I decided to write about my experience, just to boost the morale of others and help those who take this exam.
After such an extensive battle over the last 12 months, postponing the dates twice knowing that I wasn't ready, I finally gave in to attempt the CISSP examination fully knowing that no matter how much I prepare myself it would never be enough knowledge gained for answering those dreaded 150 questions on the exam.
On reading similar blog post and other communities, there are a lot of individuals who claim that the exam ends at 100 or 110 or 120 questions and this is "the" sign of passing the exam, however while attempting the exam myself, going through those questions being thrown at me one after another the experience was exhausting and exhilarating at the same time. When I reached the 100 - 120 questions mark and the exam dint end I gave up all my hope of passing this exam, I choose to complete 150 questions any way to end the exam and all this while my mind kept spining on what I need to do next, rethinking my strategy of how to prepare better for the next attempt, after completing the question I was called to the reception & was given the print out that said "Congratulations! we are pleased to inform you that you have provisionally passed the CISSP Examination", which I had to read a couple of times just to believe I read it right and that I pulled it off.
For others who would now be attempting this exam, my advice is don't follow these blogs that state exam ends in 100, 110, 120 questions and don't loose heart until you complete all the 150 questions and see the results, learn the logic behind each control there are no questions that come from a question bank, myself attempting over 1000 questions saw none of them come on the exam. The material I used for study are provided below and I would recommend you do some practice question just to gauge your speed at answering them, an average of 1 minute per questions is good going and you normally should not need more then this as you will over think the answer, what worked for me as 50% of the questions came from topics not covered in my sources but just reading the question twice asking the logic behind the question and then removing answers which do not match the logic reducing it down to two or one to choose from.
Study Material:
CISSP Certification Training: Online Video Tutorials: by David R. Miller (57 hours)
CISSP (Certified Information Systems Security Professional): Online Video Tutorials: by Sari Greene (26 hours)
CISSP® Exam Cram, Fourth Edition: Michael Gregg
(ISC)2 CISSP 2018 - CBT Nuggets: (only IAM related video nuggets)
CISSP All-in-One Exam Guide, Eighth Edition, 8th Edition: by Fernando Maymi; Shon Harris
CISSP® Practice: 2,250 Questions, Answers, and Explanations for Passing the Test: by S. Rao Vallabhaneni
Brainscape Mobile app (100 free questions on iOS)
Pocketprep Mobile app (90 free questions on iOS)
Update: On the endorsement front, I did receive the mail within 24 hours of the exam, even though some other post show that people have not received it even after 3 / 4 weeks, I need to now start to complete my endorsements and find individuals in my network who are CISSP in good standing.
