Passed GCIA (Whew!)
Wow I'm so glad that's done! I facilitated SEC503 with Mike Poor at SANS Virginia Beach 2015 last August. I definitely recommend taking the course with Mike because he makes a very tedious, difficult subject very engaging and easier to absorb and understand. My biggest mistake was not diving right into studies after the course as I had intended to. I was able to essentially cram for the GSEC since most of it was review, and you can reference everything from the index/books if need to. You CANNOT do that during the GCIA. You have to understand the material on the exam, and know what you're looking at when presented with pcaps, commands, etc.
My study started after Thanksgiving, and really picked up the last two weeks. A mistake I made was leaving the indexing until time to study for the exam. For the next SANS course I take, I will index IMMEDIATELY after getting home from the class. It seems to take me a while to throughly index. Since I was crunched for time for the GCIA, I opted to just use a heading with term, book, and page. I ended up with 13 pages and 1 for Wireshark commands/filters. I also had to cut down on my reading of the material and started only reading the slide portions. It was all around a bad time to be studying with Christmas week, New Years week, and then my daughters birthday this past weekend. The amount of effort I put into studying for this was nowhere near what I needed it to be, but that's my fault for running up against the 120 day On-demand time limit.
So all of that led up to the exam. I was not very confident going into it, but felt that I studied enough to pass, even if just barely. I ended up with a 70, needing a 67 to pass. I feel that's about where I deserved to be based on my studying and practice exam. I'm just glad to have this done. This is definitely not an area that I'm interested in for my career, but it's good knowledge to have.
I also have one of the practice tests to give away so if you're pursuing the GCIA, I'll be glad to send it on.
My study started after Thanksgiving, and really picked up the last two weeks. A mistake I made was leaving the indexing until time to study for the exam. For the next SANS course I take, I will index IMMEDIATELY after getting home from the class. It seems to take me a while to throughly index. Since I was crunched for time for the GCIA, I opted to just use a heading with term, book, and page. I ended up with 13 pages and 1 for Wireshark commands/filters. I also had to cut down on my reading of the material and started only reading the slide portions. It was all around a bad time to be studying with Christmas week, New Years week, and then my daughters birthday this past weekend. The amount of effort I put into studying for this was nowhere near what I needed it to be, but that's my fault for running up against the 120 day On-demand time limit.
So all of that led up to the exam. I was not very confident going into it, but felt that I studied enough to pass, even if just barely. I ended up with a 70, needing a 67 to pass. I feel that's about where I deserved to be based on my studying and practice exam. I'm just glad to have this done. This is definitely not an area that I'm interested in for my career, but it's good knowledge to have.
I also have one of the practice tests to give away so if you're pursuing the GCIA, I'll be glad to send it on.
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
Currently Working On: Python, OSCP Prep
Next Up: OSCP
Studying: Code Academy (Python), Bash Scripting, Virtual Hacking Lab Coursework
Comments
This is a paper I have been interested in but had not found the opportunity to get into a work study yet.
http://adarsh.amazonwebservices.ninja
MSISE, CISSP, GSE (#202), GSEC, GCIA, GCIH, GPEN, GMON, GCFE, GCCC, GCPM, eJPT, AWS CCP
It is your personal IPS to stop the attack.
I want to take SEC503 this year so I would love to have your practice exam.
Current Studying : GPEN |GCNF|CISSP??
Current Reading : CISSP| CounterHack|Gray Hat Hacking
Completed 2019 : GCIH
Free Reading : History Books
I recently attended Cyber Defense Initiative in D.C that was instructed by Mike Poor and I loved it! I am currently studying to sit for the GCIA in February/March. I haven't picked the exact date just yet. With my test attempt around the corner, is there anything that you would recommend?
Also, with you having an extra practice test left, I would greatly appreciate it if I can use it to help me during my studies. My SANS account email is 3210617 and email [email protected]. Thank you in advance for your input and help.
GCIA is an awesome cert, well done
I would recommend being very familiar with the filter syntax, command options, and display filters for the tools such as tcpdump, bro, snort, Wireshark. Also pay heavy attention to the book/sections that show what various attack traffic looks like. And finally, know how to very quickly decode packets. You need to know quickly how to tell what imbedded protocols are, and what the payload is.
Currently Working On: Python, OSCP Prep
Next Up: OSCP
Studying: Code Academy (Python), Bash Scripting, Virtual Hacking Lab Coursework
Currently Working On: Python, OSCP Prep
Next Up: OSCP
Studying: Code Academy (Python), Bash Scripting, Virtual Hacking Lab Coursework
Is your end goal a SANS GSE? I know mine is!
Management is my goal. Right now I have the experience needed for, and will be going to a new job that will utilize the CISM concepts.
I had had thought last year the GSE would be nice to get, but not so sure. I'll probably revisit my thoughts on it next year.
Currently Working On: Python, OSCP Prep
Next Up: OSCP
Studying: Code Academy (Python), Bash Scripting, Virtual Hacking Lab Coursework