Boson ExSim CISSP Alternative: Take a Free CISSP Practice Exam (then $39 lifetime, not $99/yr)
Wondering about the wider picture? How much Boson ExSim costs in 2026 - the per-certification breakdown, what the annual renewal really adds up to, and where Boson is the better buy.
FigigExams is a free, full-length alternative to Boson ExSim-Max for CISSP. You can take a complete CISSP practice exam free, with no credit card, written in the manager-perspective style the real exam tests, with full explanations and a personalized Exam Coach that diagnoses your weak concepts across all eight CBK domains. If you keep going, the full three-exam pack is $39 with lifetime access instead of around $99 a year for Boson ExSim-Max. Here is the honest side-by-side so you can decide.
Skip the comparison - test it yourself
Try a CISSP practice exam in the FigigExams manager-perspective style, with full Explanations and Exam Tips on every item and the personalized Exam Coach when you finish. Create an account on the next screen, the code auto-applies. No credit card.
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In This Guide
Why I wrote this page
If you've searched for a Boson CISSP alternative, you already know the landscape. Boson ExSim-Max for CISSP is the industry-standard CISSP practice exam - six full-length exams, 900 questions, mapped to all eight domains, with a reputation built over more than a decade. If you can afford it and the format fits you, it's a safe choice, and nothing on this page is going to change that.
This article is for a specific group of candidates:
- Candidates who want a cheaper option - $39 with lifetime access instead of around $99 a year that expires.
- Candidates who want to try before paying a premium. Boson does not publish a free trial exam.
- Candidates who want a different kind of feedback. Not just a score and per-question explanations, but a concept-level diagnosis that tells them: "you miss risk-prioritization questions," not "you scored 62% on Security and Risk Management."
I'm a senior network and security engineer. I built FigigExams because I kept watching strong people pass practice exams, read the explanations, and still not know which concepts were actually holding them back. So I built the tool I wished existed, a practice exam that talks back to you at the concept level. This page is my honest take on where it fits next to Boson for CISSP, and where it doesn't.
The free Boson ExSim alternative for CISSP
If you searched for a free Boson alternative, Boson ExSim free, or a free Boson CISSP practice test, this is the part that matters: Boson ExSim-Max does not publish a free version of the full exam, but FigigExams does. You can take a complete full-length CISSP practice exam free, no account upgrade and no credit card, with the manager-perspective question style, an explanation and exam tip on every item, and the personalized Exam Coach when you finish.
It's the closest thing to trying Boson ExSim for free: a full-length, exam-realistic CISSP practice test you can sit start to finish at no cost. If it helps and you want more reps, the full three-exam pack is $39 with lifetime access rather than around $99 a year - so even the paid path stays a fraction of Boson's price, and it never expires.
Start the free CISSP practice examCode CISSP-EXAM-FULL auto-applies on the next screen. No credit card. Free full practice exam, not just sample questions.
What Boson ExSim-Max for CISSP does well
Credit where it's due. Boson ExSim-Max for CISSP is a polished, serious product. The question bank is deep - six full-length exams, 900 questions - the explanations are detailed and reference the source material, and the items are well-calibrated to the difficulty and manager-perspective framing of the live CISSP. Boson also backs it with a No Pass, No Pay guarantee: if ExSim-Max doesn't help you pass, you're eligible for a refund. That's a real commitment, and it's more than most practice products offer.
Boson even makes the same core promise I do: if you can pass ExSim-Max for CISSP, you're ready for the live exam. They're right to. Boson ExSim-Max for CISSP is listed at around $99 per year, and access is time-limited. None of what follows is an attack on Boson - FigigExams solves a slightly different problem, for a different budget.
Side-by-side: Boson ExSim-Max for CISSP vs FigigExams CISSP
The Boson figures below reflect their public product listing for ExSim-Max for CISSP. Check Boson's site for current pricing and access terms, I do not control their catalog.
| Feature | Boson ExSim-Max for CISSP | FigigExams CISSP |
|---|---|---|
| Price | ~$99 / year | $39 once, all three exams, for life One payment · never expires |
| Access model | Time-limited (annual), renews yearly | Lifetime access, no expiration |
| Free tier | No (No Pass, No Pay refund instead) | Yes free sample questions plus a free try of the full exam |
| Practice exams | 6 exams, 900 questions | 3 exams, 336 questions in total |
| Results analysis | Score, domain breakdown, per-question explanations + references | Score, concept-level breakdown, weak-domain analysis, personalized study plan, readiness score, follow-up chat with a Personal Exam Coach |
| Personal Exam Coach | No | Yes per-attempt weak-concept diagnosis with follow-up chat |
| Manager-perspective framing | Yes | Yes built on the technical-vs-strategic fault line, with the Coach explaining why |
| Money-back guarantee | Yes (No Pass, No Pay) | No - but it's $39 once, lifetime, with a full exam free first and 30 days to ask for your money back |
Accuracy matters, so the Boson column intentionally avoids details I cannot verify from outside their product. If any of the Boson figures above are out of date on their site, please email me at contact@figigexams.com and I will correct this page.
