In my profession we do a lot of testing in regards to PCI, so my work offered to pay for me to get my PCIP (PCI Professional Certification) I wanted to document my process in order to help others looking to pursue this certification.
I believe the reason you don't see many post on this topic is mostly due to the fact that the PCIP test is relatively easy, compared to a lot of other industry based tests. It's just a lot of memorization, nothing to complicated.
The exam consists of 60 multiple choice questions with 90 minutes to complete. You will have to take the exam at a testing center, however since this was taken during the covid-19 pandemic, they have an at home proctored exam option. It consisted of a turning on your web cam, taking a few pictures, and chatting with a monitor before taking your exam.
The majority of what you are going to be tested on can be found in the PCI document_library. Download the standards located here: https://www.pcisecuritystandards.org/documents/PCI_DSS_v3-2-1.pdf?agreement=true&time=1598635760393
I took the test for version 3.2.1, you might be testing for version 4 depending on when you read this.
Give the following requirements a bit more focus since I found quite a few questions from these areas.
• Requirement 1
• Requirement 6
• Requirement 8
• Requirement 10
• Requirement 11
Also remember time lines and all time frames. For example, how often do you need to conduct penetration tests?
Memorize this. It will help you recall which requirement covers which areas.
Make sure you understand what each one of these entails.
I focused more heavily on the PCI DSS requirements and testing procedures then on the guidance. However the best advice I can recommend is to create some kind of way to recall questions and answers by using a sort of flash card method.
I used Anki (https://apps.ankiweb.net/) which is a flash card program on steroids. You can copy paste just about anything into it to recall later. Here is a great video provided by our friends from Wild Wild Hack Fest that goes into more details about it.
Develop Technical Recall Skills: Spaced Repetition with Anki w/ Josh Wright (1-Hour)
Like I mentioned above, it wasn't too difficult and you shouldn't sweat it, but if you are going for it I hope some of this info might be useful.
