Passed at 100 Questions
Clearing the CISSP exam felt unreal, especially when it ended at 100 questions with nearly 70 minutes remaining. This blog is my attempt to document the journey, resources, mindset, and lessons learned, and hopefully help others who are preparing for this certification.
I am a security generalist by role and passion. Over the years, I have worked across multiple areas including:
You can read more about my professional background here: https://tharvid.in/about.html
While I had strong hands-on experience across many CISSP domains, some areas (traditional Networking, Physical Security, and Asset Security) were almost completely new to me.
I also hold:
Thanks to the one-year experience waiver from AWS Security Specialty, my experience requirement meets the CISSP 5-year eligibility.
I was initially motivated to pursue CISSP by a colleague from my previous company. Later, my current manager, who is also a CISSP, strongly motivated and supported me throughout the journey. While I did not start serious preparation immediately, I was passively consuming CISSP-related content from February 2025, spending about 1 to 2 hours per week. The real preparation started in August 2025, when I purchased the Official CISSP CBK and Official Practice Tests. That is when I decided to take this seriously.
I started with the official CBK, but honestly, I never finished it. The language felt too dense and difficult for me. I used it more as a reference rather than a cover-to-cover study guide.
This was the best resource in my entire journey. It provided clear explanations, was beginner-friendly but still deep, and offered perfect CISSP mindset alignment. I had free access through my employer and completed the entire course in about 2 weeks. If I had to recommend only one resource, this would be it.
I purchased Andrew Ramdayal’s CISSP course, but completed only about 10%. I mostly watched mindset videos and attempted practice questions. The content felt repetitive to me because by then I was already well prepared. However, his CISSP mindset is extremely valuable.
I practiced a lot. This is where confidence came from.
I scheduled my exam at the Gurugram, India test center. I am from Rajasthan, but unfortunately, there was no CISSP test center available there. I had to travel nearly 600 km for the exam, but it was worth it.
The exam was scheduled for 1:00 PM. I reached the center at 12:00 PM and was allowed entry 30 minutes early. The check-in process was very strict but smooth, involving ID checks, palm vein scans, and test center rules documentation.
During the exam, I noted that questions were scenario-based, not fact-based. They required careful reading (often twice or thrice) as keywords mattered significantly. There was some keyboard noise in the testing hall, but I chose to continue without the provided headphones as they felt uncomfortable.
Suddenly, the exam ended and a survey appeared. I panicked. In the CISSP CAT format, stopping at 100 questions means you either did very well or very badly. I was convinced I had failed. After completing the survey, the staff handed me my result. "Congratulations!" That moment was pure joy.
Endorsement has been submitted with my relieving letters, offer letters, and AWS Security Specialty certificate. I am currently endorsed by another CISSP and waiting for the ISC2 review, which typically takes up to 6 weeks.
I am a hands-on security engineer, not a traditional manager. But CISSP does not require you to be a manager; it requires you to think broadly, understand end-to-end security, and apply common sense with a policy-first mindset. If you understand how systems actually work, you can think like a manager.
Best of luck to everyone preparing for CISSP! Feel free to reach out to me on LinkedIn if you have any questions: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tharvid
You have got this. 💪🔐