Where FigigExams stands out: the Personal Exam Coach
This is the single feature I am most proud of, and the reason I built FigigExams in the first place. Every exam attempt produces a personalized report. Below is a static preview of what that report looks like for a candidate who scored about 61% on a CISSP practice exam (the CISSP CAT passes at 700/1000, so this candidate is not ready yet). Everything is concept-level, not just domain-level, and it covers all eight CBK domains.
This is 16% of the exam and your most strategic domain, so it's first. The misses cluster where the exam rewards the manager's order of operations - identify and assess risk before selecting a control - and on the arithmetic of quantitative risk (SLE = AV x EF, ALE = SLE x ARO). Memorize the risk-treatment sequence cold; it decides more questions than any single fact.
Solid. You know the data-classification hierarchy and the difference between the data owner (accountable) and custodian (operational). The only gap is the scoping-vs-tailoring vocabulary for baselines. No remedial work needed, just a quick review.
The security models trip you up: Bell-LaPadula = confidentiality (no read up, no write down), Biba = integrity (no write up, no read down), Clark-Wilson = well-formed transactions. You also picked the wrong crypto for the goal a few times. Review the cryptography and PKI guide, most of it maps straight onto this domain.
This is where your engineering background pays off. Layer mapping, secure-protocol pairs, and segmentation are second nature. The only miss is the IPsec detail - AH = integrity/authentication only, ESP = encryption + integrity. One flashcard closes it.
You know the authentication factors, but the access-control models blur together under exam pressure: MAC is label-based and system-enforced, DAC is owner-discretion, RBAC is role-based, ABAC is attribute/policy-based. The federation trio also needs pinning down - SAML = enterprise SSO (XML), OAuth = authorization, OIDC = authentication on top of OAuth.
Mostly in place. The gaps are the audit-report taxonomy - SOC 2 = security/availability controls (restricted), SOC 3 = the public version - and distinguishing black-box, white-box, and grey-box coverage. Both are pure memorization wins.
Attack this domain next. The incident-response phases (detect, respond, mitigate, report, recover, remediate, lessons learned) are a guaranteed question - memorize them in order. Nail the recovery-metric pair: RTO = how long you can be down, RPO = how much data you can lose. Chain-of-custody sequence questions also cost you points here.
The lifecycle model is clear. Tighten the testing distinction - SAST = static, reads source without running it; DAST = dynamic, tests the running app - and refresh the OWASP Top 10 categories. This domain is only 10% of the exam, so it's a lower-priority polish once the weak domains above are handled.
This is an example output. Every exam produces a personalized report tailored to your specific answers, your weakest concepts, and a study plan ordered by impact on your score. Try a free CISSP practice exam to see your own breakdown →
The two things that hold a candidate's attention from question 1 to 125
The Exam Coach is what you see at the end of the exam. The two sections below are what you see during and after each question, and they are what most CISSP candidates remember about FigigExams. Test it yourself rather than take my word for it: the full exam is free with the code at the bottom.
Question styles built for the CISSP CAT · including the manager-perspective items that decide the exam
Straight recall questions get most of the attention, but the "what do you do FIRST / BEST" items are where CISSP candidates actually pass or fail, because they force you to answer as a risk manager, not an engineer. FigigExams builds those judgment items into every CISSP exam version, alongside the drag-and-drop advanced items and the multi-response questions.
Pick one correct option. The classic multiple-choice item, sharpened to the CBK.
- ○ Biba
- ● Bell-LaPadula
- ○ Clark-Wilson
- ○ Brewer-Nash
Pick all that apply. Punishes guessing, rewards understanding.
- ☑ Fingerprint
- ☐ Smart card
- ☑ Retina scan
- ☐ PIN
Match labels to slots. The CISSP "advanced innovative item" format, under exam-like UI.
A realistic situation where several answers look right. You pick what to do FIRST, in the manager's order of operations.
Every option is defensible. The exam wants the BEST one - and it is almost always the risk-based, not the tool-based, answer.
Compute the number, then decide. Tests whether you can turn risk into a defensible dollar figure.
- ○ $50,000
- ● $25,000
- ○ $100,000
- ○ $12,500
Boson covers single-answer, multiple-response, and drag-and-drop items at a high standard. The advantage on the FigigExams side is that the manager-perspective judgment items - "what do you do FIRST" and "which is BEST" - are baked into every exam version, and the Exam Coach tells you why the strategic answer beat the technical one, so you internalize the reasoning instead of memorizing one case.
