CISSP

I recently attended the Intense School CISSP Boot Camp. The course was very good and the instructor, Dave Bonewell, was excellent. Dave cut through all the granular info found in the ISC2 yellow book and gave us the meat. I think the best part of the course was Dave's knowledge of how the test is written. Dave knows the lead psychometrician for development of CISSP examinations. This inside knowledge allows Dave to convey test writing characteristics, which is very useful.

There are seven different versions of the CISSP examination. One of the versions could be viewed as more difficult than other versions. However, the questions are worth more, therefore allowing a candidate to miss more questions. I have no doubt that I received this version because it was ridiculously hard. I thought maybe it was just me, but a lot of the questions didn't even make sense. The test proctor briefed before the exam started that we could get a comment card for questions we thought were invalid. I could have filled out 200 of those cards for the test I took!

Based on what has been written so far, it probably sounds like excuses for not passing. The fact is I did pass the exam. Was it divine intervention, probably. There is no doubt the information which the test is based on is very useful and pertinent information. The test however is absurd. I think it takes more luck than smarts to pass the test. I believe I’m a good test taker, which probably helped with my passing score. Dave stressed the point of not going back and changing answers or spending to much time on any question. I have a history of going back to change answers, but this time I heeded his advise. It took me 2 hours and 50 minutes to complete the exam. I immediately called over a test proctor and had them take the test off my hands before I did something crazy. I couldn’t imagine sitting in that room for six hours. I believe I was the first CISSP examinee done. It was quite humorous to see all of my Intense School classmates, who were taking the exam, look at me like I was crazy for finishing so fast.

The best advice I can give for the exam is the following:

1. Attend a Dave Bonewell lead class from Intense School. His pass rate is over 90%.
2. Study every night for a couple of hours after class. I didn’t attend any of the group study sessions because people just argue about practice questions from www.cccure.org
3. Hit the highlighted notes the day before the exam.
4. Take a break from studying the night before you take the exam. Go to a movie, a bar, or to church and pray!
5. Read each question fully. Understand what they are asking.
6. Read all the answers and give the BEST answer.
7. Don’t spend too much time analyzing questions. You will start talking yourself out of the right answer!
8. DO NOT GO BACK AND CHANGE ANSWERS.
9. Don’t worry about consecutive questions having the same answer. It is a trick designed to confuse you.
10. Take some ear plugs to the exam. People around you will drive you nuts with their idiosyncrasies like coughing, sucking air through the snot in their noses, tapping pencils, whispering profanities at the test, etc.
11. Eat breakfast before the exam.

Good luck to all you future test takers. If you are looking for technical expertise, don’t bother with the CISSP. It is definitely a management certification. Go with Richard Bejtlich’s training or the SANS track.