It looks like you've got a good strategy for exam day. Here's a
different strategy: the one that I used when I passed the exam 2 weeks
ago:
1) Make a first pass through the exam. Mark the answers of which you
feel somewhat confident in the booklet, and circle the question numbers
of the questions which you expect to have to give some more thought.
Don't take more than 15-20 seconds per question on this pass - if you
don't know the answer right away, circle the question and move on. I
completed this pass in roughly 90 minutes, and had 43 questions circled
at the conclusion.
2) Make a second pass through the exam, working on the circled
questions. I used a technique similar to the elimination method you
describe - one can usually eliminate 1 or 2 answers right away, making a
correct guess a little more likely. Some questions will have multiple
answers which seem correct. For these questions, remember Occam's Razor
- ("When multiple explanations are available for a phenomenon, the
simplest version is preferred.") I took 2 hours to complete this step,
after which I had 5 questions where I was completely stuck - I skipped
those, leaving them for the very end.
3) Go back through the entire test again, committing your answers to the
bubble sheet as you go. Re-read and recheck your answer for each
question. I changed about 20 answers on this pass, which took about
another 90 minutes.
4) At this point, I had a little under an hour left. I used this time
for those last 5 questions I skipped on the second pass. I was able to
answer 2 of them. For the other 3, I just picked something at random,
having no idea at all as to the correct answer. This took about 15-20
minutes.
5) The last thing I did before handing in the exam was to make sure that
I had filled in an answer for every single question on the test, that I
didn't have any double marks, and that my name and exam number were
correct. This took 5 minutes, at most.
Good luck!
Jon Amato
Principal Systems Administrator
Internet Security Systems
"Ahead of the Threat"
From: huang_qinghua [mailto:huang_qinghua@yahoo.com]
Sent: Sunday, March 13, 2005 7:28 AM
To: CISSP-Discuss@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [CISSP-D] Critique my CISSP Exam tackling technique
Hi,
I have thought of a plan to tackle the CISSP Exam. Please take a look.
1. Do not skip questions. For questions which one is unsure shade the
best answer u think at that time. Put a question at the side of the
question number or write down the question number to signify that the
question is in doubt and the need to review it later. My point is
that if one does skip questions, there is always the probability of
shading wrongly. It will be disasterous should one find out after the
250th question.
2. Double tick the answer one have chosen on the question paper. This
is a backup to enable the ease of checking once the candidate has
completed before the due time.
3. If completed ahead of time, check and recheck. No point leaving
the examination hall early. One had paid a substantial amount of cash
to take the exam. Utilize the full six hours (Enjoy the aircon :) )
4. 250 questions in 6hrs comes to 1.5 mins per question. Pace
yourself to that timeline. Never exceed uneccessarily.
5. If there comes a question with contradicting/similar answers. The
correct answer normally is the one which I thought of the first . Its
about the first impression is always the right one. In conclusion, if
you can't decide, rely on frist impressions. Maybe its me. But I find
this particularly effective. The mind worked in a way that, the more
you think of a problem. The more in doubt you are.
6. Use elimination methods. Weed out answers which are definitely
incorrect.
That's that. Will think of more on the way.
Kengwah (MBA)
Senior security Analyst
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