SEC540 study approach

adele62

Just completed the SEC540 Cloud security and DevOps automation course. I must say it was a very deep learning curve for me and I was very impressed with the labs despite having little exposure to DevOps in my current role.

So, I'm going to knuckle down and start prepping for my exam and I intend to do it in 3 months if possible. To all the peeps out there who've done the same course with little exposure to DevOps, how did you prepare? How much should I focus on the labs in regards to exam content and does a very good index help you in the exam even if you have little cloud security and DevOps exposure?

Any advice will be much appreciated!

E Double U

I have no experience with that course, but have completed five SANS courses and the related GIAC exams. My preparation was exactly the same for each:

- Go through all of the course material (including the labs) & build my index
- Take 1st practice exam
- Go through all of the course material again while looking for gaps in my index; stronger focus on my weak areas based on practice exam results
- Take 2nd practice exam
- Go through all of the course material again while looking for gaps in my index; stronger focus on my weak areas based on practice exam results
- Take real exam & pass :-)

A good index was helpful for all five of my GIAC exams. I was actually learning the material while building the index. Typing everything out helps reinforce what I have heard/read to the point that I did not need the index on some questions because I knew the topic very well. In numerous cases I was able to select the best answer based on my own knowledge and simply used the index to confirm my thoughts. 

Good luck!

powerfool

I'd love to find some 3rd party resources for this.  While it would be fantastic to sit the course... these things are monumentally pricey.

powerfool

I have to say that after going through the demo... I was highly disappointed in the content.  I can see how this would be create for people that are new to these platforms, but it is a very high-level run through of some concepts.  I think they are trying to spread things too thin by covering Azure DevOps, GitHub, and GitLab.  I would say they should cover one in the course and then provide independent labs for the other platforms.