How much questions I should answer correctly in 100 questions during the CISSP exam ?

[dilipkumar9]

How much questions I should answer correctly in 100 questions during the CISSP exam ?

Assume if I answer 60 questions correctly in 100, how will CAT calculate my percentage? If the percentage calculation is based on 150 questions, In the 100 questions mark, the percentage I scored is around 42% only and it will not be possible for me to score passing 70% in remaining 50 questions. 

I need to know how many questions I need to answer correctly on reaching 100 questions. 

Please share your thoughts? I am heavily confused about the CISSP scoring system..

[dcontesti]

@dilipkumar9 

Your question is better suited to the management of (ISC)2.

On this page, it states you need a scaled score of 700

https://www.isc2.org/Exams/Before-Your-Exam

That does not mean that you can answer 70 questions correct and pass.....as each question is weighted on difficulty.

Maybe @amandavanceISC2 can forward to someone that can explain this.  I am sure there is an FAQ for it.

Regards

d

[dilipkumar9]

Thank you for your response Diana. 

The reason for posting this question, I read in multiple forums that people say they passed before or at the 100th questions, which makes me think out of 100 how much they answered correctly. (70 out of 100 or 90 out of 100) 

Few people say they fail even after attending 125 questions. In this case assuming those ppl would have scored around 60 percent, so they failed. Considering the 100th question scenario they would have answered below 70 or above 50 questions correctly to continue the exam. This is purely my assumption. Correct me if I am wrong. 

And again few ppl say they were unable to proceed after 100th question and the result showed they are failed. Which brings another assumption these ppl would have scored below 50%. 

And also I understand out 150 questions, 25 questions are research purpose and they do not carry weightage. So the percentage will be calculated number of questions answered correctly divided by 125 or 150 ??

I am taking up exam in next 45 days and understanding the scoring system is stressing me alot.

[AlecTrevelyan]

@dilipkumar9 

Read the CISSP CAT FAQ - there's a couple of questions and answers in there that will go a long way to giving you a better understanding of the number of questions you might see on the exam, and how it's determined if you've passed or not:

https://www.isc2.org/Certifications/CISSP/CISSP-CAT#accordion-3865ccfbb7b648e1b88984cf89cd25c2

I would also say, while it's helpful to have an understanding of the scoring, you should concern yourself first and foremost with learning the subject matter.

[CraginS]

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@dilipkumar9 wrote:

...

understanding the scoring system is stressing me alot.

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Dilip,

I know for all of us who have been conditioned by decades of formal schooling that passing exams does evoke an emotional response. However, I urge you to put aside this concern over the scoring system. You are preparing to take the exam on the domain content, not striving to barely pass at minimum score. Are you planning to stop answering as soon as you are sure you have  80 correct answers? Of course not! you are going to do your best on every question presented to you. Just continue your study, take a series of deep relaxing breaths, and press ahead to your goal.

Good luck!

Craig

[dilipkumar9]

Thanks Alec. I will look into it.

Reason I posted this question is I see many ppl posting in LinkedIn and public forums recently that CISSP is getting difficult to pass. So thought of getting it clarified.

[dilipkumar9]

Thanks Cragin. I am trying my best not think of scoring system, however when taking practice tests online, I am getting scores in the range of 65 to 75. So I worried about the scoring system.

I will try my best to concentrate more on preparation and do my best.

[alekos]

@dilipkumar9 just focus on answering each question to the best of your ability. However, if you are scoring that low on practice tests then you are not ready for the real exam. I would aim for a minimum of 85% on practice tests. When I was preparing I was at a point that I could easily score 95% on any practice test; I must have answered about 3,500 questions total before I sat for the test.

[ddrake]

@dilipkumar9 

Thank you for posting your question here in the Community.  The CISSP is a Computer Adaptive Test (CAT) consisting of "up to" 150 items.  25 questions of any exam (pass or fail) are considered pretest items.  These items are not scored or counted against a candidate.  These items are in a "testing phase" to gather statistics to validate whether they are too easy, too difficult, etc., as well as determining other psychometric statistics.  With that being said, that leaves a maximum of 125 potential items on the exam that are used for your score.

Now comes the "adaptive" part of the exam.  There are 8 domains, as I am sure you are aware of, and exam items are written to those domains, specifically to the blueprint levels located at: https://www.isc2.org/exam-outlines .  If you think of breaking down the remaining 125 questions into the individual domains (roughly, not exactly), it may help in how you approach your preparation.  Each domain is weighted (documented in the outline), and that can give you an idea of approximately how many items per domain could be presented to you in the exam. 

"Adaptive" means that the exam adjusts with you, the candidate, as you take the exam.  As you answer questions correctly in a specific domain, it will eventually get to a level of mastery, showing that you are proficient in that domain.  If you were to answer enough items incorrectly in a domain, it will show that you are not proficient in that domain.  Each CAT exam has a large bank of items to pull from, and depending on the difficulties of the items, and the answers the candidate provides, the test will adjust accordingly to ensure mastery of the concepts within each domain.  Earning the 700 is a combination of the proficiency across domains.

To conclude, you could score high levels of proficiency in many domains and completely fail at others, and still theoretically pass the exam.  However, candidates are never specifically given which domain an item is in on the exam.  Candidates who pass in 100 questions have mastered enough concepts throughout all domains to prove proficiency.  Candidates who fail in 100 questions have not shown the proficiency required throughout enough domains.  Additionally, candidates who go over the 100 questions could very well be proficient in many domains, but the exam is still allowing the candidate to continue to get to the proficient point in the others.  

I hope this information helps, and please feel free to ask for more clarification as needed.

Good luck, and we look forward to working with you along your journey.

Damon

[CISOScott]

Stop worrying about the scoring system and focus on your skills. If you get a question wrong in the practice tests, seek to understand why you got it wrong. Then seek to not make  that mistake again. I will say that I have seen so-called practice test questions of varying degrees of competence. There are some really bad ones out there and some good ones. 

Wise advice given to me was to focus on what you can change, not on what you cannot change. You will not be able to change the scoring of the test, you are only able to change your preparation and understanding of the materials. If you are trying to figure the magic number of questions to pass, you are not using that time to study.