The following are my responses to the questionnaire from CertificationStation@Discord.

Exam Preparation Tips

1. Set and declare your goals: engage and communicate with stakeholders to support your goals.
2. Have your weapons ready: exam outline, study guides, question banks, exam registration, CISSP groups and communities check-in, etc.
3. Stick to the exam outline: consider the test-driven approach (do questions before, during, and after your study)
4. Maintain a persistent and stable study pace: consider agile caves and commons. Study in your cave to concentrate on reading.
5. Verify your learning:  take quality questions, explain to others, and write questions.

Tips for the Exam and Mindset

1. Business mindset: it covers governance, management, and operations to create and deliver value, so think like a senior manager.
2. Technical Savvy: solid understanding at the conceptual level. CISSP is not CISM. You gotta know the technical things well.
3. Top-down Approach: build a blueprint/mindmap first before diving into details.
4. Comprehensive Learning: CBK, study guides, NIST, and ISO standards are crucial sources.
5. Quality Questions: use questions that provide an explanation, justification, and references to learn in-depth.

Strategy for Answering Questions

1. Use reverse reading: read the options first, then the question sentence, and then the question description/context.
2. Kill the alien: rule out the apparently wrong options first.
3. Make informed decisions: trust what you have learned and the decision made after the process of reasoning and justification.
4. Accept a traded-off answer: don’t expect a perfect or so-called “correct” answer. CISSP is a management- and experience-based test that adequately reflects the dynamic nature of the business.
5. Trust your instinct: when in doubt, don’t change your answer to your first impression.

Miscellaneous Dos

• Invest in yourself and your profession, e.g., time, books, training, donations, etc.
• Use speed and comprehensive reading first.
• Take quality questions.
• Engage in groups and communities, e.g., CertificationStation.
• Recharge yourself every day.

Miscellaneous Don’ts

• Don’t infringe copyright and other laws.
• Don’t do rote memorization.
• Don’t rely on dumps.
• Don’t fight with the beast (CISSP) alone.
• Don’t stop your hobbies.

More Information

• Is the CISSP Exam Hard?
• Wentz’s CISSP Starter Page