So I finally was able to go to a test centre to sit my (ISC)2 CISSP exam, I was initially planning on doing this in April but the lockdown stopped me. I have spent the past month watching a number of Pluralsight courses, reading the study guide, and spent two weeks going through practice tests. I found the official iPad apps to be really helpful 🙂
I got to the test centre and panicked when they were not open 30 minutes before the exam, I had booked for an 8am exam. But after 5 or 6 minutes somebody came down and let me in, the check in procedure was interesting because of the COVID-19 precautions, but I did get to start the exam only a few minutes late. Whilst I won’t talk about the content of the questions, I will say they were very oblique, and needed careful thought after reading the question a few times. The adaptive format was particularly difficult as you can not go back if you realise you made a mistake. That coupled with the fact the mouse was sticking to the desk due to the copious amount of disinfectant used, made for a very cautious approach to clicking on next.
I felt like I was not doing well at all as the questions got progressively more difficult and I was torn between two of the choices. So when the exam suddenly came to an end after the minimum of 100 questions, I felt like that was it and I’d failed. Noticing it was only 45 minutes after I had started also made me feel more certain of doom. You don’t get any on screen notification of the result, so the walk from the test terminal to the front desk felt like a hundred mile march. I was then handed a folded over piece of paper as the chap behind the desk with a stone cold expression said “that was very quick”. The feeling of dread when I opened the note was almost palpable in the air, as was the feeling of relief when I red the words. Congratulations! We are pleased to inform you…
Now its a case of getting endorsed, again, I had to go through this process two years ago when I earned the CCSP certification. But hopefully this is just a formality and I can be proud to add the CISSP to my list of qualifications.
My advice to anybody looking to take this exam is, ensure you have a good breadth and depth of knowledge across the entire knowledge domains; and read the question very carefully. Plus good luck 🙂