Cleared CISSP

How I cleared CISSP
How to pass CISSP
How to crack CISSP
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                              Please do comment and let me know if it helped you
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Googling for answers to above questions? I was also searching all over internet to find or how to approach CISSP but couldn't find any.

I will try to provide you with each piece of information on how I approached  CISSP.

During my last paper of CCNP, I started searching about books that I should read to pass CISSP. i soon learned that Shon Harris is best for this beast. I started reading Shon, which I ordered earlier, from the same day i passed CCNP. I read the first chapter "Information Security and Risk Management" and then started to do the questions which were at the end of the book. I got 82% right. I thought if these are the questions in the CISSP then I said CISSP is simple to crack but to soon find that I was wrong.

As soon as I completed the chapter, I answered the questions which were at the end of the book. My daily routine starts by waking at 8:45 AM, reaching office by 9:30 AM. Once I am at office can't say what time I will reach home again. Usually I reached home by 9 or 9:30 PM. I spent some time there after with my wife until she goes to sleep by 11:00 PM. I used to study till 3-4 AM and run to office again the next day. Because of this busy schedule, I decided to dedicate saturday to her. I decided saturday instead of sunday because it was half working day for her. she used to wake me up by 10AM on every Saturday and I utilized the time till she returned for my studies. Sunday I had all the time in the world. This was my day. I read, I go gym, I take rest and read untill 3:00 AM.

It took me 3 months to complete Shon. I used to score between 78-85% for the questions behind every chapter. I started CCCure and I scored almost 69-76%. I thought I was ready for the exam. Till now I just read Shon once and did all the CCCure 2150 questions. But there was something within me which said, Ravi you are not ready yet. Are you playing stupid? questions can't be so dumb in actual exam.

One evening I goggled for CISSP sample questions. I came across:
http://books.google.co.in/books?id=2TOZ-ySmTk0C&pg=PT1&source=gbs_selected_pages&cad=3#v=onepage&q&f=false

I read review. There were two reviews which said that most of the questions were from NIST. I checked the sample questions and the reviews were right. Just before closing the browser I thought of going through some questions. I checked the question number 39 which was about XACML. I realized that I forgot about this...slowly as I went through the questions the more I realized that I am still not ready. Clearly, this was helpful as I now understand what level of questions can be expected.

I started to wear down due to long forceful night. I decided one thing. I will take a week complete rest. Forget about CISSP. Just relax as if I passed the exam but that was not so simple. CISSP was haunting me and the recent blow was very powerful. Everyone at office wanted to know how was my preparation going.
I was not able to face them and at one point I thought I should just register and give the exam...whatever may be the result. At the end of the same week I also decided the following which helped me at the end:
1> do not rush and take your own time to understand the concepts
2> i will have to read the shon again : but I really did not like reading it again. I needed a new source so I got the CBK.
3> better source of questions other than CCCure so bought the book ( link above)
4> need to give actual or give sample exam which is close to the actual exam

Now I was taking too much time, more than what an average person would spend for passing the CISSP. Clearly at one point I doubted my own capabilities. But only way was to accept it as challenge and not to rush. I completed the CBK in 3 weeks. I read the most important 5 units again from Shon.

Once done, I started the vallabhaneni book for the sample questions. Now I was able to face the questions more confidently. My answers and the concept behind it was actually proving right now. This boosted my confidence. It also became obvious about the question which I can bypass from that book. I started working 9 hours shift, sticking to my schedule. No saturdays to wife and no enjoy on sundays. A strict schedule was being maintained. I came to know about the ISC2 retired questions from studyscope

https://www.expresscertifications.com/ISC2/Catalog.aspx 

I got all the three. I gave the first exam it was 81----> but still not confident.

So i wanted to do more questions so I did the questions from
http://www.aiotestking.com/isc2/2011/08/which-of-the-following-is-not-one-of-theseitems/#comment-393

Gave the second paper from study scope...it was quite hard but managed to score 79. Now I kept topics which I wanted to read from each chapter which was of high importance. This helped in the final hours of the preparation. During my first reading of the Shon I prepared notes. The sample of the notes is something link below:

Notes helped me lot. I didn't had to read the whole topic, just the bullets. Each sentence of Shon and CBK actually made sense so I took notes very detailed. I made them points so that its easy to remember.

Before fortnight, a trip to Belgium and Netherlands cropped up. It was a business trip which lasted for a week. I had only 1 week left to be exact daily 6 hours and saturday and sunday. Many blogs read that the last 15-20 days were crucial. I thought I have wasted the crucial time. Since I scheduled my exam on 29th Oct which was Monday, I had time to visit the CBT (computer based test) center on saturday. On sunday evening I gave my last exam from the study scope I passed by 71%. I just thought still my probability of passing the exam now and before 2  months still remains same 50%. But I was sure that I would.

Till now, I studied the two books 2 times each, more than 8000 questions solved and none failed.

Now it was time to prepare a strategy for the main exam. Its a 6 hour long big exam. I planned
1> every 100th question i will take 5 min break..even if I have left all the 100 questions unanswered.
2> I will not panic even the first 25 questions are unanswered may be they are just unmarked questions.
3> I will take three breaks maximum
4> I will utilize most of or all the time during the exam.
5> I will eat food which will make me calm for atleast 2-4 hours.
6> prayed god to give me strength for staying focused during the exam

It took me 2 1/2 hours to complete the first 100 questions of which I left 14 questions unanswered. During break I realized that I should not spend much time on the questions I believed that do not make any sense or too much for me. In second 100 there were 6 such questions. I took a break then completed the last 50 questions. Total number of question unanswered were 20 and time in hand was 45 mins....I said NO problem..I am good for a break. I again took a break for 10 mins because I really need patience and concentration to answer these. By answering the questions I was confident that I will for sure pass the exam.

I read on some blogs that some failed with score as near as 694. So one correct answer may make big difference. Took 15 mins to answer them. For most of them I really did not like to change the answer. I just clicked on the end exam because of impatience. I took 5 hours and 45 mins.

It never said I passed or failed on the screen. So I had to wait for the print out to come. It just read congratulations. I just sank in the seat for 2 mins thinking nothing...just blank. During the same time two set of GMAT students came and gave their Gmat and already left. The lady at the front desk asked what exam was that. Instead I asked her, how many guys enrolled for this exam since Jan, she said " None" and this was the only center from where one can give CISSP CBT.  I called my wife and told her. She was sharing this with everyone in her office. I thought she was more happy than me. I think she sacrificed more than me and hence her joy but me still in shock.

For questions, let me tell you...you will never remember a question once you are out from the exam room.

 I was not able to enjoy for 3 days because I was in shock. I promised my senior that if I pass I would come to office same day 5 PM and if I failed, i will just ride home and sleep some time. My exam was over by 4:30 and I already missed 3 calls from my wife and colleagues.  I went to office and everyone congratulated me for passing this exam.

My current experience stands at 4 1/2 years in access controls, network security, system security and DR.

Please reach me  blog2vm@gmail.com for further information.