Passed my GCIH today!

azmatt

I passed it with a 94 and have a smile on my face that should last the rest of the day

cyberguypr

Nice! Congrats on the pass!

JDMurray

Wow, great score! Congratz!


How long did you study for? Did you build an index and use both your practice exam?

azmatt

Thank you. I studied more for my GCFA and GCIH than I've studied for everything else in my life combined.

For the GCIH I took the course, watched the on-demand and then went through the books and created a ~30 page index which I used on both practice tests and the real one.

One of the SANS mentors I met at the course told me that he uses ~50 page indexes and although most would consider it overkill, it worked for me. Probably some of the best advice I've gotten and I'll do it for every SANS course I ever take.

Even after being exposed to the content twice, I was still picking up some things while I was making that index.

JDMurray

30- to 50-page indices? Yeow! My GSEC index was 975 entries in two columns spread over ten pages, and that was taken from six books. I may have been able to squeeze out another 100-200 more entries, but at 106 entries per page I wouldn't be able to get near the size you are quoting.

azmatt

We're at the same number of entries, but each one of mine takes up the full width of the page in landscape mode. I have the topic, bk#,pg# and then a brief description of what topic is and maybe a command line example if appropriate.

It was not quick to make but it helped me and I needed all the help I could get I even took my final version to kinkos and had them bind it.

I'll take a few pics and whip up a blog post this week. Having someone show me theirs really helped me prepare mine and if I could help someone else that would be cool.

docrice

Going through the course, compiling your notes, listening to the MP3s, taking the practice exams, and then finally going through the real exam itself ... over time that's a lot of reinforcement of the material. While GIAC exams are open-book and don't require strict memorization of all the details, I think it overall solidifies the learning experience in the end. And that's what SANS seems to be going after.

94 is a good score. How much time did you have left when you finished the exam?

azmatt

I agree 100% docrice. Every time I went through material I picked something else and if I went through it again right now I would pick up some more.

I've got about a dozen courses/topics on my "whats next" list but working on applying some of these concepts in a lab environment is at the top of that list. I feel like I have a very good grasp of overall concepts but have a lot of practice ahead of me.

I still had an hour and a half left on the exam.

Dakinggamer87

Congrats on pass!!

Relax Preppy

What did you score on the practice exams?

I made a one page index for subjects (subject, pg #), and a one page index for tools (tool, pg#, description), and i printed out a windows cli **** sheet, intrusion discovery for windows **** sheet, intrusion discovery for linux **** sheet, sec 504 **** sheet, netcat **** sheet, tcp/ip & tcpdump **** sheet, and nmap **** sheet. I think i only used the **** sheets from class during the practice test, and maybe the nmap one once.

i also tabbed my book by page numbers in increments of 20 to help find pages faster.

im scheduled to take the test this saturday but im wondering if i can just walk in tomorrow and try it since i got a 90 on the practice test today.

azmatt

I got a 90 on my first practice test and 92 on my second.

It sounds like you're well prepared. Good luck!!

wmcglass

Congrats on the great score! It's a good feeling.

SecTechGirl

Congrats!!!!

azmatt

Thank you

Jinverar

Congarts Well done.