7 practical tips for getting CISSP Mindset and exam success
Getting CISSP certified is in your mind and somehow you are stuck? Are you confused about how many books to read or how to prepare? Are you hesitating to face the exam? Or you are comparing yourself with others and getting discouraged?
I have had one to one with many CISSP aspirants, and also got advice from candidates who successfully passed. This article is a summary of 7 practical tips you should use to get the CISSP mindset.
Everyone’s journey is different
Some may take only a few weeks to prepare while some others will take months. So be it. You don’t compare your preparation with others and don’t get discouraged or don’t feel less about yourself.
What you become in the course of the CISSP Journey is more important than how quickly you finish your preparation and get certified.
Passing at 100 or 150 doesn’t matter
If your exam doesn’t stop at 100, it doesn’t mean you are finished. Now you have fifty more questions to prove your point and showcase your talent. You will see a lot of posts on social media saying “Passed at 100 questions in 90 minutes” — that doesn’t mean they are better than people who go150 questions and still passed. Both are certified. Both are CISSP.
“Don't be cheap in the journey of excellence”
Should you take notes on paper or electronic?
Try everything. After a few days of note-taking, you will find what works for you.
- Handwritten notes are easy to scribble your thoughts, draw a quick flow diagram and mark it with different colours etc. Handwritten notes should act as your primary notes repository.
- I did a lot of mind maps as well. They are a good way to group things and remember key points and see how things are related. Used Mindmaple and MindMaster.
- I also found keeping secondary notes in Google Slide as I found it easy, especially to save a YouTube link, screenshot of definition or explanation after writing an exam, or copying links from the wiki. This is also handy as I can search.
- Another super hack I used was Otter. After I got a clear understanding of a concept, I opened the otter, clicked the record and spoke. The good thing about Otter, it records your voice, also transcribes from voice to text. Now you can search for a keyword in Otter also as it transcribes. You can use this recorded narration during the morning walk.
Stick to one book — do full justice to that book
This advice I got from my friend.
I did the mistake of reading the same topic from three books and finally found it only confusing or time-consuming for me. It also gave me a fear that I have to read approx 2500+ pages.
So I followed only the Official Study Guide, read it line by line, word by word understand it fully.
After that wherever necessary I read only selected topics from All In One and definitely some in-depth reading NIST documents.
There are no dumps
Don’t fall prey to people who say they have 100% passing guarantee dumps. Or even worse, who can write the exam for you.
None of the question banks that are available for free or paid will match the actual exam. And no one is supposed to reveal what questions were asked according to the NDA. So no dumps. No shortcuts.
As an Information Security professional your personal integrity should be unshakable and beyond doubt.
Don’t get lost in the web
Another mistake I made was to keep on searching for more and more content on the Web as I thought content from OSG was not sufficient.
If you don’t understand, ask your coach or your accountability study partner. On the Web, you will very easily get lost. Everyone’s perspective is different and correct from their point of view — it may not be the CISSP thing you have to follow. Also, you will not know whether you have understood the way it has to be understood.
So stick to what CBK says and fall back to your Guru.
5W1H are your friends
Who, What, Where, When, Why and How. And don't stop asking?
The best way to teach yourself is by asking Why? For eg, You should ask yourself, why is there a BCP process. What they do. How they do that. When to call it a DR. Who will be involved? How to execute a DR process? What comes before. What comes after. What will happen if this process is not followed. And so on.
If you are able to answer these questions (for every topic) then you know you are ready.
Ask me how?
Thanks for reading so far. If you have any queries on your CISSP exam preparation, I will be more than happy to serve and be part of your CISSP journey.
