SEC501 GCED Book Index?

Mr_Clark

Does anyone have an Index for the Enterprise Defender 501 books they'd share with me? I don't care if it's handwritten in crayon or professional grade. Anything would be helpful. Would appreciate it tremendously.

Thanks

cyberguypr

Any reason why you can't create your own index?

Mr_Clark

I've seen some really slick designs posted by experienced test-takers on other threads. There's one (for another exam, 504 maybe) someone posted pics of that's color coded and bound in a spiral notebook, looks like they used a spreadsheet. Made me realize how unimaginative I am. The garbage I came up with is just an MS Word doc and not something I look forward to taking to war. I have like 7 pages and I've read where people that have taken these exams before normally have around 30 for this length of exam, sorted alphabetically - made for speed, as it were.
I'd like to find an index that's "proven". I'm out of time to start over, with my exam slated for Friday. Thought maybe someone that has taken the GCED SEC501 exam with experience creating these indexes might have one to share.

cyberguypr

Ouch, that is coming up pretty soon. I am sure you know it, but you should've tackled this earlier. I can't imagine a GCED index being much different than any other SANS test.

Most here believe the indexing part is critical to the material reinforcement process and it is very individual specific. As a result, many are reluctant to share the index. Having said that, see my index strategy here: http://www.techexams.net/forums/sans-institute-giac-certifications/98047-passed-gcih.html.

JDMurray

Realize that the manuals for all SANS course are updated and reprinted once or twice a year. This means that content is added/moved/removed causing the page numbers in an index to change. If you are using an index that is built from a different revision of manuals than what you are using, you'll need to go through the index line-by-line and fix any page number/topic misalignments that you find.

docrice

Some people go all out with their indexes, but for me an index is a quick-lookup guide. More importantly, the whole process of creating your personal index is an opportunity to identify the differences between the course material and your actual level of knowledge in the various topics. By discovering these, you get to comb through subject areas again which are harder for you while simultaneously reinforcing topics you're more comfortable with. This intensifies/immerses your learning experience so you're better prepared for the actual exam.

My indexes are nothing more than Word docs that are 15 - 30 pages long. That's it. If it's longer than that, I need to study more because the last thing I want to do during an exam is relying to heavily on course material, interpreting the question, and contextualizing the scenario to figure out the answer. All those things eat up minutes on the clock.

Mr_Clark

Well, thanks to anyone that might have given it some thought. I'd take anyone else's scholarly and notation skills over my pitiful attempts. No Pay it Forward philosophies here? Nope? Nope? Thanks anyway!

SephStorm

what did you think about the course?

Mr_Clark

3 days too long, like any SANS course. I'd think a lot better about it if they included a book index for the thousands they charge. Sorry, I don't process stress well. Was never much of a student.

docrice

I'd hazard a guess that they intentionally don't include a book index so you can build your own and in the process absorb more of the material so it sticks.

Have you taken other SANS courses and if so, how do they compare to 501? There's not a lot of discussion about 501 so I'm pretty curious about it.

JDMurray

A book index is difficult and time-consuming to build correctly. Even with modern publishing software it's still a very manual process to check that the index is completely correct. (Publishers have people whose job title is "Indexer" just for this purpose.) The extra work (and cost) to maintain an index on so many books that are constantly being revised may be the reason why SANS omitted the index, and the "build your own index to learn the material better" concept evolved naturally from the students wanting indices to reference the books during the GIAC exams.

cyberguypr

Wow, it never occurred to me that professional indexer was a thing. There are even indexing societies with distance learning courses and all.

About :: The Society of Indexers

American Society for Indexing

tumblejerm

I have taken the GCED course in San Diego in May 2016. And I have been struggling to prepare for this test. I have created an Index of all 6 books and took my first practice exam and got a 49% . I thought my index failed me and had a hard time finding the tools and attack types from within my Index and really don't know how to improve it as I spent over 8 hours creating the index.

