Failed my gpen

Hello, I failed my gpen exam today. Would love to speak to someone who recently passed theirs and talk to them about where I could improve at concerning my index and other notes. Any tips would be appreciated.

Regards

Find more posts tagged with

SAVE $250 on Your Boot Camp — Use Code "EXAM26"

Exclusively for TechExams members for Infosec Boot Camps starting before April 30, 2026

View Boot Camps

Comments

JoJoCal19

Post up your study method (how long, how many passes, do labs, how many pages in index, how detailed index, practice exam scores, etc) so all GIAC cert holders can post up recommendations.

josephandre

is this your first GIAC exam?

did you take practice tests?

BlackBeret

I just renewed my GPEN last month and have been going through the new materials and labs. I'm impressed with the updates to the course, and it's obvious the exam I took would be out of date now, so take my strategy with a grain of salt. When I took mine, it was very tool heavy. I realized this from the practice tests, so instead of an index, I printed the man pages for all of the tools that were brought up in the course. I knew the methodology, attacks, all of the theory from the course. The only thing I fought with memorizing were command syntax and switches, so the man pages were all I needed.

yoba222

JoJoCal19 wrote: »

Post up your study method (how long, how many passes, do labs, how many pages in index, how detailed index, practice exam scores, etc) so all GIAC cert holders can post up recommendations.

+1
Flipped through the books 3 1/2 months later, printed out somebody else's index, and failed is way different than say:

Read the books twice, listened to lecture once, touched every tool mentioned at least once, and did both practice exams for a total of 100 hours of prep time and failed.