GPEN Tips/Advice?

ajd86

Greetings everyone!

I've had a busy year as far as certs go: CEH in February, CCENT (ICND1) in April, and CISSP in July.
I've got two more on-deck for 2012: GPEN and CCNA (ICND2)

My question for you all is: What's the best strategy for studying for this exam. I attended the SEC560 course less than a month ago. I was wondering if having a strong understanding of the courseware is all the test really expects. Any advice would be great!

Thanks!

beads

Toughest part for me were some of the intricacies of rainbow tables. Also keep in mind that Ed likes to change the material quite quickly and thus the exam material so don't take too long before scheduling the exam.

- beads

ajd86

beads wrote: »

Toughest part for me were some of the intricacies of rainbow tables. Also keep in mind that Ed likes to change the material quite quickly and thus the exam material so don't take too long before scheduling the exam.

- beads

Great point with the rainbow tables. His explanation made sense at the time, but it's definitely worth reviewing heavily. And GREAT advice with the scheduling. I booked my exam for Aug 25, which is about 2 months after I took the course. Hopefully no major changes occur between now and then.

Thanks for the advice!

ipchain

Having a solid understanding of the course material is what every course/exam expects you to have. Go over the books one more time and make sure you are comfortable with all of the concepts. You will be fine, do not worry about the exam

Good luck!

grauwulf

Hello ajd86,

I'm prepping for the GPEN as well and happen to be sitting it this Monday. I took to the 560 class at SANSFire (thank you work) so I'm guessing that we're working from the same materials. What I'm doing is trying to build the most kick ass index possible. Every term. Every definition. Everything I can think of - in the index. This was a recommendation that was passed to me from a GSE in my office and from what I can tell is really good advice. I am also putting together a binder of '**** sheets' which I think will come in handy. Nmap to Wikto. WMIC to basic *nix.

Other than that I would recommend taking the practice tests from SANS. The first one I took blind, no studying and no notes. The second one I took with notes. I'd say that if you can hit 65-75 blind and 85-90 with notes that you should be pretty well off for the exam.

Anyway, best of luck to you.

ajd86

grauwulf wrote: »

Hello ajd86,

I'm prepping for the GPEN as well and happen to be sitting it this Monday. I took to the 560 class at SANSFire (thank you work) so I'm guessing that we're working from the same materials. What I'm doing is trying to build the most kick ass index possible. Every term. Every definition. Everything I can think of - in the index. This was a recommendation that was passed to me from a GSE in my office and from what I can tell is really good advice. I am also putting together a binder of '**** sheets' which I think will come in handy. Nmap to Wikto. WMIC to basic *nix.

Other than that I would recommend taking the practice tests from SANS. The first one I took blind, no studying and no notes. The second one I took with notes. I'd say that if you can hit 65-75 blind and 85-90 with notes that you should be pretty well off for the exam.

Anyway, best of luck to you.

Hi there. I, too attended the 560 course at SANSFire. I was actually one of the facilitators for the course. I've heard the same advice that you're sharing, so I've started to put together a similar index. I'm sitting for the exam on Thursday, so you're a few days ahead of me. I'd be curious to know what your testing experience is like.

Best of luck to you! I'm sure you're very well prepared.

grauwulf

follow on about the practice tests

The two practice exams that I took VERY closely mimicked the feel of the exam. The exam covered a slightly more comprehensive set of tools and techniques but the feel is very close. My scores were also pretty close. Practice exams were falling in the mid 80s and my final score was right there. I thought the actual exam was harder but I also had a whole bunch of crazy technical problems that made me stop and restart 4 or 5 times.