u/HollowsKnight

Passed my CISSP exam today on first attempt, at 100 questions, 80 minutes remaining.

I have lurked on this subreddit a lot (like many others). I had passed my SSCP in June, just to prepare for this style of exam (CAT), but man, nothing could've prepared me for the ambiguity in the answer choices. Too many time I spent more than a minute or two on a question trying to figure out which would (or NOT) be the BEST/MOST/WORST etc out of the options. Some felt too straightforward that I started second guessing myself due to the fact that I was writing THE CISSP exam that everyone had hyped up.

When the exam ended at 100 questions, I was convinced I failed spectacularly. I was NOT expecting to see a "Congratulations" on my result sheet, so I left the exam center grinning like an idiot.

Honestly, when I posted about my SSCP success before, someone had mentioned that SSCP was basically 70% of CISSP curriculum. It certainly felt like it, I believe that also counted as part of my CISSP prep.

Speaking of, here are my main study resources:

- SSCP prep

- Kelly Handerhan Cybrary course: I really loved this course due to how simply she put the curriculum, while making sure to point out the important stuff, making summarized versions of some topics as a part of her slide deck. I just made my own notes from this.

- Mike Chapple'w LinkedIn Learning course: This was mainly to reinforce what I learned from Cybrary and Mike's courses are always good for going into the most minute detail.

- KaplanLearn (CyberVista) practice exam that was included in my Cybrary subscription. Honestly, some of the answers they chose for their questioned didnt seem right to me, but let me tell you, it definitely kept me on my toes.

- A very minor bit of LearnZapp, but honestly didnt use it enough to review it, seemed like a really good daily study app though.

Thank you to all the people who post here that helped me to prep and motivate myself. Good luck to all those who are currently preparing, you've got this!

Edit: Forgot to add, since others mention in their pass posts, I have 4 years experience in cybersecurity, mainly in Security Operations for a MSSP. 5 years total work experience (will get certified with the experience waiver using SSCP)

For context, I have 4 years experience in Network Security working for an MSSP. I previously held Network+, Security+ and CySA+ (expired from carelessness), as well as recently passed my Blue Team Level 1 from Centri (previously Security Blue Team).

I want to post here about what materials I used and my thoughts on my journey, hopefully it helps any aspirants to SSCP.

My thought behind attempting this exam was just to understand how the Adaptive testing works in ISC2 exams, since I plan on taking CISSP soon, and also to contribute the 1 year waiver towards the experience requirements for CISSP.

I have to say, while I have not used or sought any offline resources like books, the online resources available are quite lacking. I already had my existing subscription with Cybrary, and since LinkedIn learning is also pushing their course for SSCP prep, I went for it. Do not waste your time on this; It is woefully lacking of any content (6 hours of practically nothing) and good labs, but other than for your learning, I'd say they were irrelevant for the exam.

After going through this subreddit, I found the archived Mike Chapple course on LinkedInLearning and shockingly, while most reviews called the course outdated, it was the key to my exam prep.

For practice tests, Cybrary on their site (Im not sure about on LinkedIn), provides testing from CyberVista (the practice portal was called Kaplan Learning) and I'd say that was the only useful thing I got there. I also purchased the CertPrep tests, though I only ended up having enough time to take one test (oops). I scored 65% and then 77% and ended up not being very confident for my exam.

To my surprise, I managed to pass (the test stopped at 100 questions) and honestly, I'd say my security experience helped me answer most of them, with the Mike Chapple course covering any gaps. Adaptive testing was quite intimidating, but it's helped me to mentally prepare a bit more for CISSP.

If you've read this far and are planning to take it soon, best of luck! Let me know if you have any questions.