Exam Tips on every single question
Boson, ExamTopics, every other CISSP practice test ships one block per item: a paragraph of explanation. We bundle a second block on every question - the memorize-this-table version of the concept being tested, written by a certified engineer, not crowdsourced. This is the part candidates pull up as their final-week cheat sheet, and it's in the free version too.
Q: An organization discovers a critical web application has no monitoring and is exposed to the internet. Management asks the security team what to do. Which action should be taken FIRST?
Deploying an IDS is a technically reasonable action, which is exactly why it's the trap. On the CISSP, you never implement a control before you understand the risk it's meant to address. The manager's order is identify and value the asset, assess the risk, then select and implement the appropriate control. Jumping to "deploy IDS" skips the two steps that justify the spend and could apply the wrong control entirely. The right first move is the risk assessment - it drives everything after it.
The CISSP manager order to memorize: Identify asset → value it → assess risk → select control → implement → monitor. Risk treatment options: avoid, mitigate/reduce, transfer, accept - and the right answer is usually one step earlier than the engineer instinct. Trap on this exam: any option that starts with "implement," "deploy," or "install" a specific tool is almost never the FIRST step. Look for the option about understanding or assessing the risk - that is the manager's answer.
The Explanation teaches the question. The Exam Tips teach the concept the question is testing - the manager-perspective pattern you'll see again in a different shape on the real exam. It's why the Exam Coach above can give a concept-level breakdown rather than just a domain-level one.
Skip the comparison - test it yourself
Try a CISSP practice exam free, in the manager-perspective style, with full Explanations and Exam Tips on every item and the personalized Exam Coach when you finish. Create an account on the next screen, the code auto-applies. No credit card.
CISSP-EXAM-FULL
Try the exam free
Already have an account? Log in to start · Returning candidates land on the same screen.
Pass all three practice exams with margin, and the real exam stops being a gamble. It becomes a formality.
Boson says it plainly: if you can pass ExSim-Max for CISSP, you're ready for the live exam. I make exactly the same promise with the three-exam pack - and I'll be precise, because honesty is the only thing worth selling on a $749 exam. Nobody can guarantee your pass; the CAT is run by (ISC)², not me. But one practice exam can lie to you on which questions surface. Three full-length exams across all eight domains cannot. Pass all three with real margin - consistently in the 80s, not scraping 71% - and you've proven the stable, broad, manager-level competence the CISSP is built to measure. That's not hope. That's evidence, three times over.
You're ready when…
- You can pass all three exams, not just your favourite one.
- Your scores are consistently in the 80s, not scraping the line.
- No single CBK domain is dragging your readiness down.
- You instinctively pick the strategic answer over the technical one.
The manager-perspective edge
The CISSP is not a technical exam. It's a manager-perspective exam disguised as a technical one, and the most common reason strong engineers fail is answering as the engineer they are instead of the CISO the exam wants them to be.
Most CISSP questions deliberately offer one answer that is technically correct and one that is strategically correct. The strategic answer wins. "Implement IDS" is rarely the right CISSP answer; "establish a baseline and risk assessment first" usually is. For risk questions, the order is almost always identify, assess, mitigate, then transfer or accept - and the right choice is usually one step earlier than the engineer instinct. FigigExams questions are written to that fault line on purpose, and the Exam Coach explains why the strategic answer beat the technical one, so the reasoning sticks.
What a real candidate said
I didn't pay for this review, and I didn't ask for it. It was posted on the r/ccna subreddit in April 2026. It's about our CCNA exam, not CISSP - but it's praising the exact thing that's identical across every FigigExams certification, CISSP included: a free, full-length test that shows you what you got wrong at the end.
"the free test is way better than boson imo and its free and 105 questions and it shows you the result and what you had wrong in the end, you can use a mock email to create the account idk why you guys hate so much, I have my ccna on tuesday and got 96% on this practice test which really boosted my confidence"
Quote preserved verbatim, including original spelling and capitalization, and attributed to the CCNA exam where it was posted. The free-test-plus-end-of-exam-breakdown experience they're describing is the same engine behind the CISSP exam, that's why I'm comfortable showing it here. If you take the free CISSP exam and have feedback, good or bad, email me, I read all of it.
When Boson is still probably the better choice
I'm not going to pretend FigigExams is better for everyone. Here are the scenarios where Boson is the honest recommendation:
- You want the largest possible question bank. Boson gives you 900 questions across six exams versus 336 across three. If your strategy is maximum exposure to items before test day, Boson wins on raw volume, and $99 a year is a fair price for it.
- You want a money-back guarantee. Boson's No Pass, No Pay refund is a real safety net that I don't match. FigigExams is $39 once with a free full exam first, and a 30-day money-back guarantee - but no pass guarantee attached to it.
