thanks everybody!

tdempsey

It's appreciated!

gwamaka

You are welcome ! Would you mind to share study methods, resources used( books, CBTs etc) and the duration of your preparation. Also your IT background and experience will be useful.

Congratlations !

tdempsey

I crammed for about 4 hours a day for 4 weeks using Shon Harris's third edition book and videos. I would say that this material covered about 90% of what I saw on the test. I really didn't use anything else. This wasn't hard timewise as I am currently unemployed. I don't know about most people but when I am studying this kind of technical material, I usually have to let stuff digest after 4-6 hours and I can't continue to cram effectively. I start to lose my concentration and it just doesn't work. That being said, there were days when I did study longer and it's usually because I was really interested in the subject like cryptography.

I will also say that I had lots of recent experience with PKI, IPSec VPN, Content filtration and had sat in on a bunch of meetings for identity management at my last job and had a firm grasp on these concepts which was a big benefit across the board. I also sat for and passed the S+ a few years ago and some of the material was repeat.

After I made it through all the material the first time, which I intentionally timed to be one week before the exam, I started taking the practice tests included with the book and some from cccure. The first battery of practice tests were humbling and I realized I hadn't absorbed as much as I thought. So, I studied more, going over in the book and the videos some areas that I was weak in until my scores improved. I was not comfortable with anything less than high 80s.

Finally, because I am paranoid and not a great test taker, I drove six hours to Chicago from where I live to where they were administering the test and arrived the evening before the exam. I bought two diet cokes in the lobby, went up to my room and skimmed over the entire text and took the quiz at the end of each chapter. I took the last two quizzes in starbucks the morning of the test. I know this sounds crazy but I get really nervous before exams and I figure if I can't relax, I may as well study. I don't think this was wasted effort either because there were two things that clicked for me on this last sweep.

There were between 15-20 people in the exam room. I think I finished 5th out of the group and it took me almost exactly 4 hours to complete the exam. I am not sure if spending more time on the exam would have been beneficial or not as I feel like some of the questions you answer with your gut instead of your brain. I will say though, that when I left the exam room, I thought I had been in there about 90 minutes but when I asked the restroom monitor person for the time and she told me it had been four hours- I was astonished. I felt like I had lost some time somewhere. It was intense.

I know everybody has their favorite study material but I must say I was impressed with the Shon Harris guide and videos. I was actually amazed that the videos covered almost everything in the text. It just doesn't seem possible but they do a great job of getting it all in there. I would definitely reccommend these materials to anybody taking the exam.

UnixGuy

congratulations and thanks for sharing your experience.

What's next for you ?

tdempsey

I am working with some headhunters locally to see if I can secure a network security or security analyst position in the area.

I also have been using BackTrack 3 and a companion book to start learning in depth about pen testing.

I am finding as I look around also that it's kind of silly for me to have been in this business for so long and not have some kind of Cisco cert and I'll probably start on that track too.

I think you need every edge these days especially if you are like me and don't have a 4 year degree. In Seattle, the lack of degree never seemed to matter but around here in the twin cities, I have been getting the question a lot. I think it matters here.

Sie

Congratulations, this is on my To-Do list after the C|EH. Although im looking at the FI too.

vivek2727

Thanks for your detailed post. It is very encouraging.