5 Effective Techniques to Ace the CISSP Exam

Leverage these techniques to pass your CISSP examination on your first try

The Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) exam is widely considered to be the “gold standard” of all cybersecurity certifications and for good reason

This intermediate to advanced level cert has stood the test of time by keeping itself and its domains relevant.Getting CISSP certified is still considered to be a badge of honor within the industry

While some may scoff at it and consider it just another “paper cert”; this comes more not understanding the CISSP and what it validates

I have spoken extensively about it below

At the same time, the CISSP is not an easy exam by any means

Its massive 8 domain coverage means that there is a TON of stuff to understand and memorize

All of its 8 domains are not equal and each carries a specific weight within the exam

While initially it can seem overwhelming, there are some tried and test techniques to pass the CISSP exam

You might already be aware of the common ones like practicing in study groups, purchasing sample exams etc.

In this article, I go over a few key ones that might not be so common and hope they are useful to prospective CISSP exam applicants

Technique 1 : Time Blocking

Do not prep for the CISSP at whatever time you feel but instead use time blocking

Use an app like Google Calendar and block a specific time you feel you are most attentive

Block that time and do not allow anyone to disturb it.

Close all extra tabs and lock away that phone !

This allows you focus time where you can absorb the most amount of information from the CISSP domains

It is amazing how many people I know that create detailed study plans to prep for their exams but do not block that time away leading them to get distracted with other things

You can start with any CISSP domain but I recommend going in sequence as each domain helps to build upon the next one

Technique 2 : 80–20 rule

Just to be clear, I am not talking about the 80/20 rule in business that says 80% of outcomes depend on 20% of your inputs

The rule I am talking about means that you should spend 80% of your time on practice exams and just 20% reviewing the material

You are not going to be writing an essay in the CISSP exam but will be asked about specific concepts in a certain way

Do not spend most of your time cramming the concepts and just the last few weeks in practice questions

Believe me when I saw that most of the concepts will become firmly ingrained in your mind not from the CISSP textbooks but from practicing the questions and getting it wrong again and again

Technique 3: Teach the CISSP concepts to someone !

This may seem strange but passive reading gets massively boring after a whole

Instead of just ingesting a CISSP concept .. go ahead and actively teach it to someone !

Teaching rather than reading makes the concept permanently ingrained in your mind

There is nothing quite like teaching a CISSP concept and making someone else understand it .

It is very rare to forget it once you have taught it !

Technique 4: Use ChatGPT for help

We seem to be entering the backlash phase of ChatGPT nowadays with people saying it is overrated, it has been surpassed by other tools blah blah

Ignore the naysayers as ChatGPT is still as awesome as ever

It can be an extremely powerful resource for prepping for your exam and can even be used as a study assistant

I have written about this before but here are a few key tips

Use ChatGPT to create a customized study plan based on how much time you have using the prompt “I am preparing for the CISSP certification which is in two months. Can you propose a training plan for me per domain. I have around an hour each day to study”

You can also use it for explaining CISSP concepts that you are having difficulty with by asking it to break it down into simple language

I have seen CISSP textbooks sometimes make things way too complex and ChatGPT can be a great way to simplify things

Engage in dialogue with it and use it to clarify and explain concepts you are having problem with

NOTE: I would not recommend using ChatGPT for sample questions as it is possible they might not reflect those questions that come in the final exam

Technique 5: Formulate the Answer First

The CISSP is a Multiple choice based exam in which you are asked to pick the correct answer out of a multiple

Some questions can be tricky asking you about “What is the MOST” or “What is the LEAST” option

These questions can be quite difficult as all the answers are correct but you need to find the MOST or the LEAST option in the list

One technique which can be effective is to read the question and formulate the answer in your mind BEFORE looking at the answers

This way you will not get confused as you have already thought about what the correct answer should be and are just looking for it in the list

This can be applied to all the questions in the CISSP but I have found it most effective for these types of questions which can stump a lot of applicants

Wrapping Up

I hope this was useful to you and these strategies either used alone or in tandem can have great benefits when prepping for the CISSP

It is important to be consistent when applying them and not get overwhelmed as the CISSP can be quite overwhelming at the start

It will all be worth it when you get that email telling you have you passed !

Good luck in your CISSP journey

Taimur Ijlal is a multi-award-winning, information security leader with over two decades of international experience in cyber-security and IT risk management in the fin-tech industry. Taimur can be connected on LinkedIn or on his YouTube channel “Cloud Security Guy” on which he regularly posts about Cloud Security, Artificial Intelligence, and general cyber-security career advice.

Check out my free Ebook on how to make more money in Cybersecurity here.

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