I passed the CISSP on January 2022 at 100 questions in exactly 2 hours. I wanted to write a little post describing my experience and the resources I used hoping that it helps someone in the future. My preparation time-frame was exactly 4 months.
Background:
Associates in Computing and Information Technology.
Cisco CCNA.
Security + from 2015 (Let this lapse about a year ago).
About 6 years working for two different MSPs wearing different hats.
Resources used:
Mike Chapple’s LinkedIn Learning class.
Thor Teaches class on Udemy.
Read/Listened to the 11th hour and CISSP for Dummies books.
OSG 9th edition (Read all of it except for the Networking sections since networking was my strongest area coming into this exam.)
Watched/Listened to Pete’s Exam Cram and Destination Certification videos on YouTube.
Sybex CBK (Used as a reference for a few topics and that’s it).
Sari Greene’s course on Oreilley.
ITProTV (Free weekend offer where I was able to go through everything except a couple of domains).
Read How To Think like a Manager.
Created my own flashcards while reading the OSG.
Went through about half of ITDojo’s questions on YouTube.
Participated and had a lot of valuable discussions on the Certification Station Discord.
I ramped up studying during the last 30 days and focused on doing questions, and re-enforced the weak areas by using the resources above and some light research and reading online.
Practice questions: (Did not repeat questions)
OSG End of chapter questions + 4x125 tests after registering the book online.
2x125 Pearson practice tests.
Exam Cram 2x60 practice questions.
All of Sybex Official Practice questions .
Wentz’s practice questions (About 300).
AIO practice questions that come with the book.
Thor’s easy/med and hard questions.
Some of Adam’s QOTD.
About 1500 questions using flashcard decks on the Brainscape app/website.
Thoughts on the whole experience:
The list above may seem overkill. I felt pretty confident going into the testing center. However, I experienced all kinds of doubts as I started getting hit with different questions. The language used in the questions is nothing like the practice tests I got used to. You may have heard this before but knowing the concepts is more important than memorizing any steps or acronyms. You have to know how everything works together, that way it doesn’t matter what the question is asking or how it’s asking it, you’ll be able to answer it.
Lastly, the uncertainty that everyone keeps talking about is a real thing. I genuinely thought I wouldn’t pass, and was very surprised when I looked at the sheet of paper.
Good luck to everyone and let me know if you have any questions.
