New to CPEs

[alittestitious]

Hey All,

I am new here, and new to the CISSP CPE procedures as I was just certified in September. To be honest, I am a little confused as to what would constitute a Group A versus Group B CPE, as the requirements seem rather vague.

Specifically, I am asking because I recently completed both my RHCSA and RHCE certifications and had some video courses and reading for them. While not strictly InfoSec certs, they do have some crossover in authentication, network security, OS security (SELinux), etc. I assume these would fall into Group A, but I did not know if I needed to approximate my study time on Group A specific subject matter and file the rest under Group B, or if because there is some domain crossover the whole study period would count as Group A.

I also intend on getting my CCSP some time this summer. Is there specific guidelines on how many CPEs you get for obtaining another ISC^2 certification, or do you just add up the book reading CPEs and video course hours?

[emb021]

There is a PDF you can get to go over the CPE requirements.

Basic rule of thumb is if its technical and relates to any of the cert domains, its Group A.

Group B is more softskills, job-related type stuff.

So group A can be training (if technical-related, like another cert), conferences, webinars, attending technical presentations at a meeting (say of ISSA, ISACA, etc).

Group B is stuff like doing a soft-skills related stuff.  Taking a training course in presentation, say "Dale Carnegie" would be Group B and not A.  Helping organize a meeting of a technical group, etc.

The guidelines also covers CPEs for another cert.  If you take formal training, that will count for group A CPEs.  The cert itself should count, but not certain the # hours.  I think its based on the length of the exam.  So a 4 hour exam is 4 CPEs, but not certain with ISC.  ISACA its double.  AGAIN, check the CPE guidelines.  Should be clear.

Hope this helps.

ANYONE, feel free to add to or correct anything I say above.

[alittestitious]

Thanks, that was helpful. I read through the CPE handbook, but some questions were still unanswered. I did not see any indication of what to do for additional certifications in there, for example, but I gathered from other topics on this board that it appears I can submit for up to 30 CPEs (if I put in that much time) per certification related to the CISSP domains.

I went ahead and submitted those under "Education Courses and Seminars" per instructions from this post:

https://community.isc2.org/t5/Member-Support/How-do-I-get-CPE-credit-for-self-study-after-successful...

I had one more question that I also could not find in the handbook. The handbook says this, "As a certified ISC^2 member, you are required to earn and submit CPE credits each year of your three-year certification cycle."

But, then it goes on to only have suggested annual amounts, and no minimum requirements. Due to the aforementioned certs I obtained and some other work, I already have 60 hours of CPEs that I can record in my first 6 months of certification. If I get my CCSP this year like I planned, I will be at 90+. Is it possible to actually finish all 120 hours in the first year, or are there minimum annual requirements recorded somewhere as well?

[emb021]

Ok, the matter of how many CPEs you need can be confusing because over the last couple of years they've changed that.

When I joined, for the CISSP you had to get 120 CPEs over the 3 years period, with a minimum of 20 per year.  Of course, if you're smart, you'd try to hit at least 40 per year so you'd get your 120.  More is always better.

I believe recently they changed the minimum to be a third you need each year, so that minimum was raised to 40 per year, which IMO made sense.

HOWEVER, most recently, they dropped entirely the idea of a minimum per year.  You need 120 over the 3 year period.  When you get it makes no difference.  Not sure I like that, only because I know some people for whatever reason do a poor job getting CPEs, and making sure they get a minimum each year I thought was a good idea.

Hope this helps.

[Radioteacher]

Please make documentation of CPE's a habit. 

As soon as you get back to a keyboard after earning a CPE, enter it at ICS2.org.  

Have a great day!

Paul