GCIH Passed

First SANS cert.

Read, read, read, read. Update, update, and update your index. Knowing your index is key. Keep it light worded and to the point. Take your practice test and focus on weak areas. CEH book by Matt Walker actually cross references a lot of stuff on GCIH such as ADS, DDOS, Netcat, Evasion, Recon, Metasploit. It gives a different perspective to help with weak areas but 97% of the focus should be on SANS material. Read it and practice. Over and over.

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Comments

cyberguypr

Congrats on the pass.

TechGromit

Congratulations, This is the most valuable SANS certification to have in the marketplace in my opinion.

E Double U

Congratulations! The GCIH pursuit has been my favorite certification experience.

cyberguypr

+1 on what E Double U said. After who know how many certs in 20 years GCIH is still my #1. I just renewed it and it didn't even hurt spending the money.

Jasiono

How were the practice tests in comparison to the actual exam?

Congrats by the way!

I took my first practice and got 76 on it. About to take my second one next week and my exam is on the 28th

I'm having a tough time with DNS related topics for some reason, mainly zone transfer stuff.

Buckeye222

Sorry for the late response. The quiz was relative to the exam. Know your material, know why they are asking what they are asking, and know where to find it in the index quickly. A lot of information is available online for things you need more info about. I used to CEH book to further study anything I didn't fully understand. It was helpful and a great reference. The SANS GCIH topics can be fairly vague.

wrickaz

Well done! Any tips in making good index?

Chivalry1

Congrats....I am repeatedly hearing great reviews on this certification. This is definitely on my list next. Need to get the company to pay for the training somehow.

Randy_Randerson

wrickaz wrote: »

Well done! Any tips in making good index?

Index the slide titles (to something you can relate if it isn't something that makes sense)
Index the slides keywords
Index the Notes sections of any specific topic that is being discussed
Index the tools (hell even take screenshots of what they look like) and DESCRIBE what they do

Seriously, if your index's are not 10 or so pages...you're doing it wrong IMO.

The whole point of the index, outside of a quick reference, is to help your short-term memory remember concepts and topics without needing to look at it.

My smallest index was for GCIH at 22 pages. My largest was for GAWN which was 80 pages. I never looked at either book more than a handful of times.

andrea76

Randy_Randerson wrote: »

Index the slide titles (to something you can relate if it isn't something that makes sense)
Index the slides keywords
Index the Notes sections of any specific topic that is being discussed
Index the tools (hell even take screenshots of what they look like) and DESCRIBE what they do

Seriously, if your index's are not 10 or so pages...you're doing it wrong IMO.

The whole point of the index, outside of a quick reference, is to help your short-term memory remember concepts and topics without needing to look at it.

My smallest index was for GCIH at 22 pages. My largest was for GAWN which was 80 pages. I never looked at either book more than a handful of times.

I am probably going for this certification (not sure if my company would pay for the course or not) So thanks for sharing the tips to make a good index, I am in need of every suggestion on this exam. Thanks again!

krucial85

I just passed GCIH today. It was a little more difficult that I expected. A lot of obscure information in the materials. I've found that the key is to do exactly what Buckeye222 stated ("Read, read, read, read. Update, update, and update your index").

Blucodex

Congrats!

Info_Sec_Wannabe

Congrats!

Did you take the course or simply challenged the exam?

krucial85

I did take the course and had the "On-demand" videos.

LordQarlyn

A late congrats to Buckeye222 and congrats to krucial85. I am currently (self) studying on that cert now and will attempt it next month. Thanks for the tips, especially since materials directly for the GCIH seem to be scarce, so I will be checking out that CEH book by Matt Walker.

ccnpninja

Congrats!

kboadu22

Congrats on the PAss!

despacito

I agree. you have to read a lot to understand all the concept in book. Practice test will only show u what kind of question will be out, how good your indexing is, and which area you need to read more on. I find the real exam questions are much harder, as it makes you think harder and to find the answer u must know the concept very well. Along with a good indexing, it can lead you to the answer in book. Make sure to highlight on the keywords and keep the remarks short and simple as you need to glance through very fast during exam. I also include a command and tools indexing listed in alphabetical order as I find it hard to remember where to look for them in my book index.