Is there any way I could borrow your index and I could e-mail you mine as well to see if i'm doing it right etc. This has been giving me anxiety for months now and I'm not sure what else to do.

ramrunner800

tumblejerm wrote: »

I have taken the GCED course in San Diego in May 2016. And I have been struggling to prepare for this test. I have created an Index of all 6 books and took my first practice exam and got a 49% . I thought my index failed me and had a hard time finding the tools and attack types from within my Index and really don't know how to improve it as I spent over 8 hours creating the index.

Is there any way I could borrow your index and I could e-mail you mine as well to see if i'm doing it right etc. This has been giving me anxiety for months now and I'm not sure what else to do.

Your are seriously abusing the community that exists here for helping people learn and advance their careers. You have not put in the work necessary to build a proper index and pass the exam. You have posted this exact text repeatedly on ancient posts, in an apparent bid to game the system so that you can receive PM's that you hope people will send you. I would advise you to read the replies people have sent you with great tips for how to effectively study for a SAMS exam. I hope nobody sends you the index you seek, because your posts here do not show good faith.

tumblejerm

ramrunner800 wrote: »

Your are seriously abusing the community that exists here for helping people learn and advance their careers. You have not put in the work necessary to build a proper index and pass the exam. You have posted this exact text repeatedly on ancient posts, in an apparent bid to game the system so that you can receive PM's that you hope people will send you. I would advise you to read the replies people have sent you with great tips for how to effectively study for a SAMS exam. I hope nobody sends you the index you seek, because your posts here do not show good faith.

You are completely rude! You have NO idea what work I have done and I find your reply to be shameful! I don't feel asking for help is abusing anything. I have spent hours on my current index but I realized that after my first practice exam (49%...ran out of time also) that I needed help how to build the proper index. I posted this on multiple posts because I thought it may reach more people that could potentially help me. I don't see how you can say ANY that my posts are not in good faith as I am a cyber security professional and see no problem with asking for help. I don't see what the problem is with sharing indexes! As for looking at other people's responses? There wasn't anything useful other than re-reading the material or nothing of pertaining value that I noticed...I figured that someone could help pay it forward and help me as I am struggling to get a proficient index. I really don't appreciate your answer and especially without the facts!

TechGromit

I think Cyberguypr should send him his index, see how Tumberjerm does with a 3 Year old index.

cyberguypr

These people are so rude. I can't stand them . I keep coming back to see if they change but it's the same since I joined in 2007.

Jokes aside, as I said in one of the other 27,459 threads were you begged for help: relax. Some of us have been through the GIAC routine more than once. GCED is one of the certs I understand better as I took the test twice because I worked with GIAC to help set the current passing standard. We want to help but as ramrunner800 said, you have obviously not done your part. Exhibit A: you never answered what I asked here: http://www.techexams.net/forums/sans-institute-giac-certifications/114007-looking-index-building-tips.html#post1042254. For all I know you could be the guy I see at every single SANS class I've attended: back of the room, checking text, checking email, not following labs, leaving early, etc.

In my eyes you are desperate and have no concrete/serious plan to attack this cert. You obviously have a serious knowledge gap that I doubt you can cover peeking at someone's index. If by any chance my assessment is wrong, you are doing an awful job at communicating your intentions.

tumblejerm

cyberguypr wrote: »

These people are so rude. I can't stand them . I keep coming back to see if they change but it's the same since I joined in 2007.

Jokes aside, as I said in one of the other 27,459 threads were you begged for help: relax. Some of us have been through the GIAC routine more than once. GCED is one of the certs I understand better as I took the test twice because I worked with GIAC to help set the current passing standard. We want to help but as ramrunner800 said, you have obviously not done your part. Exhibit A: you never answered what I asked here: http://www.techexams.net/forums/sans-institute-giac-certifications/114007-looking-index-building-tips.html#post1042254. For all I know you could be the guy I see at every single SANS class I've attended: back of the room, checking text, checking email, not following labs, leaving early, etc.

In my eyes you are desperate and have no concrete/serious plan to attack this cert. You obviously have a serious knowledge gap that I doubt you can cover peeking at someone's index. If by any chance my assessment is wrong, you are doing an awful job at communicating your intentions.

