CISSP tips

[vaibhav261995]

Hi Everyone,

I have three years of experience as an information security analyst and I have registered to take CISSP exam on 14th April 2020. My plan is to go through cybrary videos once, then move on to official CISSP sybex book and practice questions. Will that be enough. Please provide your inputs.

Regards,

Vaibhav

[emb021]

To be honest, don't know.

My experience is that everyone learned differently.

You mentioned you have 3 years experience, but in what exactly?  Did you have any previous formal training or education in IT, computer science or the like?

At first glance, this seems enough.  The videos should be good, and reading the books and doing the practice exams should help you in filling any gaps.

Hopefully this will work for you.

[Steve_D]

Vaibhav

This is a hard question to answer and very much depends on your memory and learning style.

I found that just the book and the practice questions were sufficient for me, but I've been in the industry a long time and have worked in almost every area of security so there was very little in the book that was new. With 3 years experience I'd expect that you're going to find new things that you need to learn.

I'd suggest:

1. Read through the book first, and mark the chapters that are new to you or that you feel weak on
2. Watch videos focusing around the gaps you found in the book
3. Study the book making notes; you can then use these for revision rather than the book so you can focus on the things you found problematic
4. Attempt the practice questions - see which areas you are weak on and go back to 1, this time marking the areas that you didn't succeed on the practice questions.

Good luck with getting your CISSP!

Yours

Steve

[Steve-Wilme]

Vaibhav,

I'd echo Steve_D's comments, it depends on you learning style to some extent.  Personally I find video's don't really work for me, but they may for you.  I'd suggest you consider using more than one text.  The CISSP all in one used to be a good resource and you can't really go wrong with the official ISC2 textbook.

It's really more a question of how you process the volume of information in the CISSP so you can gain and retain your understanding in a way you can use for the exam.  I went through 3 different text books, did the self tests and summarised each CBK into hand written notes, learnt the note and repeated the self tests.  If there was a CBK on which I didn't get over the pass mark I'd go through all the material in that area again.  I'd been using that way of studying for about 20 years by the time I took the CISSP, so knew what worked for me.  I suppose you'll have to find out what works for you.  Good luck with the exam!

[rslade]

Given the open-ended nature of the question, I'll just stick with read "Security Engineering" by Ross Anderson, and, for specific sections, check out
http://victoria.tc.ca/int-grps/books/techrev/mnbksccd.htm

[Steve-Wilme]

Nice list of references, but I suppose it depends on how much time someone has available if their aim is to pass the exam. 

Having a long standing interest in technology helps, as absorbing the information over a several years doesn't seem like studying.  I read Applied Cryptography back in 96/97, years before I worked in security, just because it seemed interesting at the time.  Looking over ISO 27000 series, NIST SP800 series and the IETF RFCs wouldn't hurt either, but it's a matter of judgement.   

[AmmarHasayen]

To prepare for the cissp exam, you should have a proper study plan that includes studying materials, watching videos, practicing with test questions and getting right mindset. There is no shortcuts with this exam.

Have a look at this that can significantly help you: https://blog.ahasayen.com/cissp-exam-study-plan/