CISSP: Certified Information Systems Security Professional Study Guide
CDN$ 48.49
a CISSP exam cram indeed! - The quality and contents of Sybex CISSP Study Guide is equivalent to a CISSP Exam Cram. It is very very brief and basic, not focused. Not even useful for a supplement reading. The questions are too simple as Boson s. CISSP Prep Guide 2nd Edition is brief but focused. Questions are well-designed.Comparing the prices with two authotitative CISSP books ie CISSP All-in-1 and CISSP Prep Guide, this so-called crammed book is rather expensive.
Very good resource - I purchased and used both this text and the Shon Harris book. The text here is dry reading but very informative. As I got closer to taking the exam, I used it primarily for the practice exams and then used those to identify my weak areas. The practice exams give a very good breakdown by domain area of your strengths and weaknesses. I agree with another reviewer that the Shon Harris book is easier reading. If you are relatively new to the material and teaching yourself, you may want to go with that book as your primary text. However, if you are already pretty familiar with the material and knowledgeable about the technical aspect of networking, then this book would probably provide you more useful material. Both are outstanding texts but one is more useful than the other based upon where you are starting from.
Excellent Review Source - I recently took and passed the CISSP exam. I have approximately 10 years of IT experience, mostly on the network security end of things. My sole source of exam related study was this book. I found that I knew much of the material already, but this book definitely filled in all of the gaps. Since the CISSP requires a minimum of three years full-time experience (with a degree), I see no reason why someone couldn t pass the exam using only this book to fill in the missing information.
Great material -- just not enjoyable reading - As I took the CISSP exam, I kept thinking, ",he really knew what he was talking about.", If you were to know this book backwards and forwards, you would do well on the CISSP exam. However, this text suffers from a problem common among learning manuals -- if you didn t get a good sleep the night before you will be nodding off after only a few pages. It reads like a dictionary. Also, the summaries and tables were lacking in both quality and quantity.After having said that, I have to admit that this book probably helped me the most out of the four I used to prepare for the exam. While Shon Harris second edition of the All-In-One guide was much more readable and memorable, the content probably wasn t quite as good. Therefore, these two books probably tied as the ones on the top of my list were I to go through this process again.
Solid exam preparation tool - I must admit a soft spot for Sybex (and Ed Tittel) study guides, having used them extensively for Microsoft exams. This book follows in that tradition, providing a good balance between detailed explanation and comprehensive coverage of the exam topics.The bundled CD is useful. I raced through the 250 flash cards in an hour, which is good for jogging the memory. The four bonus exams, of 75 questions each, are good, but are not as difficult as the real thing. These exams provide grades broken down by each CISSP exam domain, which is excellent for identifying topics for revision.One book can not guarantee coverage of all CISSP exam topics, particularly given the long list of references on the CISSP suggested reading list. I also skimmed through a friend s copy of Shon Harris s ",All-in-One", exam guide. I would still rate this book higher, but Harris s book covers some topics in more detail then the Sybex book. The All-in-One practice exams are more difficult, though some of the questions are not clearly worded.The biggest disappoint I have with the exam preparation experience is with the CISSP s ten domains. The examination questions are based on good exam fodder from topics in the ten domains. The topics lean towards an academic approach to security, rather then knowledge needed by a working security professional.The other references I would strongly suggest to help to gain a security brain, as well as a high exam score include: Stephen Northcutt s Inside Network Perimeter Security , Ross Anderson s Security Engineering , and Syngress s Special Ops . Maybe I should take one of the SANS security exams, which are much more practical in nature.And best of luck with the exam!