cancel
Showing results for 
Show  only  | Search instead for 
Did you mean: 
cancel
Showing results for 
Show  only  | Search instead for 
Did you mean: 
darie17
Newcomer II

Passed the CCSP exam - my recommendations

Dear community,

 

I joined this forum a couple of weeks ago, while I was preparing for my CCSP exam - which I had today and passed 🙂 I would like to sum up my personal recommendations for having good chances of passing the exam. Please do not take these notes as a general "recipe", it's just how it worked out for me.

 

Reading this post very thoroughly detailed by Radioteacher (who also recently passed the CCSP exam) - btw, congratulations from my side also! - I got a bit scared that maybe I am not doing enough for my preparation. The thing is: it very much depends on your previous experience and if you already have other credentials, like CISSP (or aquivalent). And more training is never bad, it's just a matter of perspective. In the end, what matters is if you go with a "clean mind" to the exam, meaning you feel you have done enough to prepare.

 

Long story short: I used the following materials to LEARN:

 

  1. The Official (ISC)2 Guide to the CCSP CBK (2nd Edition)
  2. CCSP (ISC)2 Certified Cloud Security Professional Official Study Guide (1st Edition)

And to PRACTICE I used:

 

  • the review questions at the end of each chapter in the CBK and Official Study Guide
  • the online practice exams provided by Sybex to those who buy the Official Study Guide

I did not participate in any classroom training and did not use any other resources for learning or practicing. But I must mention that I earned my CISSP credential last year in december, which helped a lot during learning and in the end at the exam. And I have approximately 6 years of experience in the IT Security field.

 

My recommendation: do NOT rely solely on the Official Study Guide, it simply does not cover all topics as thoroughly as the CBK does. Read the CBK at least 2 times to make sure you did not miss any important concepts.

 

Both books are, in my opinion, well written (like a story), with enough examples from the real world, so I would definitely recommend them both.

 

How much time I invested? Hard to say (I lost track...), but I started at the beginning of September 2017 and learned every week approximately 6-8 hours, starting with November a lot more (maybe 20 hours a week?) + a bit more in the last week prior to the exam. So I would assume I spent somewhere around 150 hours of study to pass the CCSP exam.

 

Is the exam time of 4 hours enough? Yes, in my opinion it is more than enough to cover the exam, 1-2 short breaks and a bit of buffer in the end.

 

I hope this information helps you in getting prepared for your CCSP exam. Wish you all the luck! Let me know if you have questions which you think I might be able to answer (except of those related to the real exam questions, which I will not disclose...).

 

Cheers,

-darie17

65 Replies
darie17
Newcomer II

Yes, you can go back as many times as you need. Moreover, you can flag/ bookmark questions, so that at the end (before submitting) you can jump directly to those bookmarked (I used this feature to go back to questions I already answered, but for which I was still unsure about my choice).
n0rg
Newcomer I

Yes, unlike the new CISSP, you could treat it like a "normal" exam. /Roy



Wisdom is knowing what to do next; skill is knowing how to do it, and virtue
is doing it. - David Starr Jordan
ISC2_Ambassador
Newcomer I

Hi, thanks for the postcode. 

Could you please advise your experience in the industry?

 

Thanks, 
Faisal


@darie17 wrote:

Dear community,

 

I joined this forum a couple of weeks ago, while I was preparing for my CCSP exam - which I had today and passed 🙂 I would like to sum up my personal recommendations for having good chances of passing the exam. Please do not take these notes as a general "recipe", it's just how it worked out for me.

 

Reading this post very thoroughly detailed by Radioteacher (who also recently passed the CCSP exam) - btw, congratulations from my side also! - I got a bit scared that maybe I am not doing enough for my preparation. The thing is: it very much depends on your previous experience and if you already have other credentials, like CISSP (or aquivalent). And more training is never bad, it's just a matter of perspective. In the end, what matters is if you go with a "clean mind" to the exam, meaning you feel you have done enough to prepare.

 

Long story short: I used the following materials to LEARN:

 

  1. The Official (ISC)2 Guide to the CCSP CBK (2nd Edition)
  2. CCSP (ISC)2 Certified Cloud Security Professional Official Study Guide (1st Edition)

And to PRACTICE I used:

 

  • the review questions at the end of each chapter in the CBK and Official Study Guide
  • the online practice exams provided by Sybex to those who buy the Official Study Guide

I did not participate in any classroom training and did not use any other resources for learning or practicing. But I must mention that I earned my CISSP credential last year in december, which helped a lot during learning and in the end at the exam. And I have approximately 6 years of experience in the IT Security field.

 

My recommendation: do NOT rely solely on the Official Study Guide, it simply does not cover all topics as thoroughly as the CBK does. Read the CBK at least 2 times to make sure you did not miss any important concepts.

 

Both books are, in my opinion, well written (like a story), with enough examples from the real world, so I would definitely recommend them both.

 

How much time I invested? Hard to say (I lost track...), but I started at the beginning of September 2017 and learned every week approximately 6-8 hours, starting with November a lot more (maybe 20 hours a week?) + a bit more in the last week prior to the exam. So I would assume I spent somewhere around 150 hours of study to pass the CCSP exam.

 

Is the exam time of 4 hours enough? Yes, in my opinion it is more than enough to cover the exam, 1-2 short breaks and a bit of buffer in the end.

 

I hope this information helps you in getting prepared for your CCSP exam. Wish you all the luck! Let me know if you have questions which you think I might be able to answer (except of those related to the real exam questions, which I will not disclose...).

 

Cheers,

-darie17


 

sdewal
Newcomer II

Hi Community

 

Passed my CCSP this morning. What an exam. I read both books, the official guide and the CBK. My previous experience helped me a lot though. In my opinion the CBK isn't a book. It's just a bunch of papers with useful information. The book looses the context without notice which makes it seriously boring. Result; you lose the interest quite early. The official book is a story well written. People say the CBK covers all, I say the official book covers everything in pretty good detail. However a few things are only in CBK. So I read the official book only once and that was an enlightenment. I read CBK twice because I read so many forums and they all talk about CBK, not sure why. In the hind side I wouldn't even touch the CBK. 

 

There are so many things in the exam which are just mentioned the CBK, explained in the official guide to certain extent but you still need to do your research.

 

I also used the official prac tests. They helped me in understanding the topics but the negative side is they only cover the CBK. There was nothing which needed extra research. Secondly when you do a lot of prac tests your brain starts to fill the blanks and you don't think. There is a lot of repetition of questions in the prac tests. But they help.

 

I took 3 hours straight and finished. Exam tests your understanding of concepts and relevance with the field problems. Feeling pretty happy now. Will start my CISSP from next month.

 

It is a good thing that there are no dumps or other things available for this test. I am feeling that i have really achieved something.

 

 

Cheers

AlecTrevelyan
Community Champion

Congratulations and welcome to the club!

 

sdewal
Newcomer II

Thanks Alec
sdewal
Newcomer II

Hi Mo

 

Any updates on your CISSP journey? I am starting my now. Any tips in terms of books and other study materials?

 

Thanks

Shail

switzer
Newcomer I

Buy the book with 1000 questions study the CBK and read widely

Sent from my iPhone
sdewal
Newcomer II

Thanks mate


Siddiqui786
Viewer II

HI, Congrats.

 

any sequence that you recommend in both books or just go though the flow ..