How big was your index?

cyberguypr

I'm currently working on the last leg of my GCIH prep. I attended the course in October, watched the OnDemand version, perused the Skoudis Counter Hack book, played with the tools, and finished the first round of indexing the books. For some reason I fell my index is not where it should be. Or is my mind playing games on me?

This is what I have so far in regards to printed material I will take to the test:
- index with almost 600 entries and 12 pages
- 10 pages of condensed notes
- multiple SANS **** sheets

I took the first practice test and scored 80% without referencing any notes. Not stellar, but I'll take it. Weakest areas are rootkits, covering tracks, and format string attacks. Plan is to attack those areas, finish compiling the notes and index, and take the second practice test.

If someone has any words of wisdom, the moment is now.

BillHoo

It sounds like your strategy is similar to what I did with my prep fro the GSLC. I had about 1800 entries in my index and it took up 16 pages. I got 93 on that.

Don't feel bad if your next practice test does not result in major score improvement. Just as long as you are improving! Focus on the areas you need help on and index as you go.

TABBING - Use no more than 6 or 7 subject tabs on your books. Too many becomes useless clutter. For your index, Use the alphabet only and tab with BIG easy to see and grab tabs at the TOP of your index with the binding to the left edge (unless you are left-handed). This allows for speed in flipping through your index to get to the right section.

On test day, the proctor did me a great favor by putting me on a workstation at the corner of the room. This allowed me to spread my books around for easy access.

At my testing center, all of the workstations were lined aup against three walls of the room allowing the proctors to see what everyone is doing. The two corner workstations in the back of the room had the most space around them. Otherwise, you're crammed in a small desk with a monitor and PC.

In the future, I will get there early and specifically ask for a corner workstation for open-book tests. Rather than hope for the thoughtfulness of the proctor.


Best of luck!

cyberguypr

Definitely good advice. I plan to go to my testing center next week to take a peek at the facility. It's a community center type thing so I'm betting on having the whole room to myself.

BillHoo

If your instructor was one of those prior-military service guys, they probably had a habit of stomping or rapping on the table on points you need to know.

If you were dutiful in highlighting those areas in the books as you went along, you have a roadmap of things to focus on.

I made a separate "list", not really an index of all those emphasized points. I just made a big excel spreadsheet with; Topic, Book#, Page.

The topic field was very verbose. Usually a whole sentence or two that covered the concept they were trying to hammer in.

The list of "Must-knows" ended up being about 4 pages. It took me about two hours to go through all the books to make that list. And I only had time to review that list the night before the exam and spent 1 hour on it.

azmatt

Here's a link with pictures and a description of the GCIH index I used.

http://digitalforensicstips.com/2012/11/sans-index-how-to-guide-with-pictures/

cyberguypr

Oh yeah, I saw that and is how I laid out mine. I am currently working on a section summing up the attacks along with their respective defenses. As soon as I finish that I'll do the second practice test.

I took the class with Jonathan Ham and gotta say that I love this guy. I couldn't get the "cues" as he would get excited a lot when delivering the material. You could see how his eyes shined when he explained stuff. He actually started jumping up and down in several occasions. Priceless.

cyberguypr

Well, second test came in at 92%. I now feel faurly confident with the index, especially my 'description' column, as I had to do very minimal page flipping on the books. I'll try to schedule the test for either late this week or early next.

chanakyajupudi

Best of Luck !

veritas_libertas

Good luck! Bring back the prize...

tumblejerm

Best of luck!

cyberguypr

2.5 years late to the party, but sure!