Pass the CISSP in Four Days?
The title says it all - I passed the ISC2 Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) exam with four days of studying. You may find it surprising but I tell everyone.. DON’T DO IT. DO NOT try to pass in four days! I strongly believe you are more likely to pass if you follow my proven framework instead. Why?
Because of this device right here:
High Blood Pressure on Blood Pressure Monitor
My blood pressure was through the roof.
My heart health was compromised from the stress.
My body hated me through the entire process.
But if compromising your heart health doesn’t dissuade you, I’ll show you my four day study method and then recommend how you SHOULD tackle the CISSP…
How I tackled tHE CISSP IN FOUR DAYS
First, let’s start with my background. I have been in cyber security and information technology for over ten years. I have a background heavy in network engineering and security operations. I hold a bachelor’s degree in cyber security, as well as certifications from organizations such as CompTIA, Global Information Assurance Certification (GIAC), Amazon Web Services (AWS), among others. At the time of my studying, I had served in a cyber security management role for quite some time – I was familiar with the content.
I was coming up on a holiday weekend and had a break between my post-graduate courses. It was the perfect time to buckle down and knock out the exam. Originally, I planned for about a week of studying, and prepared to take a few days off work to provide adequate time. Unfortunately, I waited until the last minute to schedule my exam and the last three days of my planned timeframe were fully booked at the test center. Because of this, I had to take the exam three days sooner than intended. I condensed my proven framework down to four days and here’s how it went:
Let’s start with resources. The CISSP is comprised of such a wide array of information, at such a scale that you must narrow the scope to the principles of effective cyber security, cyber security management, and policy… and worry less about the fluff. To do so, you need to create effective notes. Make sure you have a new notebook ready to go prior to starting your studying (I recommend a five section college-ruled notebook, which you can find easily on Amazon, like this one: https://amzn.to/3prs8BV)
The eight-hour CISSP crash course Youtube video by Inside Cloud and Security is a great starting point to build your studying off of…not to mention…it’s free. Spend the time watching the video and taking notes on everything you don’t fully understand.
When it comes to certifications, the bread and butter and most effective tools for prepping will always be practice questions and practice examinations. For the CISSP I chose the “Boson ExSim Max for CISSP” practice exams. The Boson simulator allows you to take practice exams in study or exam mode, which is crucial to my studying methodology. The study mode in the simulator gives incredibly in-depth explanations of the correct answer to each question and explains why the other options are incorrect as well. This simulator comes with four exams total and approximately 700 questions at the time of this writing.
Next up is my methodology – which is an abbreviated version of my proven framework. I always complete the first few practice exams or group of practice questions in study mode, in an open-note format. The first time going through, I research every question and answer based on my findings, then take notes on the feedback provided by the simulator, slowly filling up my notebook with information. The next exam I perform the same process, prioritizing my notebook as the main resource and then the internet as my secondary resource. Once again, writing down every incorrect answer and the reasoning or definition as to why I got the question wrong. I read through the notes after every exam, taking one exam per day, and then take time to study the notes and review the corresponding video content.
After taking the first two exams in open-note mode, I shift to exam mode and use a closed-note method for exams three and four. After finishing the exams, I go back and read through my incorrect answers, once again adding the information into my notes. At this point I was scoring between 88-94% on my practice exams. I felt ready.
With my exam scheduled for the next day, I continued to review my notes, answering a few practice questions in my free time. I then watched two critical videos, the first being:
“How to think like a manager for the CISSP exam – the director’s cut” by Study Notes and Theory.
This gave me an understanding of how to approach the questions from the correct mindset, and then, to help me shake some of the nerves the morning of my exam I watched:
“Why you will pass the CISSP” by Kelly Handerhan
How you SHOULD tackle the CISSP
When I walked out of the exam center, my brain was fried. It was one of the most difficult examinations of my life. It was a long and arduous and stressful process. While I was happy that I had passed, I knew that I would rather have taken a longer time to study and spread out the process over a longer period. That’s why I created my proven framework for passing nearly any cyber security certification. It breaks out the above process into much more granular detail, explains how to effectively plan out your studying, what to do the day before, and the morning of, your exam. I have faith you can pass the CISSP. I just don’t recommend trying to do it in four days - but hey, if you do want to try, now you know how I did it!
