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Caute_cautim
Community Champion

Feedback on current CCSP

Hi All

 

I am looking for feedback on the current CCSP qualification in terms of the examination itself.  A number of my local colleagues have studied for the CCSP qualification, some have passed on the first attempt and other have attempted it three times and failed.

 

The feedback I am getting and I want to do the same qualification, but it does worry me, about despite doing the course work, study guide and flashcards, whether or not I would be successful or not.

 

The general feeling is that study guide, and course related online courses offered does not prepare one for the actual examination itself.   My colleagues inform me, that the examination itself is quite different and has led to a number of them failing as they just do not feel prepared.  

 

Anyone else with general feelings about the current CCSP and did you feel prepared for the examination, without break ISC2 regulations?

 

Regards

 

Caute_cautim

5 Replies
AlecTrevelyan
Community Champion

I passed the previous version of the CCSP exam just over a year ago now but I don't believe the current version is much different based on a comparison of the respective exam outlines.

 

I still maintain to this day even after passing six ISC2 exams (including the CSSLP very recently which I had heard similar/worse things about than what you've heard about the CCSP) that the CCSP was the most difficult of all of them.

 

This may well have been because it was the one I prepared for the least, and/or because it was the one for which I had the biggest gap between the previous certification preparation (three years versus a few months), as well as being only the second one I had earned.

 

I make these last couple of points because there is a lot of overlap between all of the ISC2 certs I hold so I definitely feel they all seemed to get easier and easier the more I did in a relatively short space of time due to an accumulative effect.

 

I've heard some people saying the CCSP was easy, that they had really short, simple questions. I certainly didn't get anything short and simple. The majority of the questions I faced were very verbose and written in confusing doublespeak. Some of the questions I had required me to scroll up and down the page to be able to see the whole question and all the answers. That certainly adds to the level of difficulty when you can't see the question and all the answers in one view.

 

I'd also say many of the questions were highly abstracted where they're looking to test the understanding of a concept but the wording used in the question itself will be completely out of context.

 

I actually came out of the exam after two hours (quite slow for me) with a severe headache and was elated to find I had passed so I wouldn't have to go through that ordeal again!

 

I used the official study guide and the official practice tests to study for the CCSP, and there were quite a few questions I received that seemingly were not covered in these two references and were also not covered by standard CISSP knowledge. (As there is a lot of overlap between the CCSP and CISSP you'll be able to use CISSP knowledge to answer many of the questions and therefore these topics aren't really covered in the CCSP guides.)

 

For the questions that did not seem to be covered by any CCSP or CISSP references I had to rely on my experience to provide the answer.

 

If I was asked to take the CCSP exam again, I would definitely hit the suggested reference list and read as many of the references as I could which is the methodology I used to pass each exam I've taken since the CCSP. I can't tell you how awesome it is to go into a supposedly tough exam and not face a single question where you don't have at least a cursory understanding of the topic at hand. It makes things so much easier!

 

Good luck with your studies!

 

jmikesmith
Newcomer III

I took and passed the CCSP exam in December 2017. I had studied off and on for at least 6-8 months leading up to it. I read the official study guide and took online courses in cloud technology and security through an IT training platform offered by my employer (free to employees).

 

I found all the study material and sample questions were oriented towards memorized facts. Definitions, lists of traits or attributes of a topic, etc. I found the actual test questions to be oriented more towards scenarios. Identify the fact or course of action that best relates to the scenario. It wasn't so much that the study material hadn't covered the topics, but that the language and the perspective of the study material were different from those of the test. It took some mental gymnastics to shuffle through how I had organized the information in my head to tease out answers to these scenario-based questions. I felt reasonably confident going in and had to work harder than I expected to during the exam. That could be seen as the sign of a good and challenging exam!

 

For additional context, I've worked in communications and IT security since 1989. Although I've never worked on a cloud project, I am aware I have a wealth of experience and knowledge to draw on.

 

Mike

Caute_cautim
Community Champion

@jmikesmithYou have accurately summed up my colleagues reactions i.e. those who have repeatedly failed and those who were lucky to pass.

 

Regards

 

Caute_cautim

AlecTrevelyan
Community Champion


@jmikesmith wrote:

I took and passed the CCSP exam in December 2017. I had studied off and on for at least 6-8 months leading up to it. I read the official study guide and took online courses in cloud technology and security through an IT training platform offered by my employer (free to employees).

 

I found all the study material and sample questions were oriented towards memorized facts. Definitions, lists of traits or attributes of a topic, etc. I found the actual test questions to be oriented more towards scenarios. Identify the fact or course of action that best relates to the scenario. It wasn't so much that the study material hadn't covered the topics, but that the language and the perspective of the study material were different from those of the test. It took some mental gymnastics to shuffle through how I had organized the information in my head to tease out answers to these scenario-based questions. I felt reasonably confident going in and had to work harder than I expected to during the exam. That could be seen as the sign of a good and challenging exam!

 

For additional context, I've worked in communications and IT security since 1989. Although I've never worked on a cloud project, I am aware I have a wealth of experience and knowledge to draw on.

 

Mike


Yes, there were certainly a lot of scenario based questions. My issue with those was the length I mentioned before. Many of these were the ones where I was having to scroll up and down the page with the scenario and question being 4 paragraphs long and the 4 answers each being another paragraph, but they weren't the only ones where I had that issue.

 

With regards to the bit I've highlighted in redI feel it's time to let the CCSP stand on its own two feet now and stop allowing the CISSP to cover the full CCSP experience requirement. I'm not sure it's right that someone with no real-world cloud experience can qualify for this cloud certification.

 

jmikesmith
Newcomer III


@AlecTrevelyan wrote:

I feel it's time to let the CCSP stand on its own two feet now and stop allowing the CISSP to cover the full CCSP experience requirement. I'm not sure it's right that someone with no real-world cloud experience can qualify for this cloud certification.

 


I agree. I applied for the CCSP at my employer's request, in anticipation of future cloud contracts (we're a consulting firm). As it turns out, we haven't received any cloud contracts, and I continue to work on non-cloud projects. I would be obligated to tell a prospective client I know the theory, but have no practical experience. That would also be obvious from my résumé.

 

Mike