh.

Good luck!!

[RSM]

I just had that same experience and yea, I don't plan on paying if there is no resource I can use to study. Apparently, the modules leave a gap in your knowledge. I was doing this in addition to Google Cybersecurity.

[Morisn]

So, it is true what I've been seen in comments out there that the actual exam is not similar to the practice ones they give you during the course. I have to admit that I zoomed through the course because with so much going on in my personal situation I was running out of time to take the course for free and feared I would not be doing the CC exam if I let it expire. But when I did the pre-assessment and passed with a decent score I was feeling good about myself and actually took the course and basically zoomed through it. Just for context, I decided to dive deeper into cybersecurity late last year after I was laid off from my IT managerial job and make a career change to a more technical role, a sort of going back to my technical roots kind of thing. So I wasn't new but there was a lot to catch up on and learn. Lots. So, the course was pretty good, I didn't dig deep into any subject just browsed the chapters, did the tests and the final one was also a pretty good experience. Over 90%. I found it a little too easy and similar to the pre-assessment test. And through this process I was giving pats on my back for perhaps not realizing that I knew more than what I was giving myself credit for. Well, sort of. Then, I decided to do one of those publicly available tests and find that some questions were a little more intricate. Like they now wanted me to know things in more depth and answer in less time than what I felt comfortable with. So, I also thought that I was being misled by ISC2 by presenting me a self assessment of my knowledge that was not on par with the requirements of the certification. I honestly thought it was pretty sneaky. Anyway, I was going to schedule it for the next few weeks because I still have that little sore point that I can't tick a certification off my job applications, even though I think I can deliver. But, that's how things are. Anyway, just sharing and now wondering if I have to take a closer look at those notes?