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.