How I passed the CSX Fundamentals within one month

 How I passed the CSX Fundamentals within one month

Hi Guys, My name is Trevor Shi. I just passed the CSX within one month.

I would like to share some experience maybe it will help you guys to prepare the exam.

One of the funny things was, I used one month to learn it. But I spent the other one month to book the exam. I re-booked 5 times of exam as ISACA PSI online exam application has lots of issues. 

I met every situation you can imagine. The first-time ISACA website down, the second-time they canceled my booked without excuse, the third-time application couldn't open, and the Fourth time was my fault, I just missed the exam. Finally, I got this certificate.

We had a small group named CyberRookie, It just like an unorganized cyber knowledge self-studying group, we are trying to be more organized. So the purpose of this article is as a guideline of the CyberRookie Project CSX certification learning method.

A. The Cybersecurity Fundamentals Certificate

The Cybersecurity Fundamentals Certificate is a knowledge-based certificate offered by ISACA. As part of ISACA’s Cybersecurity Nexus (CSX) program, the certificate is particularly relevant for recent college/university graduates and those looking for a career change to cybersecurity.

It is the perfect way to quickly train entry-level employees and ensure they have the knowledge they need to be successful. 

ISACA: Introduction of CSX

https://cybersecurity.isaca.org/csx-certifications/csx-fundamentals-certificate

B. Exam details

The Cybersecurity Fundamentals Certificate exam is an online, closed-book, remotely proctored

exam. It covers five domains and includes a total of 75 questions.

Each multiple-choice question has four options with only one correct answer.

C. Cost of the cybersecurity fundamentals exam

199.00 US Dollars, around 264 CAD.

ISACA Cybersecurity Fundamentals Certificate Exam Guide

https://cybersecurity.isaca.org/csx-certifications/csx-fundamentals-certificate

D. My previous experience

A bit of my background. I have a Bachelor's degree in IT, 3 years of IT work experience in China, then I went to a business path in the past 3 years. 

Recently, I decided to back IT. I normally wouldn’t say that work experience is helpful on a certification exam.  I would recommend to everyone looking to take the exam to carefully look at the ISACA Cybersecurity Fundamentals Study Guide.

As a person who's English is not that well, The most difficult part in CSX for me is the way they used English. The complex English vocabulary and pronunciation drive me crazy. I spent lots of time to deal with them. 

So I certainly believe if I can pass the exam, of course, your guys can pass it too.

E. My study path

I participated in the CultureLink Toronto Cybersecurity program in August, CultureLink is a settlement and community organization with more than 30 years’ experience in developing and delivering services to meet the needs of diverse communities. 

They provide in-class and online CSX free training program, It is a high-quality program, they invite experienced people who worked in security different domains to coach students. 

I recommend you to participate if you have the chance. Check out the website to find more details:

https://www.culturelink.ca/events/cybersecurity-training-program/

I got the Cybersecurity Fundamentals Study Guide and mock exam questions from CultureLink. Unfortunately, at that time I was structuring with looking for an IT job, so I didn’t pay any attention to the training course, I absent most of the classes.

Recently, I decided to go for certification. I spent 5 weeks to re-learn the CSX exam. I spent about 2 hours a day, 5 days a week. There are 6 sections in the book, I put 1 and 6 sections together, learn one of the sections each day.

The material I used is Cybersecurity Fundamentals Study Guide 2nd edition, based on this book, I used different learning tools to create some materials, like quizlet and mind-map.

F. Study plan

1. First week

a. Scan the book quickly, get a general idea about topics, get familiar with terms.

b. Do the section knowledge check in the study book.

Like I said, in the first week, I spent lots of time to recognize the vocabulary. That's the most difficult part for me.

2. Second week

a. Use material "01 CultureLink CSX Students Learning PPT" and, review the key points and re-read each section. 

b. Use Draw.io or Coggle to create a mind-map for each section.

c. Do the mock exam questions each section.

3. Third week

a. Review mock exam questions.

b. Review book, use Quizlet to create a flashcard set(or find a good flashcard set in Quizlet).

4. Fourth week
a. Check "APPENDIX A-KNOWLEDGE STATEMENTS", find out Knowledge of blind spots.
b. According to 'Appendix A', re-read the book, use the page marker to make a page indexes.

