CCSK Journey By Manasdeep

I started reading CSA guidelines around the first week of May 2020. Due to my work commitments, I was having a hard time sitting down and read the material properly. A lot of interruptions happened during my CCSK studies. It was then I understood the importance to have a fixed schedule and dedicated time to do things. From June 2020 onwards, I promised myself that I’d dedicate at least 2 hours per week for the exam and finish up the material by July end.

Coincidently, around same time, Cyberfrat announced that CCSK training classes shall be starting from July 2020 month. I intensified my studies to around 4 hours per week and had covered around 2/3rd of the CSA guideline stuff back then. For last 2 weeks in July, I intensified my studies for last 4 chapters and ENISA document and completed them. CCSK training classes helped me to revise and reinforce my concepts for first 5 chapters which gave me good confidence about my preparation.

I tried practicing questions for CCSK by google search and going through free practice tests. However, I found the answers were frequently referring back to the preparation documents in exam prep kit. I decided to drop my plan for practice questions and instead focus on learning exam preparation documents better.

Finally, on 31st July 2020 late night, I started my exam. Using a disciplined approach, I started answering questions one by one. A few of them had some confusing options as distractors. I marked them for later review and moved ahead. With 30 min remaining, I inched towards my last 60th question.

Now the fun part came. When I started my review marked questions, a lot of them required careful reading which took me by surprise. I made sure that I was reviewing them properly using the 3 documents recommended by CSA. By the time I reached last 8 questions, the clock showed 2 mins remaining. With 4 seconds on the clock, I quickly submitted my last review question. Last few seconds were feeling like full minutes to me.

At last, the screen appeared with a pass grade of 81% from the 80% cutoff score. A huge wave of relief and excitement came over me. I literally jumped from my chair. I had successfully cleared the CCSK exam around 20 mins past midnight of Aug 1, 2020.

Check FAQ on CCSK exam by Manasdeep