Another year and a another certificate to pursue. This time round a addition to my CISSP certificate, trying to achieve CCSP. According to ISC2 a nice combination that is in demand. This are my experiences and opinions.

Course & Preparation

In preparation I bought the set of books earlier this year. Just to get a feel of the course material. And lo and behold, it is, a bit expected, quite similar to CISSP, a nice overlap in domains and it seems slightly easier. The type of questions and chosen language is the same. This is quite tough.

Online Course

This time I was not able to find the time or budget to attend a bootcamp. I would have liked to, but alas. Doing an online course is also an option. Not my preferred choice.

With my CISSP certification I was able to get a nice discount on the course.

The course kinda works, however when you have done a domain, it is not possible to go over the domain again. This is a shame. In one domain I had done 100% of the material, however my answers to the questions where below the threshold. And the course material is available for a limited time.

Exam Preparation

Again as preparation I got myself another subscription on the one certified iOS app. This time I choose the CCSP questions. This one did help. I became more and more confident that I should be able to pass the exam.

Exam

Part of the training was a voucher for the exam. And in case I would fail the first time, I could try again.

On the 21th of June, 2024 I tried my luck with the first exam. This time I was mentally better prepared. I was really on time, could start over 45m earlier then planned. And really took my time. I forced myself to really take it slow. Reading every question more then once, trying to understand the meaning and what answer would fit best. First read the answers, followed by the question itself.

This time some small changes to the exam, now I had to ‘just’ do 150 questions. Again you cannot move back, only forward. Once answered it is gone.

Like last time I took a break of 20 minutes. I had more then enough time. For the exam you get 4 hours, I had around 45 minutes remaining when I was done.

Result

When I was done, the outcome was very welcome: provisionally passed. I had a very nice weekend, still I had to go through an endorsement process. This took another 4 weeks to be processed.

On the 23rd of July, 2024 I got the email: Congratulations! Your certification application for CCSP has been approved.

Now I can finally add this certification to my list of certifications.

Conclusion

The self-study approach does work, but for me it is harder then a full immersion when attending a bootcamp. Forcing your self to do the course, and with this approach it is not possible to share doubts or have discussions with others following the same course. This type of interaction does make it harder for me to succeed.