What is the average CISSP exam completion time?

[Rayz]

I am wondering if anyone knows what is the average CISSP exam completion(successful) time?

It took me 2hours and 40 minutes to pass; but I've heard that some people do it in one hour and couple of minutes (my colleague claims this), while others claim that it took them 45 minutes or so.

Would be interesting to see the following stats:

1. Average time to pass

2. Top 100 scores average time to pass

3. Bottom 100 scores average time to pass

4. Top 10 Best Times and their passing score

[Thalpius]

I would say completing the CISSP exam in 45 minutes is impossible.

It took me 3 hours. Although I took my time I think I couldn’t do it quicker than 2,5 hours. I’m a non-native English speaker by the way. I think native English speakers can pass the exam a lot quicker.

All my time went into understanding the question, not thinking about what answer to select. Most question are really difficult to understand because I didn’t know the context or I didn’t understand some words.

[Early_Adopter]

It's unlikely that ISC2 would release these figures, though it's an interesting thought experiment.

I took just over two hours on both successful attempts at the old stye CISSP exam, and I'm a native English speaker(that really is a advantage for the test I think). I felt confident both times, and probably could have gone faster, however I doubt I'd have felt as confident if I did and if I'd have gone for 45 mins I think I'd have failed as time to read and think would not be there(and there are dollars riding on not failing). So maybe if we were betting for beers I'd say race you at 105 Minutes - there are probably faster folks out there, but 45 minutes would be extraordinary.

Mostly(from seeing it once on paper and once on a screen I'd say CISSP tests comprehension with heavy elements of knowledge and experience.

CAT might well make the 45 minutes possible, I dare say it might well have been *possible* to do the old exam in 45 minutes if you assume 20 seconds a question - however CBT question refresh is probably going to lag a paper book and separate answer sheet at this point. So maybe the advantage with CAT time wise is not as large.

Lucky for us the bar is on passing, rather than how fast you write the paper.

[rslade]

> Thalpius (Newcomer III) posted a new reply in Customer Support on 08-17-2018

> I would say completing the CISSP exam in 45 minutes is impossible.

I actually know someone who did complete it in 45 minutes. (This was in the days
of the paper-based test.) It used to be a bit of an urban legend in the instructor
corps because the proctor couldn't believe it, made a note of the name, and later
confirmed that the candidate had passed. Recently I "met" him online and
confirmed it ...

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[Early_Adopter]

My math was off - it’s more like 10 seconds a question tops for the non-CAT test -  I Guess there are a few folks that could do it if they are speed readers and know their stuff,  and really quick thinkers. You’d get a lot more slack from 20 or even 30 seconds  that you could bank against the tricky question.

However, I’d hope(just from hurt pride if nothing else) that there weren’t too many of them around.

just out of curiosity did the chap you virtually met say he was confident when he left the room? I assume he was, unless he had a train to catch or similar.

[rslade]

> Early_Adopter (Contributor III) posted a new reply in Customer Support on

>   just out of curiosity did the chap
> you virtually met say he was confident when he left the room?

I didn't ask. I don't, anymore. Everybody I've met has always said they were sure
they failed. (I seem to be the odd man out, in that regard. I was sure I passed. But
then, I was already interested in getting on the instructor corps, so I was more
concerned with was my score going to be high enough to impress Hal.)

I wasn't any speed demon on my exam. I must have taken all of five and a half
hours. I kept getting bored with it, and finding that I'd been staring out the
window for ten minutes, and needed to get buckled down again.

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[N_Bakewell]

Took me about 1 hour 40 minutes on the CAT test.  Don't know what my score was, because it doesn't tell you a numerical score as far as I could see, but it was passing of course.

[rslade]

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@N_Bakewell wrote:

Took me about 1 hour 40 minutes on the CAT test.  Don't know what my score was, because it doesn't tell you a numerical score as far as I could see, but it was passing of course.

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Oh, get him!  "Passing, of course!"

[Deyan]

Took me approximately 2h - did the old fashioned exam.