Passed CEH in mid-80s: my preparation plan
I passed the CEH last week: mid-80s. I took three hours to complete the exam. My preparation included:
What was the single best resource from my experience? The Boson question set! After I built a foundation of CEH knowledge mostly from ITProTV courses, Boson got me ready for the exam.
This entire process took about five months. Perhaps I over prepared, but I didn’t want to fail a $600 exam. Plus, I learned a heap of stuff – a fun journey overall. I hope sharing my experience helps as you prepare.
- ITProTV. Took three key courses: CEH, Kali Linux and Metasploit. This gave me my CEH foundation with the necessary hands-on to feel confident about this subject. Sean-Phillip Oriyano was the instructor. I took detailed notes. I also downloaded the audio and re-listened to the lessons in the car with their app. The ‘Security Now’ discount code kept it affordable for me (google: ‘Security Now ITProTV’). I also built a lab in my home and mimicked most of what Oriyano did in the courses. Recommended.
- CEHv8 Study Guide by Oriyano. This paralleled ITProTV’s CEH course. Recommended.
- Matt Walker’s CEH Practice Exams, second edition. An excellent resource and question set. I took this six weeks before the exam and averaged in the low-70s. The best bargain of my preparation. Highly recommended.
- Boson CEH Question set. I paid the $90 and got four 125 question exams. I took them one-to-three weeks before the CEH exam with the following scores in sequence: 69, 72, 78, 82. Boson has an exceptional question set with detailed explanations and appropriate hyperlinks for every question. After each exam, I reviewed every question whether I got it wrong or right. Boson has integrated the latest CEH material into their set, a big plus. Highly recommended.
- NMAP 6 Cookbook by Marsh—I read it 3X.
- Skillset. I answered 1,000 questions with an 85% average. The Boson and Walker question sets have superior quality and commentary. However, the Skillset questions did help and it’s a free resource.
- CEH assessment test from the EC Council web site. In my experience, this was an exacting gauge of preparedness. I took it two weeks before the CEH and got nearly the same score as the actual exam.
- Other. These all helped enough for a plug: Cybrary.it, HAK5, OWASP, SecTools, Krebs on Security, SANS, Security Now podcast, NIST, Wikipedia and TechExams (thank you everybody).
What was the single best resource from my experience? The Boson question set! After I built a foundation of CEH knowledge mostly from ITProTV courses, Boson got me ready for the exam.
This entire process took about five months. Perhaps I over prepared, but I didn’t want to fail a $600 exam. Plus, I learned a heap of stuff – a fun journey overall. I hope sharing my experience helps as you prepare.
Comments
Used to be the greatest store ever. I can see what's left of their world headquarters outside my window.
Arthur Ashe