Certified Information Privacy Professional (CIPP/US) Study Guide: Pass the IAPP's CIPP/US Exam with Ease!

Great Book! I purchased the 'official' CIPP/US text a couple of years ago and it is a valuable text that will live on my book shelf. I read it cover-to-cover, took about 20 pages of notes and studied them pretty much full-time for two weeks leading up to the test. And failed -- badly! The IAPP has settled on a strange combination of trivia-level minutiae combined with lawyer-grade "fact patterns" in writing their tests. Long story short, studying using the official text and practice test is a nearly hopeless exercise. It shook my confidence and I let it go for two years.But with the recent announcement that IAPP was arbitrarily doubling the cost and effort of passing the test starting in July, 2015 I really wanted to get some immediate return on my (personal) investment. The clincher for me was the money-back guarantee the author has posted at http://www.cippexam.com/. And after my first, abysmal, showing I fully expected to exercise that guarantee.I read the book cover-to-cover, carefully noting internal and external materials identified for extra study. I spent about two weeks immersed in this material, similar to my preparation using the official text. The big difference? PASSING THE TEST!!This is a much better investment than anything offered by the IAPP. Don't let the 'Hobo' font or 'MS-Publisher'-grade cover fool you: This is the real deal. Top marks for content and utility.Thanks, Mr. Watts. I'll try to reach you privately to reiterate this offer: the day you publish a CIPP/E guide on par with this one, I'll buy it and sign up to take the exam. Thanks for a great, and desperately needed, learning aid!I_Will**CIPP/US**

Watts writes well and clearly. I have read two of his books. They provide an excellent summary -- I stress the word summary -- of what you need to study to pass the CIPP exams. But anyone sitting for the exams should understand how challenging they are. I passed on my first try but invested an enormous amount of time studying for them. Watts provides a very clear, coherent introduction. But his books are merely the start.He provides an extensive set of sample questions for each exam. One could argue that his are the type of questions that ought to be on the exam. They are not. The exam. Questions are tougher. Passing requires actually knowing the answers. They deal with policy and statutory issues that do not lend themselves to guesswork.

I loved the Foundation test study guide but in my opinion, didn't find this one as helpful for my exam. It didn't have as much detail as the IAPP text book, especially re specific state laws and certain. Overall, I think it's a very good book and probably all one needs to pass the US exam. I used this as the key text for my studies but used the IAPP textbook (or Wiki) as an additional reference. I also took the IAPP class. I did pass the exam.

In my opinion, this book does not adequately cover the exam. I took the foundation exam 2 weeks ago and that study guide from John Watts covered everything you need to know for that exam, however this book does not. I just sat the CIPP/US exam today and the majority of questions asked on the exam, were not covered in this book. The areas it did cover, the book did not dive deep enough to cover the level of detail required by the exam. When you take the exam, know that there are many long scenario questions that will require you to be able to answer 5 or 6 questions on the same subject (ie. Sarbanes-Oxley, HIPAA, CALEA and etc...). Most laws and regulations in the book are only covered with a couple paragraphs in the text, which is not enough details to answer the questions on the exam.I take a lot of certification exams, this being the 10th I have earned in IA security/privacy, so trust me when I say this book is not enough!

Best $40 I spent for this test preparation guide. As other people mentioned it was the best balance of material and sample questions that I have seen. The books provided by the IAPP was too wordy and this book organized the materials in an easier format to digest the materials and content. Nonetheless, as of July 1st the format of the test is changing so they are combining the Foundations with the US privacy if you choose that track for certification, so not sure if the book will be of value and an updated manual will need to be published for the different test. I took and passed the test right before the deadline of the test changing.

This is not a complete waste. The book covers a lot of the topic that you will find on test I also recommend that you pick up another IAPP book since this one has a lot of information missing. Some of the topic that are in the test are not included and you will be shocked when you see them. The book as a log of great study questions which did come in handy. Don't let the "Money Back Guarantee" fool you. I failed and tried to get my refund and all I go was empty e-space.

Good:The information was well organized.Bad:The practice questions had each answer on the same page as the question, which made it difficult to do a self assessment without inadvertently seeing the answer. That was somewhat annoying.As other have mentioned, the actual exam was more detailed than the book practice questions, which meant that the practice questions weren't a significant value, which is a shame because they were the primary reason I got the book.This book also had information that was found neither in the official materials or on the test. There's enough to study without throwing useless trivia into the mix.All in all, not a bad supplementary text, but I wouldn't recommend relying on this alone.