- You've used Boson for previous certifications. If you already passed a Security+ or a Cisco exam with Boson and you're used to their question framing, switching tools mid-journey for a small dollar saving usually isn't worth the cognitive load.
If any of those describe you, go buy Boson, that's the right call. Many people use both: FigigExams early to find and fix weak domains for $39 once, then Boson for a final high-volume readiness pass. They're complementary, not mutually exclusive.
Try a free CISSP practice exam with personalized Exam Coach analysis
No credit card required. Takes 5 minutes to start. See your own concept-level breakdown across all eight CBK domains in 20.
Start Free CISSP Practice ExamA free try of the practice exam, no credit card. Ready for the full pack? Get all three CISSP exams for $39.
What the FigigExams CISSP pack includes
Most practice-exam products are a question bank and a score. The layer on top of the questions is what changes your next week of study. Everything below is included with the CISSP pack, and everything except the additional papers is included with the free exam. Verified 4 September 2026.
3 full-length CISSP exams, 336 questions
Every paper is timed to the real CISSP format and uses every question type the live exam uses. A complete 126-question paper is free with no credit card.
An Exam Tip on every question
Each item carries a written explanation of why the correct answer is correct and why each distractor fails, plus a separate Exam Tip - the single thing to remember on exam day.
Exam Coach: a concept-level report
Finishing a CISSP paper returns a per-concept breakdown across every domain rather than a bare percentage, naming the concepts that cost you marks.
Study Path: revision ranked by what it is worth
Your CISSP result is scored against the published blueprint weights and ranked by weighted shortfall - domain weight multiplied by your miss rate. That is why Security Operations at 13% of the CBK outranks a domain you scored worse on but which carries half the weight.
Study cards from your own mistakes
Select any explanation and save it as a study card. Your CISSP deck is built from the questions you actually got wrong, which is the only revision list worth carrying into the final week.
A free CISSP study guide
A full written CISSP study guide, readable online with no PDF gate and no email wall, free whether or not you ever buy a pack.
$39 once, lifetime, future versions included
One payment unlocks all 3 CISSP exams for life - about $13.00 per full-length paper. When the blueprint changes, the new versions are included rather than sold as a new edition.
30-day money-back guarantee
Thirty days to ask for the money back, on top of sitting a complete CISSP paper free before paying anything.
Figures read from the live CISSP question banks on 4 September 2026. Compare against every other CISSP option in the ranked comparison, or start the free 126-question paper with code CISSP-EXAM-FULL.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is FigigExams a replacement for Boson ExSim-Max for CISSP?
FigigExams is a lower-cost alternative that focuses on concept-level feedback through a personal Exam Coach. Boson remains a strong choice if you want the largest question bank (900 questions across six exams) and a money-back No Pass, No Pay guarantee. Many candidates use FigigExams first to diagnose weak domains cheaply, then add Boson for a final high-volume readiness pass.
How much does Boson ExSim-Max for CISSP cost compared to FigigExams?
Boson ExSim-Max for CISSP is listed around $99 per year (check boson.com for current pricing), and access is time-limited. The FigigExams CISSP pack is $39 once, with lifetime access - three full exams, 336 questions - plus a free trial with no credit card. Boson offers more questions; FigigExams is far cheaper, never expires, and adds a concept-level Exam Coach.
Can I try a CISSP practice exam before paying?
Yes. FigigExams offers free sample questions plus a free try of a full-length CISSP practice exam, no account upgrade and no credit card required. Redeem CISSP-EXAM-FULL when you create a free account and your first full exam opens at no cost. Boson does not currently publish a free trial of ExSim-Max.
Does FigigExams have a readiness guarantee like Boson?
Boson says that if you can pass ExSim-Max, you're ready. FigigExams makes the same readiness claim through its three-exam pack: pass all three full-length exams with margin and you've demonstrated stable, broad, manager-level competence across all eight CBK domains. No one can guarantee a pass, but three consistent passes across every domain is the strongest readiness signal you can give yourself.
What is the FigigExams Exam Coach and how is it different from a score report?
The Exam Coach analyzes your answers at the concept level, not just the domain level. Instead of telling you you scored 62% on Security and Risk Management, it identifies that you missed questions involving risk-treatment order and quantitative risk (ALE/SLE/ARO) specifically, then gives you a follow-up chat to ask clarifying questions and a targeted study plan based on your weakest concepts. See the example preview above for the exact format.
Are the questions written for the manager perspective like the real exam?
Yes. Most FigigExams CISSP questions deliberately include one technically-correct answer and one strategy-correct answer, because that's how the real exam works. The strategy-correct answer - establish a baseline and risk assessment first, rather than "implement IDS" - is the one that wins, and the Exam Coach explains why the strategic answer beat the technical one.