I took the CC Exam today, and while I thought I was highly prepared, the questions did not reflect the online training provided to prepare. When I enquired about the gap in my knowledge, it was explained that the exam consists of experiential questions and that studying alone is not adequate. This didn't make sense to me if the CC cert is meant to be a foundational certification. I was offered to come here and check out the study group. I don't feel comfortable attempting a retake if there is no resource from which to prepare. Does anyone have any input they would like to provide? Thank you.
(ISC)2 is not allowed to teach the exam, so you should expect questions that fit into the course outline that were not included in any trainings from the organisation.
As to experimental questions, all (ISC)2 exam used to have non-scorable questions (questions that did not count towards or against your final score) but let's ask the experts to explain that.
I think the folks in exam development are best suited to answer your question.
I am going to add to what dcontesti said because too many do NOT understand how professional certifications work.
Due to how the ANSI/ISO/IEC 17024 certification works, which is a certification for professional certifications like the CC, CISSP, etc, there are several things that professional certifications must meet. So this is NOT something unique to ISC2, but is also true for groups like ISACA, SANS/GIAC, CompTIA, EC-Council, etc etc etc.
ONE is that you are NOT to "teach to the test". You are to teach against a "body of knowledge" (a BOK or CBK). And you test against this BOK, not the training.
There is to be a separation between the training and the testing. Due to this, separate groups will develop the questions for use in training and the questions for use in the test. So you should NOT see identical test questions. Do NOT make the mistake of assuming the questions used in training are old questions from the test or the like.
This is why people need to stop nonsense like asking for "test dumps" to study. You need to learn what is in the BOK/CBK as that is what you are being tested against. Sample quizzes are to help you understand what is the style of the questions in the exam. Not duplicates of the exam questions.
Thank you, @emb021 - yes, you've got it exactly right as far as how our exams are developed separately from how our training is built, and you've nailed the reason as well!
Sorry I must have missed your reply.
BoK is Body of Knowledge and CBK is Common Body of Knowledge.
I suggest that you contact exam development for the corporate answer to your question.
@RSM said "Additionally, I'm not familiar with BOK/CBK."
Well, I did say this in my posting when I said "body of knowledge".
They used to publish the CBK for the CISSP. They DO still publish the CCSP CBK, now in its 4th edition. And they published CBKs for their other certs. Just look on Amazon.
Others do the same. PMI has their PMBOK for project management, now in its 7th edition, and many other orgs publish body of knowledge. Again, just look on Amazon.