GCIH Exam passing rate?

Officially GIAC does not post the passing rate of there exams, but there currently only 14053 GCIH professional and current Analyst numbers are up to 28425. The gaps in the numbering would suggest that GIAC is counting exam attempts and skipping exam numbers of people who fail. I took a closer look at the Analyst numbers, sorting by Analyst number and copying all the GCIH professionals by letter into an excel spreadsheet I was able to take a closer look at the data. From Analyst number 1951 Nov. 17, 2006 to Analyst Number 19982 Apr.15, 2011 there are gaps in the numbers, before and after this date the numbers are sequential. So subtracting 1951 from 19982 you get 18031, for 3704 cells. If the gaps in the numbering are indeed exam failure attempts, this would give a 20.5% passing rate for the certification exam for those 5 years.

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Comments

mudflaps

20% seems pretty low. It was a hard exam, but only slightly less than CISSP.

TechGromit

I agree, the next thing I would like to do is grab the data from the GSEC and other certifications, it's possible during those 5 years, that GIAC only used numbers one time per Analyst, so if Your GCIH number is 1951, there isn't another 1951 Analyst for any of the other certifications they have. Seems strange they would shift there number scheme more than once.

NetworkNewb

Looks like there are gaps in the last 50 GCIH too

https://www.giac.org/certified-professionals/directory/gcih#__utma=180796577.1472542720.1478199621.1478199621.1478199621.1&__utmb=180796577.7.9.1478199798758&__utmc=180796577&__utmx=-&__utmz=180796577.1478199621.1.1.utmcsr=google|utmccn=(organic)|utmcmd=organic|utmctr=(not%20provided)&__utmv=-&__utmk=25291197

TechGromit

NetworkNewb wrote: »

Looks like there are gaps in the last 50 GCIH too

If your referring to the missing numbers, 28419, 28421, 28422, 28423, in a few days they will fill them in. I seen this several times before, there hasn't been any missing / gaps in numbers since Apr.15, 2011.

636-555-3226

where does the 14053 number come from? link? my guess is people who passed years ago but didn't renew. GIAC certs are expensive to renew and the value is limited unless you're 1) keeping that resume up-to-date or 2) want to re-read the latest version of the books and audio. i don't renew all of my old GIAC certs, just the ones i really really like

BillHoo

The forum BBS supports a polling function.

Maybe post a new thread with a poll?

Possible poll questions regarding the GCIH

1) Did you pass the Exam on the first try?
2) Failed exam once
3) Failed exam more than once
4) Paid for training out of pocket
5) Employer paid all training and exam costs
6) Employer paid part of training and exam costs
7) Used Veterans benefits to pay for exam

Challenged the exam without SANS Training and passed
9) Challenged the exam without SANS Training and failed first time
10) Used SANS Training exclusively and passed
11) Index was less than 10 pages
12) Index was more than 20 pages
13) Built index from scratch

TechGromit

636-555-3226 wrote: »

where does the 14053 number come from?

GIAC Forensics, Management, Information, IT Security Certifications

636-555-3226 wrote: »

my guess is people who passed years ago but didn't renew.

There are expired certification listed in this list, so they are not dropped from the total number of certified professionals.

BillHoo

mudflaps wrote: »

20% seems pretty low. It was a hard exam, but only slightly less than CISSP.

I think I read somewhere that CISSP has an 82 percent first time fail rate. So that woud be 18 percent pass.

TechGromit

Ok, I just finished sorting and look at the date from the GSEC Certifications and I'm completely baffled. There are duplicate numbers for the GCIH and GSEC certifications with different analysts names, but the skipping seems to follow the same pattern initially, so if the GCIH certification # is 6106 and skips to 6111, the GSEC follows the same pattern, 6106 and skips to 6111. The pattern repeats to 6471, then changes to a GSEC 6476, GCIH 6477, skips 5 than repeats. This suggests that the other 5 numbers skipped where used to other certifications so there are no repeated numbers for any GIAC certifications, than the pattern changes again to random numbering. Also when looking at the GSEC number were it skips, there are an unusually high number of 8, 3 repeating pattern, it repeats 10 or 20 times in a row, then just to throw a wrench into things, there's an occasional 2 or 9 thrown in.

In short, I no longer think they are skipping numbers because of failed exams, the patterns are too consistent to be random, and no one pattern explains all of the gaps.

NetworkNewb

I have now came to the conclusion that someone at GIAC has been watching these forums and following TechGromit. Mixing around and changing these arbitrary analyst numbers with the sole purpose of messing with TechGromit's head and see how much time he can put into this.

Touche random person @ GIAC! Well done

(Guessing they probably have changed the numbering system a few times, I like the effort though!)

TechGromit

NetworkNewb wrote: »

I have now came to the conclusion that someone at GIAC has been watching these forums and following TechGromit. Mixing around and changing these arbitrary analyst numbers with the sole purpose of messing with TechGromit's head and see how much time he can put into this.

I was starting to think that because there are patterns, it was some part of a secret code breaking challenge, like they have for the coins, but SANS denied there is such a challenge. They still didn't provide an explanation why the numbering is screwed up. I guess it will become of the mysteries of the universe.