Passed CHFI (83%)
I took CHFI to fulfill a requirement in my MSISA degree plan from WGU. Resources used were mostly just the uCertify environment; I did read (skim, actually) the provided textbooks, but I spent the majority of my study time doing practice exams in uCertify. Some of the questions from those practice exams were exactly represented on the test. However, the test also included some technical details that I hadn't bothered to memorize... so my advice to anyone who is studying for the exam is, make sure you know everything on the WGU course mentor's tip sheet!
One drawback of uCertify is the excessive focus it places on knowing how to use specific software applications such as Encase. I didn't see a single question talking about specific programs and utilities on my exam. Rather, most of my questions were one of the following categories:
1. General computer and security knowledge (if you have taken Security+, you should know these - like the OSI model, what a MAC address is and looks like, etc)
2. CEH questions about attacks, vulnerabilities, threat vectors, etc
3. Forensic process questions (what do you do *first* for all the different stages - securing the scene, transporting evidence, etc; also, which one of the following options is not a part of the xyz process)
There were a few questions about laws but nothing to the detail that uCertify required. For instance, uCertify will give you a multiple choice question where you have to pick the correct answer out of four, each containing a particular law or section of federal code, and the wrong answers will have some minute detail incorrect (such as 2000.aa2 instead of 2000.a2, or the like). The actual exam just wanted you to know the broad strokes. Know the 4th amendment, which laws pertain to child ****, which laws pertain to privacy, and the general theme of the three or four major cases mentioned in the material.
A significant number of questions had extremely obvious wrong answers - and since a lot of the questions were of the "pick the answer that is not correct" format, that made the test pretty easy. I didn't like the testing format, though, as I was able to mark individual questions for review but there was no review section. You could jump to an answered question using a dropdown menu but there was no option to "review all" or "review flagged" or anything like that. Maybe my testing interface was different - I used ProctorU rather than going to a testing center as I have in the past - but it's something to be aware of. I was authorized two sheets of scratch paper but I didn't use them; there is no math on this test.
Overall, it wasn't difficult and I did learn a few things from reviewing the material, but this isn't one I'm going to put on the resume or keep up with via CPEs. I wouldn't bother with this unless you have to do it for your degree.
