CISSP

[CISSP_Candidate]

Hello - I am studying for the CISSP for Nov. and plan on taking the CISM in Dec as well. I have about 1 month after CISSP until CISM. Is this a good idea or should I spread them apart more? I've heard they are similar with the CISSP being a bit harder. Please let me know you think and why.

btw, I'm already a CISA.

[Jescoi]

Personally, I think it's advantageous to do it that way. I had my CISA and this past June I took my CISSP on June 4th and the CISM only 6 days later on June 10th and passed them both. A good deal of what you learn for the CISSP is valuable on the CISM and vice-versa. There is not a lot of study material for the CISM except an older book and the ISACA guides which I thought were very good, but pricey. The only mistake that I made, that fortunately didn't come back and bite me, is that I never even opened the ISACA manuals until after I took the CISSP and there was a lot of information that was new, that I now had to cram in 5 days. My personal advice is, if you are truly qualified with the experience necessary for both, then you have more than enough time between the tests. What I would highly recommend though, is if you use the ISACA CISM guides, read through them before the CISSP, because some CISSP concepts are actually explained better in the ISACA guides. Last note, I didn't think that the CISM was anywhere near as "tricky" as the CISA. I felt the questions were straightforward and didn't try to trick you (just for the sake of tricking you). The hardest part of the CISM is that there are a LOT of questions with those very definitive words like "MOST IMPORTANT", "LEAST CRITICAL", etc. that requires you to have spent the time to learn the info and really think through the information rather than just memorization. I almost ran out of time on the CISM (actually I handed my test in at the buzzer), because if you spend enough time on a question, you can quite likely figure it out, but you don't have that much time.

Again, this is my opinion, but you seem to be in the exact situation I was, and I thought it was advantageous. BUT, as I mentioned, if the get the ISACA guide, don't be fooled by how thin it is, it is just very concise.