I appreciate your answer as it is positive/constructive. I need to revise what i said a bit. I never saw any replies from any other posts as this one is the only one I got notifications from (I think i missed the check box for received notifications) so I wasn't aware I have received anything. The 8 hrs i mentioned is wrong as I spent the whole week during class building the index as he lectured through the 6 days.

This is my first SANS course and it wasn't easy. As with I have only received my Security+ 8 months ago and new to the InfoSec world and was a former Desktop support person. I have spent nearly 50 hours at least that I can remember if include the work I did during the actual course. I was in the front of the class constructing my index while listening (not easy!) My Index is over 500 lines in Excel with decent write outs on each item with only one full pass-through of the 6 books. I'm not a fan of how the text was written but that's another story. There was a lot of tools that I don't recall in the book so I'm going to revisit that first. I honestly don't know how to study this material that well other than glazing over the pages to try to remember it. Was there something that helped you? I believe that looking at someone's index would me build mine or see what I'm missing and study it religiously until I have the knowledge necessary. I may have written my initial post to hastily as this has been a burden for me and required for my job (since they paid for it). I'm usually an excellent student without having to study that hard but this course content has so much to it I have been struggling on developing an effective approach to get this fully. I don't understand why people get so upset of the borrowing someone index. If anyone asked me I wouldn't mind doing it as it wouldn't require any work to share and help people out. I suppose not have any perquisites for this course didn't help but I thought having a Security+ cert plus 1 year working experience would be enough. Any guidance would be helpful. I have also never created an index before so the whole thing is new experience. albeit an overwhelming one.

UnixGuy

@tumberjerm

I haven't taken GCED, but I will help you.

Here is UnixGuy secret fail-safe recipe that guarantees passing the GCED! 100%!

Plan of action:
1) Go through the material again AND do ALL the WORKBOOK exercises. Do all the LABS. Can't skip any of them!!
2) Repeat Step 1 (even if it takes you 6 months! (it shouldn't))
3) Repeat Step 2
4) Start making an index (a summary of everything you studied).
5) Repeat Step 3
6) Take a practice test.

Did you pass the practice test?
YES===> Take the actual test.
No ==> Repeat steps(3,4,5,6).



=================

Mate follow my plan, you will not only pass, but you will pass with above 90% score, and you will have the added advantage of gaining invaluable knowledge.


When you pass, I expect a dinner invitation in return (or transfer the money directly to me).

TechGromit

Well you really should have been listening to the instructor, instead of working on your index in class. It's impossible to do both of them good at the same time. It's OK to write down some notes when the instructor stressing something is important, but you should be focused on the instructor while in class. I had several 5 Hour energy drinks when I took my training, so I was alert every day, even after that after Lunch low period. But it's too late to change that now. If you took your training in May, this means you have a Sept deadline to take the exam, In your case I would seriously consider paying for an extension. I'm not familiar with the GCED, but when I took my GSEC, I had around 2500 entries in my index, and the GCED goes more in depth than the GSEC, so your index should be even larger. reread the books and highlight everything important, than add it to you index. When I did mine, I often had Two or more entries for the same topic. For example I defined both "FBI" and "Federal Bureau of Investigation" with the same definition because I wasn't sure how they would ask the question.

As for using some else's index, as others stated, it be fairly useless to you since the books are updated at least twice a year. It be more work to try to realign the index you get with your new books, not to mention some info would be removed and new stuff added to your books. Even if someone was able to give you an updated index that was the same as your books, I don't think you could pass with it, there simply isn't enough time to look up every answer, you have to have a good grasp on the material, and since you ran out of time on your practice exam, you clearly do not.

NetworkNewb

tumblejerm wrote: »

I have taken the GCED course in San Diego in May 2016. And I have been struggling to prepare for this test. I have created an Index of all 6 books and took my first practice exam and got a 49% . I thought my index failed me and had a hard time finding the tools and attack types from within my Index and really don't know how to improve it as I spent over 8 hours creating the index.

