All started in the month Oct year 2020, I was Excited as i’m going to learn/pursue one of the Toughest and highest and most respected certification in Information security Domain and when i came to know it is Master degree equivalent in Europe that news really made me to go for it!

Stage 1: Free Run

I Gathered all required resource I Gathered all required resource

• Subscribed to infosec4tc’s CISSP, CISM and CISA bundle package

• Sybex Official study guide (OSG)

• Just read complete book page by page once, answered all question at back of each chapter where I scored Avg 45% very far from to pass percentage.
• I read that book again this time writing down small summary of paragraph which I just read on same page in OSG, underlining the important points, new info and new jargons.
• Read sunflower document
• Took domain based practice test from infosec4tc I scored 60–65%, still not close to pass percentage which was set to 80%
• Took Shone Harris 5th edition practice question and Sybex official practice test domain wise question book I scored around 45% in Shone Harris and 65% in Sybex Practice question, so conceptual wise i was confident, still need to gain more knowledge and need to work with situation related questions.

Almost 3 months over!!

Feelings: Likely doubted on my preparation, likely imposter syndrome, so I wanted to verify my learning practice/approach to this CISSP and would like to know where I stand among other aspirants whether I’m doing it correctly or not.

Stage 2: Buckled up and fasten laces :)

Watched multiple sourced YouTube videos especially guidance video from Prabh Nair , reading CISSP blog, talked with people who completed CISSP and their experience, comments, @Luke Ahmed “https://www.studynotesandtheory.com/” (SNT) was helpful, gather all info related to preparation, approach, purpose and I create my own Chart/Progress Tracker/Path and i was “Military Strict” :) to follow that. I had healthy schedule to sit everyday, that’s where real game started !!! should have done that before!.

NOTE: Taking notes was very time consuming and painful when you do after 5 years of completing engineering degree.

• All started.. taking printout of often forgetting topics, sticking mind maps in cupboard, doors, walls trying to recollect whenever I was ideal and trying to relate learned topics with everyday real-life usage(this was interesting phase) it is cool to see who it is used.

Mantra: understand the topic, not to memories everything’s, forgetting is natural, apply 5w’s rule Who, What, When Where, and Why for each topic whichever is applicable

• Took Subscription “Studynotesandtheory”, gone through all videos, took practice question completed A-Z, very tough practice questions which never allowed me to pass at all, haha, :) everyday i took 25 question scored 55–60% in 2–3 hr(reading the answer, stared taking hand written notes and understanding them).
• Gone through YouTube “IT dojo” complete videos, stared taking hand written notes here too!

• subscribed to “official ISC2 CISSP app”, went through all questions (domain wise and practice questions, etc.), I was really good one, I took notes!, it will help you to keep all topic in finger tips, it will make you feel confident enough with conceptual wise.

• By the time it was almost 7–8 months now, again took infosec4tc questions, Shone Harris questions 5th edition and OSG back question, I was consistently scoring 65–70%, that gave me satisfaction, effort I put really worked I know we need to score >85% in practice question to be safer side, though I was clearing, some what better than before.

Become a Medium member I’m a working professional, so i need to take care of my personal life and professional life both are two eye for me, some time i get only 1hours, some time i get 4 hours(Jack Pot hours), someday I didn’t get time at all, that why it is consumed more time, progress was slow but I had patience and persistence.

• Brought Respected Shon Harris book and official CBK, for cross reference, gone through for selected/important topics.

This Phase Feelings: After taking 25 question from SNT everyday, The score and time period I took irritated , Annoyed, disturbed, dejected and pressed me, after completing those 25 question i used to go for casual walk outside, I motivated myself, this help me think I need to learn a lot, start again, this went for couple of months “6 months now preparation started” scores bar still the same, I went thorough failing the practice questions every day for months. though Luke and other experts informs to not go after numbers while practice, I completely agree but still end of exam numbers make me say, Abey yar!, hahaha, but learn lot of new thing I don’t know before (apart from my 3 domains(2 I work with everyday + 1 I was learnt even before CISSP). this handwork really help me and paid off !! “suffer today to rejoice tomorrow”(this is very very true with me, I know as I’m experience it now).

I continued jogging/exercise everyday, going to almighty premises once in a week, This activities which helped me to stay positive, fight again the situation, this made me feel Stronger!!! and I kept fighting.

In between business requirement to complete AWS Practitioner/Associate certification came in then almost took couple of months and half, i successfully passed AWS certification. after that

• Had some personal family issues, gave priority one to that and managed to sorted them and Brought them back to good.
• Back on the track, Resumed CISSP preparation again!!!

Stage 3: Entering Final kick or Final lap :)

All most year and month now, I revised and I could feel all topic ,jargon, words and term were familiar to me., still I was forgetting some, but majority of topics gave me confidence and hope for exam.

• Once again went through Sybex OSG, just revision of those underlined items and important points
• 11th hour CISSP- went through twice
• SNT flashcard
• Memory palace- last time revised twice
• Total tester- this was again difficult practice question, managed to get score 70–72%
• Boson questions — Domain wise (D1–84%, D2–80%, D3–80%, D4–70%, D5–80%, D6–88%, D7–72%, D8–70%), so worked week topics again.
• Again took all above exam practice questions now I can see automatically started scoring 75–80%
• After month I took only incorrect/wrong practice ones, avg of 30 incorrect question in each domains of previous exam, my score avg of 62%.
• Sunflower 2 version(went through 3 times)
• Think like manager — Good book, help you understand the key and expectation from CISSP exam.
• Especially ISC2 official CISSP app, which help me to learn conceptual wise this was enough for me to manage situation related question in Exam.
• Prabh Nair coffee shots
• My notes (important)
• by this time it was almost 6000 question from various sources(infosec4tc, Boson, SNT, ISC official app, OSG backside questions, test practices questions(shone Harris and Sybex questions), IT dojo, @Greenblat, prabh nair coffee shots )

After completing above i was consistently scoring 88–85%. now my heart said ALL GOOD TO GO!!, then i book for the exam and kept revising ,my notes concepts

My exam was scheduled morning 8AM, went to exam center, got verified with id and for mask they didn’t allowed which I was wearing, I was nervous and only had 2min for start of my exam, at that time one girl help me with acceptable one mask. I didn’t thanked her, however I wanted thank her for help via this post. When I received letter with “Congratulation” I thanked All.

Phase feeling: once I passed when i received Congratulation letter, I felt normal, completely neutral, but started enjoying happiness and completeness later after I woke up from a nap, from this I understood its the thought training time and grinding preparation phase is where we are spending lot of time, the result (wining or loosing) it is short period, great short moment!!. we want to make that short period positive result, with the help of long tough journey, so enjoy you preparation phase and go for the light at the end of tunnel.

Once you like or want to do one thing, Come what may, just achieve it !!!

Thank you to all good souls, who made me what I’m today!!!