CISSP Tips and Tricks | The 4 things you need to pass your CISSP certification

Hi, my name is Thor Pedersen, and in this video series, I’m going to try to answer one of the questions I get most commonly from my students– How should I prepare for my CISSP certification?
And it is a difficult question to answer because everybody learns differently, there is so much material out there that how can you know if it is good and the CISSP really is different than any other certification I have taken, which also means you need a different approach.
So in this series, I’m hoping to help you answer some of those questions, help you find the right materials for you, help you build a study plan and show you how you should study to get the highest possible chance of passing your exam.
And I know even this slide might seem confusing and overwhelming.
Don’t worry.
We will get to all of it and I will help you design your path towards your CISSP.
So in this video, we’re going to talk about this slide at a very high level so you can get an idea of where to start.
Then in the subsequent videos, I’m going to go much more in-depth, both with the resources that I recommend and the ones that my students like, because I clearly understand that I may not be the right instructor for everybody.
Every student has unique needs and they need to be taught in a certain way.
I have for a while said that you need for distinct things to pass your CISSP certification.
You need the knowledge, you need the ability to deconstruct questions, to figure out what are they actually asking here, then you need to be able to pick the most right answer in the world of ISC2.
And then finally, time management.
You only have so many seconds per question.
And with the CAT exam, it might be smart to spend more time on the first 20, maybe 30 questions.
So to pass your exam, I think you need those four things.
Now, let’s start looking at number one.
First off, you need to find your study materials.
That’s the videos, the books, the questions and all the other stuff that you need to get the knowledge and get ready for the exam.
And I am a firm believer in more is better up to a certain point.
So for videos, I recommend getting at least one, but maybe up to three good video courses, which ones I think are good, which ones my students like I will cover in another lecture.
Books, get one main book and a couple of the secondary books.
For the practice questions, this is where you’re going to spend maybe 50% of your time.
It is very normal for a student to do somewhere between three and five thousand practice questions before the exam.
Somewhere between half and two thirds can be easy to mid level questions,
the last third to a half should be hard questions.
And when we cover questions, I’ll explain why that is and how you should use them.
On top of all the paid resources, there are also a ton of free ones, and the ones I recommend here are really good.
So use them and incorporate them in your study plan to give yourself a better chance of passing your exam.
Next up, you need to make your own study plan.
And in the study plan video, I will share how you should do it and some templates that you can use to get going.
And you can think of the study plan just like the mission and vision we have in our organization.
We are here today.
We want to be here in the future.
How do we get from A to B?
In this case, your end goal is passing your CISSP certification.
How do you get from where you are now to passing your exam?
And after you have built your plan, then we need to get the knowledge.
And it is not just watching a bunch of videos, reading a bunch of books, answering questions and done.
You need to be able to explain the concepts what, where, when, why, and how would we use this?
While there are some things that you need to memorize, you also need to be able to use the knowledge.
You are never going to see a question that says, what is the third phase of whatever.
It’s going to be in this scenario, this is the situation, what would be best to do?
What should we do first?
Which is least desirable?
And if at this point your knowledge is triple DES is this many bits and this key length, you’re not going to pass the exam.
You need to be able to, in this situation, we want to do this, j and this is why.
So as part of your gaining the knowledge, you need to explain it to someone.
That someone can be you.
Now, let’s move to the second thing you need.
You need to be able to deconstruct the questions to figure out what are they actually asking here.
And very important, answer what they ask, do not answer what you want to answer.
If they are asking you, how would we do this?
It doesn’t matter that you think it is better to do it another way, answer exactly what they ask and then look at the question.
What are they really asking here?
Read it a couple of times, how much of the question is just distractions?
It doesn’t matter.
It doesn’t change the question.
Boil the question down to the essentials.
This is what they’re actually asking.
And be a little careful here.
One single keyword in a certain location can completely change what the right answer is.
After deconstructing the question, you’re completely clear.
This is what they are asking.
This is what they want me to answer.
Then we move to number three, the ability to pick the most right answer in this situation.
There might be two more or less right answer options.
Which one is the most right answer in this specific situation in the eyes of ISC2?
And when you explain the concepts to yourself, other than learning it much easier, it is also a benefit when you have to argue in your head, why is this the most right answer?
And then finally, time management.
With the CAT exam, you can get up to 150 questions and you have three hours to answer them.
That means on average, you have 72 seconds per question.
So learning to pace yourself and keep an eye on every 25 or 50 questions, I should be here time wise.
This is something you need to train when you do practice questions.
Maybe not to begin with, but maybe somewhere about halfway.
Don’t force yourself to answer questions faster, but just keep an eye on the clock so you know how well you are doing.
I hope this has been a good overview of how you should start your studying, find your materials, build your plan, gain the knowledge, and then how you need to approach your time and your questions.
And as promised, in the next videos, we’re going to go much more in-depth with all of this.
Thank you for being here and I will see you in the next video.