ISC2 SSCP

Measured data

ISC2 logo

ISC2 SSCP

SSCP

We scored 125 real ISC2 SSCP exam questions 1-10 on question complexity and broke the result down by exam domain.

125 questions scored
7 domains
2.0/10 overall complexity

Complexity by exam domain

Higher scores mean more demanding question formats. The exam score is computed over the whole bank, not averaged across domains.

Exam complexity score2.0/10Gentle · measured across 125 bank questions
  • Access Controls19 questions · complexity 1.9/10 · Gentle

    32% multi-select · 0% scenario · 32% interactive

  • Cryptography11 questions · complexity 2.0/10 · Gentle

    36% multi-select · 0% scenario · 27% interactive

  • Incident Response and Recovery17 questions · complexity 2.0/10 · Gentle

    35% multi-select · 0% scenario · 29% interactive

  • Network and Communications Security20 questions · complexity 2.0/10 · Gentle

    35% multi-select · 0% scenario · 30% interactive

  • Risk Identification, Monitoring and Analysis19 questions · complexity 1.9/10 · Gentle

    32% multi-select · 0% scenario · 32% interactive

  • Security Concepts and Practices20 questions · complexity 2.0/10 · Gentle

    35% multi-select · 0% scenario · 30% interactive

  • Systems and Application Security19 questions · complexity 1.9/10 · Gentle

    32% multi-select · 0% scenario · 32% interactive

Full per-domain breakdown

Blueprint weight, bank size and question format mix for every domain of the exam.

DomainBlueprintQuestionsSingleMultiInteractiveComplexity
Access Controls15%197661.9/10Gentle
Cryptography9%114432.0/10Gentle
Incident Response and Recovery14%176652.0/10Gentle
Network and Communications Security16%207762.0/10Gentle
Risk Identification, Monitoring and Analysis15%197661.9/10Gentle
Security Concepts and Practices16%207762.0/10Gentle
Systems and Application Security15%197661.9/10Gentle

How the score is calculated

The formula is fixed and public, so anyone can reproduce these numbers from the same bank.

Every question in the ISC2 SSCP bank is measured on four signals that can be read directly from the database. Each signal is expressed as a share of the questions in the domain, and the four shares are combined with fixed weights:

  • Multi-select questions (40% weight). Items with more than one correct answer. The candidate has to find all of them, which is the single hardest format in the bank.
  • Scenario questions (30% weight). Questions longer than 150 characters, which describe a situation instead of a definition and therefore test reasoning rather than recall.
  • Interactive questions (20% weight). Items that require reading code or a configuration snippet.
  • Deep explanations (10% weight). Questions whose explanation runs past 300 characters, which signals a concept with real nuance behind it.

The combined share is multiplied by ten to produce a 1-10 score. The exam-level score is computed over the whole bank rather than averaged across domains, so a small domain cannot distort the total. Figures on this page are recomputed from the live bank on every crawl.

Data set: Certilum ISC2 SSCP Foundation question bank, 125 questions, 7 domains. Published by CERTILUM. This is Certilum’s own measurement of its own question bank and is not an official ISC2 statistic.

Questions analysed
125
Exam domains
7
Hardest domain
Cryptography (2.0)
Most approachable domain
Access Controls (1.9)
Question mix
45 single · 42 multi · 38 interactive
Measured on
Foundation

Frequently asked questions

What our ISC2 SSCP complexity numbers mean and how they are produced.