Passed CEH: Study Prep and Exam thoughts included
Megadeth4168
Member Posts: 2,157
in CEH
Hello All! It's been a little while since I've posted on TE. I figured I would stop in an post my thoughts and test prep experience for the CEHv8, which I took and passed earlier this week.
Study:
I purchased:
AIO book
Sybex Book
I have access to Skillport through work, which I used only for the Test Prep practice questions.
I found both book to be a quick and easy read. I have a number of years of experience, but still learned a couple things from each book. I personally feel the practice questions from the Sybex book were weak and found many errors. The AIO questions were better IMO, but still on the weak side and also with their own errors.
I actually found the Skillport practice questions to be more helpful than the Sybex or AIO media included with the books. Oh, I also took the CEH assessment exam on their website, it's a nice refresher but not great.
The Exam:
Honestly, I went into this exam thinking this was going to be one of the easiest exams I've ever taken. I felt that I over-studied for the level of experience I have, but it's part of how I study. I always get 2 books to read and use the provided media.
What I found is that the exam is actually quite difficult. I attribute this to 2 reasons:
1. There were a few (between 5-10) questions which were not covered in any of the material or covered in a passing sentence in the middle of a study guide somewhere. These were difficult even years of experience, it was like playing a trivial pursuit question.
2. There were many questions and even answers which were vague. There were times were I would read a question and not even know what they were truly asking. I had to rely on the provided answers to help provide some further context.
There were some questions, which I looked at the provided answers and said "The correct answers isn't even on here, but I guess this that one is the closest thing that makes sense". I would say to myself in the real world you would really do "XYZ" in this scenario not "ABC" like they had listed as answers.
Who is Prepared for this exam:
I honestly feel this exam sits between entry level and mid level. The exam requires some experience (I think the 2 years EC-Council requires is accurate) to pass with confidence.
Could someone with no experience pic up the books and practice exams pass? I think so, but they would most likely get tripped up on some of the scenario questions which really requires some troubleshooting, configuring or design experience.
As stated before, I felt the exam more difficult than I expected but ultimately I feel underwhelmed by the test. For years I always wanted to prepare for and obtain this certification, and when I finally studied and took the exam I found that it doesn't really reflect the experience or skill level where I'm currently at or where I want to be. I think that if they ever include simulations where the test taker is required to use command line to write syntax for various tools such as NMAP, this would work better.
Study:
I purchased:
AIO book
Sybex Book
I have access to Skillport through work, which I used only for the Test Prep practice questions.
I found both book to be a quick and easy read. I have a number of years of experience, but still learned a couple things from each book. I personally feel the practice questions from the Sybex book were weak and found many errors. The AIO questions were better IMO, but still on the weak side and also with their own errors.
I actually found the Skillport practice questions to be more helpful than the Sybex or AIO media included with the books. Oh, I also took the CEH assessment exam on their website, it's a nice refresher but not great.
The Exam:
Honestly, I went into this exam thinking this was going to be one of the easiest exams I've ever taken. I felt that I over-studied for the level of experience I have, but it's part of how I study. I always get 2 books to read and use the provided media.
What I found is that the exam is actually quite difficult. I attribute this to 2 reasons:
1. There were a few (between 5-10) questions which were not covered in any of the material or covered in a passing sentence in the middle of a study guide somewhere. These were difficult even years of experience, it was like playing a trivial pursuit question.
2. There were many questions and even answers which were vague. There were times were I would read a question and not even know what they were truly asking. I had to rely on the provided answers to help provide some further context.
There were some questions, which I looked at the provided answers and said "The correct answers isn't even on here, but I guess this that one is the closest thing that makes sense". I would say to myself in the real world you would really do "XYZ" in this scenario not "ABC" like they had listed as answers.
Who is Prepared for this exam:
I honestly feel this exam sits between entry level and mid level. The exam requires some experience (I think the 2 years EC-Council requires is accurate) to pass with confidence.
Could someone with no experience pic up the books and practice exams pass? I think so, but they would most likely get tripped up on some of the scenario questions which really requires some troubleshooting, configuring or design experience.
As stated before, I felt the exam more difficult than I expected but ultimately I feel underwhelmed by the test. For years I always wanted to prepare for and obtain this certification, and when I finally studied and took the exam I found that it doesn't really reflect the experience or skill level where I'm currently at or where I want to be. I think that if they ever include simulations where the test taker is required to use command line to write syntax for various tools such as NMAP, this would work better.
Comments
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H3||scr3am
Member Posts: 564 ■■■■□□□□□□
Congratulations on passing your CEH! Thank you for the review of the exam and study materials. -
IronmanX
Member Posts: 323 ■■■□□□□□□□
"What I found is that the exam is actually quite difficult. I attribute this to 2 reasons:
1. There were a few (between 5-10) questions which were not covered in any of the material or covered in a passing sentence in the middle of a study guide somewhere. These were difficult even years of experience, it was like playing a trivial pursuit question.
2. There were many questions and even answers which were vague. There were times were I would read a question and not even know what they were truly asking. I had to rely on the provided answers to help provide some further context.
"
As a recent CEH passer I agree. Although I feel I got way more the 5-10 questions that I do not remember seeing covered in what i Read/Watched/Or got brought up in class.
On the flip side i didn't get many questions on what i felt were tough "subjects" that I worked hard on making sure I knew for this exam.
I think someone with alot of expeirence is not going to have a problem with this exam.
Someone with very little experience I feel doesn't have much of a shot passing no matter how much they study. I thought to myself while going through it how am I going to prepare for this exam the second go at it and really with the questions staring right at me I couldn't think of a good way to prepare for these questions which i felt where way out of left field.
Looking back at the Fail posts it looks like the common theme is people who are failing don't have much experience. Although I'm sure way more people have failed and then don't post then do and those who are not afraid to post that they failed are probably new to the field, so that could be skewing what i am seeing as being common between people who fail.
