SANS North Virginia 2015 (Reston)

j.petrov

I've just been accepted to be a facilitator for SEC:503 (GCIA) . I'm really looking forward to the challange this class poses. I've read that this class is very challanging and eye opening.

Anyone else going to be at this event?

JoJoCal19

Congrats! I've applied for the SANS 2015 Work Study in Orlando. I guess I'm another month out from hearing if I've been selected for it.

j.petrov

@JoJoCal19

This is my second time facilitating. It seems they let you know about 6-8 weeks prior to the event.

Good luck hope you are selected. What course was your first choice?

Khaos1911

I've been selected for two and I had to cancel on both. Smh.

ITSecMgrOldDog

JPetrov -- Congrats on Northern VA! I live in NOVA and attended my first SANS course here in 2013. It was fantastic! The folks running the courses were great and really got me hooked on the SANS mission. I'd take courses every opportunity I have if finances weren't tight. Best of luck and enjoy our area -- hopefully the snow and the cold will have subsided by then!

josh.armentrout1

JPetrov,
It was nice having you in the class. The material was such a mind blow. Good job helping keeping us all on track!

j.petrov

@josh.armentrout1

I agree that material is DEEP! Its probably going to take me another month or more of going back over the material before I go for an attempt at the cert.

Are you going for the cert as well?

josh.armentrout1

@j.petrov

Sorry for the long wait in response. Been busy studying. lol Yeah I'm going for the cert. Like you, I need some time to digest the material. I'm not sitting the thing until I'm damn well sure I have what GIAC expects me to know for this one. People here have been saying GCIA is fairly difficult.

j.petrov

Hi @josh.armentrout1,

I just did my first practice test this weekend, and passed with the lowest score possible... a 67% lol. It was definitely a challenging exam. I have some things to bring back to the drawing board before my exam which I scheduled for 5/4/15. I taking my second practice test the weekend before the test. Now that I have a feeling for the types of questions that will be on the test I need to add to my index. I'll be happy to get this one behind me...

Have you scheduled your exam yet? Best of luck.

j.petrov

Update:

I took the second practice test this morning and improved my score from a 67% to a 78%. I used the books way less this time, in fact I probably picked them up less than 20 times. I also ended this test with 40mins left on the clock, which is a great improvement over the 10mins I had left on the first attempt.

I'm taking the test Monday morning, so I will need to sure up on a few more areas. At this point I'm feeling pretty good about it. Definitely not in as much as a panic as I was yesterday. I'm hoping to score in 80+% range.

darkuser

id like to talk to you ... I nearly applied to be the facilitator for the same class
I am doing the on demand approach and got a score in the 60's on first practice test
near panic ......