Is there any way I could borrow your index and I could e-mail you mine as well to see if i'm doing it right etc. This has been giving me anxiety for months now and I'm not sure what else to do.

So you took a practice exam and bombed it... You should've learned where your index is not helping you, and where it is, so you should be able to improve on those areas.

You should also have a better idea on what areas you are weak on and need to study more.

Sounds your using your index too much as a crutch. And sounds like you need go over the books again and have a lot of work left to do until you actually understand the material.

quogue66

This is a very similar process that I take when studying for a GIAC exam. I usually go through all the books twice and do all the labs twice. I build my index a little as I read and then afterwards I complete the index and fine tune it. I list things multiple ways in case I'm not sure how I'll be looking for it in a pinch...I may use FBI, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Bureau and Investigation. I then take the first practice test and see what I need to work on. I then go through the books and labs one more time and pay close attention to the areas I didn't score well on. This whole process takes me 4-6 weeks.

tumblejerm

Thanks for the input, I will take your advice and hopefully will patch the knowledge gaps, I know I'm running out of time but I may be extending it just to be sure depending how my additional study is. Since this is my first SANS class I wasn't sure if doing the index during class was good or not but saw other's (more experiences students doing it) and thought at the time that it was a good idea. Paul Henry was a good instructor with a lot of real life examples. This is just a very different experience that I've ever had. I'll try my best and will update you guys if I get stuck again etc. It is very hard to maintain a full time job and put that many hours of studying but I'm going to try arranging using my lunch breaks and some other sources of time to put more into it.

TechGromit

It's not easy, I'll give you that, but if it was everybody be certified. The last thing I want to do after work is to pick up technical manuals and study, but you have to make sacrifices to reap the rewards.

ramrunner800

tumblejerm wrote: »

You are completely rude! You have NO idea what work I have done and I find your reply to be shameful! I don't feel asking for help is abusing anything. I have spent hours on my current index but I realized that after my first practice exam (49%...ran out of time also) that I needed help how to build the proper index. I posted this on multiple posts because I thought it may reach more people that could potentially help me. I don't see how you can say ANY that my posts are not in good faith as I am a cyber security professional and see no problem with asking for help. I don't see what the problem is with sharing indexes! As for looking at other people's responses? There wasn't anything useful other than re-reading the material or nothing of pertaining value that I noticed...I figured that someone could help pay it forward and help me as I am struggling to get a proficient index. I really don't appreciate your answer and especially without the facts!

I don't say those things simply to be mean, and I'm sorry if your feelings are hurt, though I am not at all sorry for anything I said. Please try and understand what it looks like when you spam the forum with necroposts, saying the exact same thing over and over. It's poor form. I will say, I did post a constructive reply in another of your threads a few days ago, prior to this one. As others here have said, we would like to help. Asking for someone else's index potentially crosses the line from asking us to help, to asking us to do the work for you, which is why people get sensitive. Indexes are personal and the product of much blood sweat and tears; I'm not simply going to give mine to you to make your life easier.

It does not appear that you have an accurate idea of the amount of time required to study for a SANS exam. You said you spent 8 hours working on your index, plus time in class, totaling to ~40ish hours working on your index. I agree with others that working on your index in class is not a great idea, so bear that in mind on your next class. I personally find that indexing each book from a class takes me 8+ hours. That can vary with the complexity of the material. I am currently indexing for GREM, and it's just slow going. As hard as it is, it's critical to put in that time. Rereading every page from the class and making the index helps me to reinforce the information from class. Like others have said, enter the information in all the different ways you can think it might be asked, i.e. FBI, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Investigation - Federal Bureau of, etc. I also find it helpful to print my index in two different orders, and separate them by a tab. One is in page order of the book, the other is alphabetical. I end up using both orders during the exam, depending on which one helps me get to the material faster. Also include any quick references included on the USB from your class, and any of the appendices on the USB that you think you might be questioned on. Like others here have suggested, I like taking mine to a store and having it spiral bound with a hard plastic cover, to keep everything organized and usable for later when you want to reference your books.