GCIA Exam in 10 days(FINAL THOUGHTS/TIPS)

Pun_Sha

Need final tips/suggestions. My index is not very good.
1st Mock test- 86(physically searched through books)
2nd Mock test - yet to give

My exam ,right after 10 days.

NetworkNewb

Pun_Sha wrote: »

My index is not very good.

I see your problem... You need to improve your index. You're welcome

If you got 86 on your first mock test I wouldn't even be worried though. Good luck!

billyr2009

Good luck Pun_Sha. I agree with NetworkNewb, focus on maximizing your Index. And, also focus on your weak areas and review them. You can find your weak areas by the review that you received from taking your first practice test. Take your final practice test after you have reviewed the weak areas and taken your index. From there I believe you will be good to go. I'm sure you will do great, good luck!

Pun_Sha

Thank you - NetworkNewb , billyr2009

So this just happend,
2nd Mock - 84 (with improved index), honestly, some of my strong areas of Test 1 turned out to be weak ones in 2nd......I was pissed about that!
But I do have some confidence in index, more than the last version. I will continue to add and improve it....
So hopefully I think i have a shot now..... to clear GCIA !! Lets see.... final 10 days....!! thanks guys....for the suggestions !!

E Double U

84+ on both practice exams - you are good to go! I would wish you good luck, but I don't think you need it.

ccnpninja

Good luck!

sb97

Best of luck! One thing that helped me was to print copy some of the help/man pages for some of the tools.

When I took my GCIA. I scored the weakest on Wireshark which is odd because that was the tool I had the most prior experience using.

temuchin

Good Luck. You'll do great. Let us know how it went.
Its been awhile since I took it. Print out some of the **** sheets from packetlife. wireshark display and tcpdump.

Pun_Sha

temuchin , sb97 , ccnpninja , E Double U , billyr2009 , NetworkNewb

Thank You guys !! You are awesome !!! Will work on your suggestions, I'll take everything(man/help pages, **** sheets, HTTP/FTP status codes, Wireshark filters, Bro Log types) I can. I made a note of imp info from your posts. I still have a week , will do me best and hope I enjoy the Test. Cheers !!

billyr2009

Good luck Pun_Sha. Let us know your experience. As I had mentioned, I plan to take the exam in October. which is why I am especially curious. I think you'll do great on this test and I definitely look forward to hearing your experience. Have a great final week of prep!

billyr2009

Pun_Sha, how did the GCIA exam go? I believe you were ready to take the exam late last week?

charismaticx

I had a few friends of mine take theirs today. All of them pretty much said the exam was significantly harder than the practice exams. However, if you read the first 3 books you should do fine. I plan on taking the exam later this year

Pun_Sha

Sorry for this delay, I was suffering from viral Flu until a day prior my scheduled date, so had to postpone the exam by 4 days , I did clear the exam. As charismaticx mentioned , it won't be easy, also for me it was an even distribution of questions from all 5 books . So maybe I believe, depends on your luck, just read all books , no need to necessarily remember all of it.
1)Self made notes(Study guides), Cheatsheets, man/help pages
2)Index
3)Packet Decoding(Master - God level)
4)Time

I think these 4 things helped me clear the exam.
Do not worry about the exam. All the hard work will payoff in the end and you guys will come out on top. Just share your experience about the Awesome GCIA exam.

billyr2009

Thanks for the reply Pun Sha. Congrats on the pass! Would you mind sharing your score? I took the first practice and only scored a 71>. I plan to retake the practice after reviewing my weak areas. I hope to be taking the exam in about 3 weeks.

Pun_Sha

billyr2009 - you need not worry about the Practice test score and just master your weak areas, so i believe you have some idea now after first MOCK, 3 weeks is enough time.
I scored 90+ on my test. You'll do great , just stick to your routine.

IntrusionNewb

Congrats on the pass. I'm hoping to get this cert also.

billyr2009

@Pun_sha and everyone. Phew. I took practice test #2 and scored a 84%. That is better because on Test #1 I scored a 71% two weeks ago. I focused on reviewing my weak areas the last 2 weeks. I am hoping this is good enough to pass. I can definitely see why people say this is among the hardest of all Sans exams. I plan to take the exam late this week or early next week after a little more review of weak spots. Keeping those fingers crosses. Let me know if you anyone has any final words of wisdom for the last few days. It's still a challenging exam ahead of me.

Pun_Sha

Thats perfect ..... billyr2009 !!


IntrusionNewb - .. All you need is time...based on your experience( took 4 - 6 months for me to finish it). I hope you do as well !!

billyr2009

I passed folks and scored an 80%. I personally wanted to get above 90% but, as they say a pass is a pass is a pass which I'm very happy to have this exam done. Thank you to the TE community especially Pun_sha for your words of incite in tackling one of SANS tougher exams. I went through the books twice and indexed which took a bit of a time as well. If you study the material given, you will be on the path to passing.

AggressiveProgression

I passed today with a 79% using just the books. I wish I had taken the actually course labs look really cool.

E Double U

Good work guys!