Didn't really plan on posting this but I've seen a few people asking about CIPT prep lately so figured I'd share my experience since I just got through it last week.
So yeah. Passed. Felt weird because honestly I didn't feel ready going in but apparently I knew more than I thought.
The first few weeks were basically wasted.
I'm not exaggerating. I was just reading through the material, highlighting stuff, making notes in a little notebook like I was back in college. Felt productive. Was not productive. I could read a whole section and then immediately not be able to explain what I just read. The privacy frameworks stuff especially just wasn't sticking at all.
I kept telling myself I'd start doing practice questions "soon." Pushed it off way longer than I should have.
The shift happened kind of by accident.
Someone in a Discord server I'm in mentioned they'd been using ITExamTopics for their prep. I'd never heard of it. Looked it up, figured I'd try it since what I was doing clearly wasn't working.
Started doing the practice questions and it was immediately obvious how much I didn't actually know. Like I thought I understood the privacy by design concepts but the questions exposed a lot of gaps. That's the thing about just reading you can trick yourself into thinking you get it.
What I liked was being able to see explanations for why answers were right or wrong. That part helped more than any of my notes did.
General takeaway if you're studying for this:
Stop reading and start testing yourself. Seriously. Passive studying feels comfortable but it's lying to you. The discomfort of getting questions wrong is actually where the learning happens.
CIPT isn't the hardest exam out there but the concepts are nuanced enough that you really need to apply them, not just memorize definitions.
Anyway. Glad it's done. If you're currently prepping and have questions, ask away. Happy to help if I can.
So yeah. Passed. Felt weird because honestly I didn't feel ready going in but apparently I knew more than I thought.
The first few weeks were basically wasted.
I'm not exaggerating. I was just reading through the material, highlighting stuff, making notes in a little notebook like I was back in college. Felt productive. Was not productive. I could read a whole section and then immediately not be able to explain what I just read. The privacy frameworks stuff especially just wasn't sticking at all.
I kept telling myself I'd start doing practice questions "soon." Pushed it off way longer than I should have.
The shift happened kind of by accident.
Someone in a Discord server I'm in mentioned they'd been using ITExamTopics for their prep. I'd never heard of it. Looked it up, figured I'd try it since what I was doing clearly wasn't working.
Started doing the practice questions and it was immediately obvious how much I didn't actually know. Like I thought I understood the privacy by design concepts but the questions exposed a lot of gaps. That's the thing about just reading you can trick yourself into thinking you get it.
What I liked was being able to see explanations for why answers were right or wrong. That part helped more than any of my notes did.
General takeaway if you're studying for this:
Stop reading and start testing yourself. Seriously. Passive studying feels comfortable but it's lying to you. The discomfort of getting questions wrong is actually where the learning happens.
CIPT isn't the hardest exam out there but the concepts are nuanced enough that you really need to apply them, not just memorize definitions.
Anyway. Glad it's done. If you're currently prepping and have questions, ask away. Happy to help if I can.