Passed GCIH

I have basically just got back from passing my GCIH an hour ago, with a passmark of 96%.

The course was done through on-demand, I watched the videos once, and read the books about 3 times. First time was just reading here and there, second time was taking notes and indexing, third time was updating notes and indexing (quick browse after sitting first mock).

The past 2 weeks i have been on training time (2 weeks off to study), sadly i never got through the labs due to time constraints, but will be what i am going to go over the next fews weeks.

I took into the exam the course books, tabbed, Index 8 pages, Tool commands 2 pages, and my notes which were about 10 pages. I lacked the confidence and checked alot of my answers to the books. which meant i had a bout 20 mins for my last 20 questions.

I have about 10 years IT experience, with the last 3 years working in a MSSP looking at logs.

Think i might look at the GCFA to complement my GCIH and GCIA.

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Comments

johndoee

Good Work. That's a high score.

Why GCFA if you don't mind me asking?

josephandre

Congrats!! That’s an excellent score as well. Especially for lacking confidence. Good job dude.

YuckTheFankees

Thats awesome. Im taking the GCIH next, how long are the on the demand videos?

j1mgg

I was more second guessing myself and just wanted to confirm by checking the book.
The videos are recording of a live class I believe, so about 7.5hrs X 5, I personally don't find them that useful, but i usually just blast through them.

I was looking at gcfa as two of the mssp services we provide are aetd's and I enjoy the hunting part of the demo I give, so would like to further that. Plus it would kind of give me a we bit or red and blue team, but if people have other thoughts please let me know, as I need a bit of advise, and it probably would be till the end of the year.

Looking over the next few weeks of doing the labs, the maybe looking at learning some python, splunk, and refreshing qaulys as I want to move into a small security team where you do a bit of everything.

JoJoCal19

Congrats on the pass and amazing score!

DAVIS NGUYEN

Congrats!

andrea76

Hi! Congratulations! great score! I am willing to do the course and take the exam in the near future. Would you mind giving me some tips that I should consider once I start? It's a 5 day course, and then the exam is on the 6th day? I am afraid to have so much information in that short time that I don't know if I could organize it to have the exam passed...Any feedback from you will be really useful. Thanks a lot!

quogue66

andrea76 wrote: »

Hi! Congratulations! great score! I am willing to do the course and take the exam in the near future. Would you mind giving me some tips that I should consider once I start? It's a 5 day course, and then the exam is on the 6th day? I am afraid to have so much information in that short time that I don't know if I could organize it to have the exam passed...Any feedback from you will be really useful. Thanks a lot!

The course goes from Monday-Friday and there is a capture the flag exercise on the 6th day. You then have 4 months to study and pass the exam.

andrea76

quogue66 wrote: »

The course goes from Monday-Friday and there is a capture the flag exercise on the 6th day. You then have 4 months to study and pass the exam.

Thanks for the information! My company is probably going to pay for the course, but I need to sign some papers if I want to take it. I was thinking that if I don't do the course and study on my own, I would get the certification without signing anything. Do you think it's possible to go to the exam without doing the 5 day course?

cyberguypr

Every single certification from SANS/GIAC can be done on your own. The problem is that the material comes straight from the courses so you'll be at a clear disadvantage by not taking the class. As a result of this there are simply no books that cover every single aspect of the exam. You would need to look at the course outline and the test blueprint and learn the material on your own from disparate sources.

I always throw out there the secret option: https://www.sans.org/work-study/. In this program you help SANS facilitate the class at one of their events and for $1,500-ish you get the physical class, OnDemand version, and an attempt at the cert for one flat price. I've done it six times and always recommend it.