5. Fives week
a. Use mind-map, flashcard to review the book.
b. Use mind-map, flashcard to test yourself.

G. The learning materials and tools
The main material I  used is Cybersecurity Fundamentals Study Guide 2nd edition. I will share with your guys some learning materials created by me based on the Study book in GitHub and Google Drive.

Material lists

01 Cybersecurity Fundamentals Study Guide 2nd edition(physical book)
02 CultureLink CSX Students Learning PPT
03 CyberRookie CSX Mock Exam Questions
------------------
As Intellectual property protection, these three materials will not be shared. If you are living in GTA, CA, you can go for taking the CultureLink course.

For people who can't go for CultureLink: 
For 01 a physical book, you can purchase on Amazon.
For 02 PPT, it's an outline, you can find all the details in the study book, or use 04 to instead.
For 03 practice questions, I collected some similar practice questions online, put it into 09 CyberRookie CSX Practice Questions set. You can use those to practice.
---------------------------

04 CSX Fundamentals 2 Days-Led Course PPT
05 CSX Fundamentals - Knowledge Statements
06 CSX Fundamentals - ExamGuide
07 CyberRookie CSX Mindmap
08 CyberRookie CSX Quizlet
09 CyberRookie CSX Online Practice Questions Set
https://quizlet.com/_54wsyv?x=1jqt&i=26bu7y
https://quizlet.com/71321208/quiz-questions-flash-cards/
https://quizlet.com/415375694/csx-exam-flash-cards/
https://www.proprofs.com/quiz-school/story.php?title=cybersecurity-fundamentals_20v
https://quizizz.com/admin/quiz/5b0ffc0e97804000196a3ebb/cybersecurity-fundamentals-final-exam
https://www.cram.com/flashcards/security-fundamentals-practice-exam-questions-3503518
https://www.techveze.com/exam-98-367-security-fundamentals-practice-test-1/

10 CSX Fundamentals Certificate Practice Quiz(ISACA online quiz)

http://www.isaca.org/cyber/pages/self-assessment.aspx?id=100000&utm_referrer=
11 Some online EXAM reviews
https://www.peerlyst.com/posts/csx-fundamentals-certificate-workshop-review-nicole-lamoureux
https://community.infosecinstitute.com/discussion/131635/isaca-csx-f-pass

Tool Lists:

Mind-map tools:

Draw.io https://www.draw.io/

Coggle   https://coggle.it/

Flashcard tools:

Quizlet  https://quizlet.com/

The Quizlet set I used:

https://quizlet.com/trevorshi/folders/cyberrookie-csx-fundamentals?x=1xqt&i=26bu7y

Shared some learning materials created by me:
GITHUB:

https://github.com/trevor-shi/CyberRookie.git

Google Drive:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/10Qm_m335y8kZggolQlKCwCKMwCCRKOPU/view?usp=sharing

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1os0KfILxj4LxKPPJiK0vdI2Wo5ZMvYXp/view?usp=sharing

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1jTs8AWZVU3DdIDLJ5FMpW0YxCv2YOhNm?usp=sharing

https://drive.google.com/file/d/14f2c4hv9bEdD5OIRAesJxbG6Z6cemu71/view?usp=sharing

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1NImN7tSCYf8FAwHrfWQ33p11QUCcCxw0/view?usp=sharing

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/19we0lNYtNQSgwbCqHXkptxhTwXgraQJn?usp=sharing

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Vw4TEd8SSGa7TB_bh6YrbcFUAOlVQaf8/view?usp=sharing

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1jqSDNXF3XlTGbFAxVPLi0hyKb2rMeVrv/view?usp=sharing
H. Some tips

1. Before the exam, double-check your ISACA account user name match the ID, double-check your exam time.

2. Before the exam, if exam application loading too long, try to clean the browser cache, restart the application. 

I. Secret weapon 

More than half of the exam questions are just like the questions we have practiced via Quizlet. But the other questions are a litter bit tricky. They don't just test you how you remember the definition, they test you how you understand the definition too, they put the teams into a different situation, let you identify the definition.

I am sure there are more than 3 of the questions I have never seen before in the book or practice questions. 

For people who really want to get the certification and still have questions about the exam, you can contact me, I would like to sharing you some of the learning experience and how to prepare the exam more effectively.

Ok, it's about it. I hope it can help you guys to better prepare the CSX exam.

Any questions regarding CSX certification or Materials, you can reach me at qc.trevor.shi@gmail.com.

Have fun and good luck.

Trevor Shi