Passed the GCIA!

calliclescallicles Member Posts: 13 ■□□□□□□□□□
in GIAC
Finally, passed GIAC - GCIA exam! Special thanks to Khaos1911, dover, and laughing_man for the emotional support.

There are certainly more detailed threads on GCIA passing/failing, but I wanted to leave a few parting thoughts and this exam.
  • Index, index, index. It will win the day. My index was between 7-10 pages per book. They were detailed, organized, and manageable. My approach (and what worked the best), I did not want to reach for my books. During the test I had to reach to my SANS books ~3 times.
  • Time management. The first exam ran out of time and lost points to unanswered questions. This time I finished the exam in 3hrs. Advice: Be quick, be precise. If you don't know the questions, make the educated guess and move on.
  • Real test is harder than the pratice exams. The pratice exam gives you several benefits: time management, format on the questions, and the topics of the question. The summary at the end of the test is an excellent resource on your problem areas.
  • Helpful material outside of the Sans books:
    • "Network Intrusion Detection" Third Edition Northcutt and Novak
    • "Intrusion Signatures and Analysis" Northcutt, Cooper, Fearnow, Frederick
Passed: GCIA, GWAPT, GCIH Goals: GCFE, GCFA
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Comments

  • DAVIS NGUYENDAVIS NGUYEN Member Posts: 1,472 ■■■□□□□□□□
    Congrats on passing!
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  • ccnpninjaccnpninja Member Posts: 1,010 ■■■□□□□□□□
    Congrats on the pass!
    my blog:https://keyboardbanger.com
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  • Khaos1911Khaos1911 Member Posts: 366
    I knew you would pass it. Happy for you, sir. Congrats!
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  • JoJoCal19JoJoCal19 Mod Posts: 2,835 Mod
    Congrats on the pass! GCIA seems like an interesting cert.
    Have: CISSP, CISM, CISA, CRISC, eJPT, GCIA, GSEC, CCSP, CCSK, AWS CSAA, AWS CCP, OCI Foundations Associate, ITIL-F, MS Cyber Security - USF, BSBA - UF, MSISA - WGU
    Currently Working On: Python, OSCP Prep
    Next Up:​ OSCP
    Studying:​ Code Academy (Python), Bash Scripting, Virtual Hacking Lab Coursework
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  • cyberguyprcyberguypr Mod Posts: 6,928 Mod
    Congrats!
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  • EngRobEngRob Member Posts: 247 ■■■□□□□□□□
    Congrats!! icon_cheers.gif
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  • JasminLandryJasminLandry Member Posts: 601 ■■■□□□□□□□
    Congrats!
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  • calliclescallicles Member Posts: 13 ■□□□□□□□□□
    Thank you, all!
    Passed: GCIA, GWAPT, GCIH Goals: GCFE, GCFA
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  • impelseimpelse Member Posts: 1,237 ■■■■□□□□□□
    Congrats
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    It is your personal IPS to stop the attack.

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  • fuz1onfuz1on Member Posts: 961 ■■■■□□□□□□
    Congrats! icon_thumright.gif Didn't see this post til now! icon_lol.gif
    timku.com(puter) | ProHacker.Co(nsultant) | ITaaS.Co(nstultant) | ThePenTester.net | @fuz1on
    Transmosis | http://transmosis.com | LinkedIn | https://linkedin.com/in/t1mku
    If evil be spoken of you and it be true, correct yourself, if it be a lie, laugh at it. - Epictetus
    The only real failure in life is not to be true to the best one knows. - Buddha
    If you are not willing to learn, no one can help you. If you are determined to learn, no one can stop you. - Unknown
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  • tshaikhtshaikh Registered Users Posts: 1 ■□□□□□□□□□
    congrats on the pass..
    If you dont mind can you share your index?
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  • shednikshednik Member Posts: 2,005
    Congrats on the pass!!
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  • H3||scr3amH3||scr3am Member Posts: 564 ■■■■□□□□□□
    Congrats!
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  • calliclescallicles Member Posts: 13 ■□□□□□□□□□
    Thank you all again!

    @ tshaikh I will not be posting my index. It won't help anyone. If you need to borrow someone else's index - you won't pass the exam. However, if you are asking on how I formatted my index - I will say I had about 6-10 pages per book that I formatted in Excel. I broke it down into 3 columns Topic (alphabetical), page number, and notes. I used the notes for either what was written in the book, a definition, or a quick explanation. It was used so I didn't have to flip to the book.

    Knowing the material + a good index = success. Good luck!
    Passed: GCIA, GWAPT, GCIH Goals: GCFE, GCFA
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  • GForce75GForce75 Member Posts: 222
    Thanks for the advice. It's something I looking forward to when I head to Korea. I'm assuming the GCIA is harder than CISSP. I never looked into it.
    Doctoral Candidate - BA (33/60hrs) ~ MBA/Project Management ~ BA/Business-IT
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