@TJM and @ChrisRamos
Thank you. Good luck to you both on the exam. Was it a difficult exam. I would say it is but don't let it intimidate you. It's a pretty straight forward exam.
I took the Official ISC(2) course and read a lot of the NIST references. NIST 800-160v1 and the IATF, I found to be the most helpful. Really understand the Information Systems Security Engineering Process. I spent a lot of time really learning the System Life Cycle Process and how the sub-process are applied. As @AppDefects has mentioned (and I would read a lot of the post where she answered my questions), I took her advice and really tried to keep a Systems Security Engineering mindset approach. I think that was the biggest and best advice I could give. You will find in your studies that as an ISSE, it really starts to all come together when you keep a security engineering mindset as you study and especially when you take the exam.
One area I wish I would have paid more attention to is the Systems Security Engineering Capability Maturity Model (SSE-CMM).
Lastly, I read through all the NIST that were on the reference list. I did read the CBK, chapters 1-7 (I think - just the ones that cover the Systems Security Engineering Process. I found ready through those chapters along with 800-160 really engrained the process in my mind and made the rest of the material easy to grasp.
I hope this provides you some insight. If you have any questions or would like me to clarify anything please just let me know and again, GOOD LUCK!!!!
