GCIH Cost Break

jjwolfe

So according to the website the cost for an exam attempt is 1600.00. If I'm self study... any way to bring this down? Buy an aging voucher? Coupon code? Wash San's dishes? Any ideas?

TechGuru80

If you do a work study the cost is $1,100 but of course doesn’t cover travel and doesn’t guarantee you get exactly the course you want.

cyberguypr

Yeah Work Study is really the only option. I've seen discount for courses but have never seen exam discounts.

jjwolfe

I was half joking about doing their dishes but that's a real thing? Yeah I just want to cram and take the test... not go to a physical class. Is it to my advantage financially to go to one? I know they are valuable but I'm doing this out of pocket...

TechGuru80

Financially? Probably not if you are doing it out of pocket because you would also need a week off from work. Even with the work study, if you have to travel you are looking at near $3,000 total. Also, I believe even if you challenged the exam you can get the newest courseware by renewing the next time around (~$400).

In general the major benefit of going to the conferences is to network, and to learn from experiences of the instructors and classmates. The exams are made from the official courseware so that is a benefit too versus self studying.

In my opinion overall though, challenging the exam isn't that beneficial unless for some reason your work requires the certification. If you know enough to pass without the official courseware, you probably are well beyond the level intended.

Jasiono

Personally, for me, and this is strictly personal, I really enjoyed the physical classroom aspect of it.

I'm the type of person who would much rather go to a class than to just have the material tossed in my general direction.

With that being said, GCIH is doable with just the books. It's very straightforward with the material that I didn't need to ask the instructor any questions.

If you won't go to a conference, I highly suggest:
Getting the official coursework from GCIH. The official books.
Get at least 1 practice exam. I'm not sure what would be included with whatever you purchase, but I think you get 2? Not sure. Don't quote me on that!
Index like a mofo. Don't just wing the index, tailor it to yourself in how you would use it (this is where the practice exams come into play)

The instructor did not go over anything extra that was not included in the books.

jjwolfe

This is great. Thanks all. I know it's not quite as marketable as CISSP... but I'm not primarily an Infosec guy. Does it carry lots of infosec cred?