Passed the SANS Institute GSEC exams!

I just want to share with you the good news that I have successfully earned the SANS Institute GSEC Security Essentials certification, my first Information Security-based certification.

Sincerely,

Frank

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Comments

keatron

Good stuff man. Care to share what the process was like?

sprkymrk

Congrats!

JDMurray

Congratulations! Did your employer pay for the GSEC classes and exam? And are you writing a paper for the GIAC Gold certification?

And you're at the top of the GSEC Analyst list.

fva

Thanks for your kind words.

My employer paid for this class/certifcation, the Mentor series. It was a 10 week class meeting once a week at night. 6 books/37 chapters and a Cookbook with demos of many programs, plus 36 hours of audio files. It was pretty intense and took a lot of effort to keep up. After the class ended we had 2 months to take the 2 different exams, with 2 practice exams available before each real exam. You really had to be familiar with everything to pass the exams. I passed the first exam on August 4th and the 2nd exam last night.

At this point I don't plan on writing a paper to go for the Gold certification, just getting this far has been enough!

Frank

JDMurray

I'm very interested in knowing how the GSEC objectives and exams compares to those of the Security+ and SSCP. I'm not sure if the GSEC is more or less of a challenge than the SSCP. If you can pass the GSEC exams then the Security+ will exam be no challenge for you at all.

HHHTheGame

Let us know more of your thoughts on the whole process. I finished the CISM and was looking at the GSEC SANSonDemand course (since my employer will pay for it and I don't want to go away for a week).

securinate

Congrats on the cert. Now you're on your way to obtaining even more industry recognized certs when it comes to infosec.

justus1

Congratulations!

ygvbnm

I was wondering how much time it would take to study for this exam. I am already working in the industry and have passed the Security+. So I was wondering if 2 months time would be sufficient to study for the GSEC exam?

JDMurray

ygvbnm wrote:

I was wondering how much time it would take to study for this exam.

The only person that can answer that question accurately is you. Take a look at the GSEC objectives and course material and compare it to what you already know and how much time you have per week to study. The SANS GSEC class is not a requirement, but you might consider taking it to prepare for the two GSEC exams.

GIAC Security Essentials Certification (GSEC)