CISSP - How Many Questions Did You Actually See on the Exam?

[Mike1]

Hi All!

I'm wondering what the typical number of questions a test taker ACTUALLY sees when taking the exam.  I'm confident people on these threads know they will see somewhere between 100 and 150 questions, but what's the typical number of questions most test takers have answer before seeing whether they've passed or failed?  I've seen some people say they've passed in 100, I've seen some people say they saw all 150 questions and passed, and I've seen everything in between.

So what's the average number of test questions people actually see before their exam ends?  This helps people understand how well they're doing during the exam.  Is answering only 100 question unusual?  How common is it to see 150?  If your'e taking the exam, should you start getting concerned because you're at question 130 and you know most people pass by now, or should you feel OK since you know most people will see about that many questions?

For what it's worth, I passed the exam at 107 questions.  I didn't know if I should be worried when I started answering questions in the 100+ range.

[ddrake]

The CISSP exam is a Computer Adaptive Test (CAT) that adjusts with the test taker along the way.  As a candidate answers test questions correctly or incorrectly, it formulates whether to ask more or fewer questions within a domain to validate mastery of the concepts.  If one proves mastery within a domain, the exam calculates proficiency for that domain.  If all domains are scored proficient before the 150 question mark, the exam will end.  Candidates are not required to have the same proficiency across all domains, but once the threshold is met for passing (700), the exam will end.

Candidates should not worry too much about approaching the 150 question mark, as there may only be a couple of domains the CAT is still calculating proficiency on.  A candidate could test poorly in one domain but still pass the exam.  There are a number of unscored questions on the exam that are evaluated statistically for quality and validity as part of the (ISC)2 continual improvement process.  These items do not affect a candidate's score in any way.  Including those unscored questions, the minimum amount of questions a candidate would see on an exam is 100, and the maximum would be 150.

Please feel free to ask for any further clarification.

Have a great day!

[Jeff37]

Question on the 1 may changes for the test.  Will there be new study materials available such as a new revision of the Official (ISC)² CISSP Practice Tests and Official (ISC)² CISSP Study Guide.

[Oneil425]

@FaceTime wrote

Hi All!

I'm wondering what the typical number of questions a test taker ACTUALLY sees when taking the exam.  I'm confident people on these threads know they will see somewhere between 100 and 150 questions, but what's the typical number of questions most test takers have answer before seeing whether they've passed or failed?  I've seen some people say they've passed in 100, I've seen some people say they saw all 150 questions and passed, and I've seen everything in between.

So what's the average number of test questions people actually see before their exam ends?  This helps people understand how well they're doing during the exam.  Is answering only 100 question unusual?  How common is it to see 150?  If your'e taking the exam, should you start getting concerned because you're at question 130 and you know most people pass by now, or should you feel OK since you know most people will see about that many questions?

For what it's worth, I passed the exam at 107 questions.  I didn't know if I should be worried when I started answering questions in the 100+ range.

---

100 question boundary and I was little bit relaxed that I am still in the race 🙂 But I crossed 110 question , 120 question , 130 questions and I was almost running out of time  and it was keep on going but as earlier someone mentioned on reddit that keep calm and keep focusing on right answer and I was exactly following the same.  But My exam went till 150 question and my time was exactly over at 150th question. I felt very nervous since exam got ended due to time and I was not sure if I passed or Failed. The exam is 3 hours long and I finished with exactly at 3 hours.

[Mike1]

So how many questions does the typical test taker see?

[Mike1]

Thanks!

Appreciate you contributing to my question!

Sincerely,
Mike

[shubsens]

I just passed today and I thought I was 100% positive I just answered question 94 and looked up at the time and it said 68 minutes and thought wow I better pick up the pace because I won't make 150, I clicked next and the screen changed to - You have completed the test.

Everyone is telling me that is impossible as it's a minimum of 100 questions. So either I am in a time warp and reached 100...............

This was my second attempt as I failed 2 years ago on about 120 questions and decided to take studying seriously this time.

[abrahamtz]

I just passed with 100 questions. Studied hard, though. 

[ToniHahn]

@Jeff37 

to answer your question about study materials 

Question on the 1 may changes for the test.  Will there be new study materials available such as a new revision of the Official (ISC)² CISSP Practice Tests and Official (ISC)² CISSP Study Guide.

Yes - all the materials have been updated

[ToniHahn]

Question on the 1 may changes for the test.  Will there be new study materials available such as a new revision of the Official (ISC)² CISSP Practice Tests and Official (ISC)² CISSP Study Guide.

Yes - all the materials have been updated

[Kepa]

Hello Mike,

Before the exam I was considering exactly what you mentioned, how many questions is good/bad to have in the CAT exam?

Clearly there is not a "perfect" answer, as far as you managed to pass the exam. Actually, my experience and from what I read in forums, once you finish it, you do not know if you passed it or not until you get your printed results.

The nearer you finish to 100 questions, the better or wrost you have done it depending if you passed it or failed it.

In my case, I took all the required time to complete the exam, and when I finished it, I still have 49 questions to the 150 and only 50minutes to go. But I was lucky and the exam just finished, at 101 questions... lucky me.

Kepa,