CISSPs: How did you prepare for the CCSP exam?

[ckazle]

As a CISSP who studied for and passed the CCSP exam, how did you prepare?  What did you find valuable?  Did you learn through self-study, if so, what books did you buy?  Did you attend an official training course, if so, which one?  What was your study plan?  What's your secret for success?  We want to hear from you! 

[Dakotad]

Try crafting a security questionnaire around SAAS, PAAS and IAAS that will get you thinking.  You will be turning over stones and finding new things to ask every time.  Also, discover what CASB's can do and then the juices will really start flowing.  Like many of the other posters I also turned to the Sybex book for reference.

[Gunner]

This post was extremely helpful.  I've already DL the resources.  Thank you for your post!

[bamisanu]

Please how do I get practice questions. I am planning on doing CAP. I have done it twice now and my scores have been 559 and 661 respectively.. Please advice. Thanks

[CEMyers]

I have not taken CCSP, but CISSP.  There are many practice sites on the web and your first port of call is the advice provided by the ISC2 website itself. The exam questions are not shared in order to keep them safe from abuse.  Most exam sites are "questions in the form of ....".  As a tool to practice exam technique, they have value, but the best preparation is to know the syllabus and the course material in my opinion ... and to have the experience to apply what you have learned.

[cknieriem]

In my experience and please note that I took the CCSP about one year age there were very little practice questions other than the material supplied from The Training Camp.  In the past I have always used Transcender practice tests for CISSP, MCSE, CISCO, etc. but Transcender did not offer any practice tests for CCSP.

[beyer]

It's a little dated, but this helped me:

https://www.amazon.com/CISSP-Practice-Questions-Answers-Explanations/dp/111810594X/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF...

I found there were two things you needed to pass the test:

1. Command of a lot of facts about security that you have memorized

2. The ability to use those facts reason out a question that is comprehension based

When it comes to memorizing facts, I find the sort of simple practice questions in this book very valuable.  I use them as a form of flashcard.  When it come to using the facts to answer questions on the tests -- or solve problems in real life, it's comprehension of the facts that count.

I spent my preparation time 75-25 with 75% of the time spent reading and 25% of the time doing practice tests to help me with memorization.   Other folks use mind-maps, practice tests work for me.

Don't expect the practice tests to look like the real test -- no legitimate ones do, but just use them to help you memorize the facts.

[CloudNoob]

What other studying sources can you recommend? Congrats on passing the test. 

[CloudNoob]

Jalberts - interested in getting those books off your shelf? Thanks

[debinfosec]

I also studied the Cloud Alliance's STAR matrix

Cloud Controls Matrix (CCM) 

https://cloudsecurityalliance.org/research/ccm/

The CCSP All-In-One study guide is good if you don't understand something.

[DaveTheITGuy]

I just passed my CISSP on Nov 27th. I used the 11th Hr Study Guide (third gen) and the CISSP for Dummies book (most recent revision) and watched the video series from Cybrary.it (which is free and VERY good). Of course, there is no substitute for just having good hands on experience as well. Between these 4 things, I passed on my first try, in exactly 3 hours, 12 minutes (not the new adaptive test, the now "old" 6 hour 250 question test.