
Measured data
ISC2 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.
- 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.
| Domain | Blueprint | Questions | Single | Multi | Interactive | Complexity |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Access Controls | 15% | 19 | 7 | 6 | 6 | 1.9/10Gentle |
| Cryptography | 9% | 11 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 2.0/10Gentle |
| Incident Response and Recovery | 14% | 17 | 6 | 6 | 5 | 2.0/10Gentle |
| Network and Communications Security | 16% | 20 | 7 | 7 | 6 | 2.0/10Gentle |
| Risk Identification, Monitoring and Analysis | 15% | 19 | 7 | 6 | 6 | 1.9/10Gentle |
| Security Concepts and Practices | 16% | 20 | 7 | 7 | 6 | 2.0/10Gentle |
| Systems and Application Security | 15% | 19 | 7 | 6 | 6 | 1.9/10Gentle |
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.