I recently passed the CSSLP exam by studying part-time, primarily using AI-based methods. If you've ever felt overwhelmed by study materials or struggled to find comprehensive resources, this post is for you.

I relied heavily on Artificial Intelligence, and it made about 90% of my studying much more efficient and effective.

What is the ISC2 CSSLP?

First off, let's talk about the certification itself. CSSLP stands for Certified Security Software Lifecycle Professional. It's an ISC2 certification designed for professionals such as software developers, security architects, and anyone involved in developing secure applications.

It's not just about writing secure code; it emphasizes secure processes throughout the entire Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) – from planning and design to development, testing, deployment, and maintenance of software securely.

This "big picture" approach is what makes it tricky, but also incredibly important, especially since many organizations and developers struggle with integrating security into their SDLC.

Unlike the wildly popular CISSP, there is a noticeable lack of dedicated study materials for the CSSLP, which previously stopped me from pursuing it.

My AI-Powered Study Method

So, how did I leverage AI to overcome this challenge? It all started with pinpointing my weak spots.

  1. Initial Assessment & Targeted Study: I began by taking the official ISC2 pre-assessment. This 125-question test helped me identify my strong and weak domains. With this clear roadmap, I then directed AI tools like Claude and ChatGPT to generate questions specifically from the domains where I needed the most improvement
  2. Interactive Q&A for Deep Understanding: My prompts to ChatGPT were quite specific:

    "Ask me 20 questions for the ISC squared CSSLP exam, give me multiple-choice answers, and be sure to randomize the answers... Wait for me to answer each question and explain why I got something right or wrong before asking me the next question."

    This created an interactive study session. Immediately after answering, the AI would explain the correct answer and why my choice was right or wrong, offering instant feedback. This approach made studying manageable, allowing me to tackle questions in short bursts on my phone or desktop, without feeling like I was slogging through endless hours of material.
  3. Conversational Learning with Claude: Beyond traditional Q&A, I used Claude, ChatGPT, and Gemini for voice-based, conversational learning, although I favored Claude and ChatGPT in this area. I could literally talk to it as if it were a cybersecurity expert. This allowed me to ask "why" questions to delve deeper into topics. This dynamic interaction helped me gain a profound understanding of complex concepts, far beyond what I could memorize by reading a book.
  4. Content Distillation with Google's NotebookLM: This was a game-changer for tackling dry material. I took various sources – including official ISO standards, YouTube videos, and PDFs – and plugged them into Google's NotebookLM. The magic happened when it could distill hours of information into a concise, interactive, podcast-style audio. Imagine converting hours of dense material into an engaging one-hour audio that you can listen to while running or driving! As someone who struggles to absorb information solely from reading books, this feature made studying much more accessible and interesting.

The Impact: Efficiency, Accuracy, and Personalized Learning

Overall, my experience using AI for certification study was overwhelmingly positive. It made the process:

  • Highly Interactive: Engaging Q&A and conversational learning kept me actively involved1.
  • Mostly Accurate: The information provided was reliable and helpful.
  • Efficient: AI merged multiple sources into a single, concise piece of media, eliminating the need for extensive reading, cross-referencing, or note-taking.
  • Personalized: The AI adapted to my preferred study methods, making the learning process less daunting and more effective.

I passed the CSSLP exam about 10 days after registering, and I firmly believe AI was the primary driver of my success.

Looking Ahead

Would I use AI to study for another certification? Absolutely! In fact, I'm already planning my next one with AI by my side.

Here's a video that shows what I did.