Took my exam yesterday and it cut me off after the 100 question mark. I filled up the endorsement form and the waiting game begins. Special thanks to @Vincent Primiani for building such a supportive, encouraging community. More details: Exam prep: Materials (most helpful to least helpful): Kelly Handerhan CISSP audio, Pete Zerger's exam cram, Destination cert videos on youtube, clarification of concepts and application on ChatGPT, Prabh Nair coffee shots, Destination cert book, Sybex CISSP prep book. I learn well on videos (visually) and brief explanations - don't judge me on the books being last on the prep. Questions (only free stuff): Destination cert app, Learnzapp app, Andrew Ramdayal 50 hard cissp questions, Daily questions from @Vincent Primiani , youtube videos from just about every channel that said "CISSP question #", ChatGPT and Gemini daily quizzes, random questions on quizlet. These help boost confidence in the material that you know but are definitely not representative of the exam questions. Also important, your prep should stop a week before your exam. You need let the information soak and become second nature when you encounter a practice question - Ex: something something HTTPS - relevant concepts: Diffie Hellman key exchange, symmetric+asymmetric, port 443, App layer security, TLS, etc. Find keywords in the question and stuff associated with it should just flow through your brain automagically. Honestly nothing can fully prepare you for the exam. The best kind of practice questions are questions that offer scenarios and give you options to pick the best/least/first/last choice. Generally all answers are correct, some are more correct than others. My exam experience was very familiar to the PMP last year at the same location and cleared it, so similar that I got assigned the same computer, lol! Although the test gives you 180 minutes, you lose about 4 minutes out the gate with the NDA and other administrative stuff. Also, bring two different IDs.

A company migrates sensitive business data to a shared analytics environment used by multiple departments. Data accuracy issues emerge, but no single group can authorize correction because ownership is unclear. Leadership wants faster decisions without creating a centralized bottleneck. What is the MOST appropriate governance action to take FIRST? A. Assign a single enterprise data steward for all analytics data B. Define data ownership and decision authority at the dataset level C. Implement stricter change control over analytics transformations D. Increase audit logging for data modifications and access Come back for the answer tomorrow, or study more now!

A company uses red team exercises to validate detection and response capabilities. After several successful simulations, leadership concludes incident readiness is high. An independent review finds that scenarios are reused and defenders have begun anticipating tactics. Management wants realistic assurance without increasing test frequency. What is the MOST appropriate change to make? A. Rotate red team members to reduce defender familiarity B. Introduce threat informed testing with adaptive scenario design C. Increase reliance on automated attack simulation tools D. Separate detection and response teams during exercises Come back for the answer tomorrow, or study more now!

In a financial services firm, which strategy BEST balances security needs with operational efficiency amidst budget constraints? A. Implement automated patch management B. Conduct regular security audits C. Adopt a zero-trust architecture D. Enhance user authentication methods

A financial institution uses continuous control monitoring to support regulatory examinations. During a supervisory review, regulators challenge whether reported control effectiveness constitutes “reasonable assurance,” given that testing criteria, thresholds, and exception handling are defined by the same team operating the controls. Leadership wants defensible assurance without dismantling automation. What is the MOST appropriate action to take NEXT? A. Rotate control owners periodically to reduce familiarity bias B. Establish independent assurance criteria and validation over monitoring logic C. Increase sampling depth and testing frequency across automated controls D. Supplement dashboards with annual external audit attestations Come back for the answer tomorrow, or study more now!