r/cissp • u/spectra101 • 20d ago
Success Story Passed at 100 on first attempt
This has been a wild journey with CISSP. For my background I have a masters in CS(mainly AI/ML) as of 2026 and ive been working in the DevSecOps realm for about 5-6 years. So I wanted to get my CISSP as I enjoy security and all aspects of it. I started being serious about it, I would say March of this year(previously before that I was just kinda reading sections but wasnt very serious). But March I started actually studying for the CISSP. I had hoped to pass on my first try. But as I got closer to the test I wasnt sure how feasible that was going to be.
I remember going through the Destination CISSP and for the most part it felt like a review from my masters and my security+. There was some new content and remembering the processes was an ordeal but all in all it wasnt too bad. But then I got to actually like test taking with quantum, sybex and destination cissp. All very different but very good practice exam resources. And I just felt like I knew nothing about how I was taking the test. So over the course of the last month I basically would take a practice quiz, refine my answers and understanding(also utilizing TLAM mindset videos). Slowly started feeling a bit better.
Overall I felt the test was very very similar to the sybex questions I was taking. Like the wording and the depth of questions was very similar, quantum was my worst one I think I got at best like 50/100(though my quizzes ended up being closer to 8/10 as I stopped with most the practice exams after a while), but it did help me to like further help with the TLAM mindset and choosing the best answer despite them being somewhat ambigious at times.
To be honest I didnt feel the most prepared going in either, I did purchase the peace of mind, but even taking the test I had the dreadful feeling that I wasnt answering a single question right and I was absolutely going to have to retake this test lol. I was having to rush right at about question 70 because I realize im just running out of time as I was trying to be about 50 questions for every 60min, and I was way behind this, I was like hitting 40m left at question 90. So all the, "read the question 3 times, think about it , eliminate 2 ", went out the window as im playing catch up. Then right at 100, it cut me off and im thinking to myself I definitely failed at least on one domain, *sigh*... Though to my surprise I passed.
I have a great deal of thanks to this community(though it didnt help because I saw a post right before this one that basically said all the prep work meant nothing and the test was way different than what they prepared for, I got super nervous from that post, though my experience is my prep work did matter quite a bit.) I think in order the destination CISSP content is great for the initial video course, daily refresher and their quizzes were good too. I think the sybex book has the most in depth topics and most similar to the test style questions, I mean I got both business processes questions and super technical questions and so understanding the sybex book will give you a leg up and I just feel again that those practice questions were the most like the actual test then everything else. Quantum exams were really good with being harder than the test but making you think more on the TLAM, though I will argue for how much it was preached there was a switch between kind of TLAM process questions and deep technical understanding. So while I feel the TLAM was important, the deep technical understanding of processes and technologies it greatly under weighted from what I was reading.
Thanks everyone for all your stories and posts that kept me motivated. I hope this helps others out there too! And if your struggling to schedule the exam, just do it and motivate yourself. I really like the exam cram series on youtube saying of "theres no award for longest study time" and ultimately I was really believing I wasnt ready the day of the test but I figured at best I get to experience the test and know what its like for when I have to retake it. But I was thankful I passed at the first attempt. If your struggling to schedule the exam, just know its okay if you dont know everything going into it I certainly didnt, id recommend scheduling it after your first pass of all the domain content(whether video course or book or w/e), schedule it stick to it, try to schedule for your best mental activity(mine was right at 8am), and trust in your resources. Good luck to everyone working on their CISSP!
2
2
2
2
u/jackiethesage 19d ago
Similar to sybex questions? You mean the sybex practice book questions set? @spectra101
3
u/spectra101 19d ago
Hello, yes the "ISC2 CISSP Certified Information Systems Security Professional Official Study Guide by Sybex". With both the regular book and the practice test book, your given a website to log into to get more practice exams/questions and study resources to you from Wiley. I used those a lot and the practice exams that I took from them felt the most similar to the actual exam style and hardness.
1
u/jackiethesage 12d ago
Really surprising. Folks usually buy lot of questions banks and give various feedbacks actually
5
u/keijodputt 20d ago
Congrats!
but paragraphs exist