Customer Reviews

The Total CISSP Exam Prep Book: Practice Questions, Answers, and Test Taking Tips and Techniques

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Full Disclosure: I've worked with all of the contributing authors of this book and consider them friends of mine. I also consider each of them consummate professionals who truly know their stuff.

This book is NOT for those who are just beginning their study for the CISSP exam. It IS for those who are nearly ready to take the exam and simply need to ensure that they have a complete understanding of the 10 domains and the types of questions likely to be on the exam. (One reviewer states that some of the questions are unclear... well, *perhaps* that is true, but then again so are the questions on the actual exam. The purpose of this book is to prepare you for that exam and I believe it closely mirrors what you are likely to see when you sit for the CISSP test... therefore, the book accomplishes it's goal very well indeed.)

This book does not replace books such as Shon Harris' excellent "CISSP All-In-One Exam Guide". Nor does it try to do so. Nor should it. Shon's book is excellent for those who need full disclosure of all of the information covered in the ten domains... those who are just beginning their CISSP study. This book is more of of a polisher for those who already know most of the material and just need to find (and plug) knowledge gaps... and for that purpose, it is nothing short of outstanding!

In short, I highly recommend this book. It is not for everyone and most will need to work up to it. But if your almost ready to take the CISSP exam, then you should definately go through the questions in this book first.

Keith Palmgren, CISSP

There is some merit in reviewing this book before testing, but you would think that with all the contributors (9 being CISSPs), that the answers on the sample exam would be correct. Two of the first 100 questions (#67 and #97) of the sample exam are wrong and a handful of others were borderline. Even though they may have quoted other sources, being a CISSP, the authors should have known difference.

While studing for the CISSP exam, my time is best used for absorbing facts, not proofreading. I did not finish the sample exam for fear of committing errors to memory (my protection domain).

However, in all fairness, the questions segmented by domain appear to be of better quaility.

This is a great guide to support your CISSP prep.

It should not be your main guide, rather it is to be used to help you assess how you are progressing in your studies.

This review is more of a reply to the previous review which stated `Buy a Different Prep Book'.

Full disclosure: I was a technical editor for this book and work with some of the authors.

First off, at 300 pages, this book comes close to its title of `The Total CISSP Exam Prep Book'. The main function of a prep guide is to prepare the test taker for the nature of the questions and answer. If someone is looking for tips such as bring extra pencils and eat a lot of carbohydrates before the test, this book expects a mature reader and does not give such simple advice.

Each section gives a good overview of what the test taker needs to know about that part of the CBK.

The question and answer section gives the reader a very good overview of the nature of what to expect on the CISSP exam.

The Total CISSP Exam Prep Book is obviously not going to be as comprehensive as Shon Harris's book, since Harris's book is nearly three times the size and 5 times the weight.

If you are looking for a CISSP Test Taking for Dummies book, look elsewhere. But if you are looking for a first-rate guide to preparing for the CISSP exam, this is a fine choice.

First, this isn't really a "prep" book. All it has are questions and answers. And the questions aren't that clear, or even based on current info. Better test questions and real prep material can be found in the Wiley CISSP Prep Guide and the Shon Harris All in One Guide.

THis book is very useful for preparation of CISSP exam. Received the book in good condition and i am very happy with the seller.

The Total CISSP Exam Prep Book is not a well constructed book for the purposes of studying for the CISSP exam. It lacks theory, it just provides questions and answers, with the answers right in sight of the questions. Also, are the questions even relevant for the current exam, if so then there lies a flaw within the CISSP certification process with so much of the emphasis placed on the rote memorization of test material. So even if you want to just practice by answering the questions, the answers placed where they are makes it too easy for your eyes to stray to the answers.

If I would have paid the suggested retail price for this book I would have felt really, really disappointed, as it was paying a fourth of that cost I still am really disappointed.

If you don't need CISSP theory - this book for you, because it consist of just questions and answers with lot of references to additional books, related to questions.
But if you haven't free time to check\pass\read these references lists - it's not for you, you must read some theoretical book before exam, I think. I suppose, you don't need tips, lake "take breaks" or something like this too.

Some of the questions contained in this book seem to come from other sources.

I also found that the questions were unclear, poorly phrased, and contained discrepancies.