GWEB Passed - Here is how I prepared

Just passed the GWEB Cert last week, and scored a 90.6 in just about 2 hours. Not long, but it is a tough test.

Unlike some of the other GIAC tests which are just facts, this test evaluates your knowledge and understanding of what is taught. There are "situational" type questions that ask questions like; here is the big picture, which option is the best, cost effective, etc. Most questions, I didn't "have" to look up, but did so for validation of my understanding of a concept. You either know this stuff or not.

I have 15+ years of webdev, sql, server admin experience.

With that said, for my prep, with its value (to me), for preparing for the test (10 high and 0 low)..

• 10 - Took the DEV522 Course at SANS2013 in Orlando in March, taught by Johannes Ullrich
• 8 - Built a detailed index of the six SANS books, which ended up being about 30 pages.
• 1 - Built a "Table of Contents" for all books....which I didn't use at all.
• 8 - Included the following cheatsheets in my binder: IPv6, ASCII, HEX-Decimal, Common Ports, HTTP Status Codes, RegEx, IPsec
• 0 - Included OWASP Top 10 Publication and their (XSS, SQLinjection) cheatsheets too, but didn't use them.
• 9 - Listened to the MP3 of the course taught by Jason Lam
• 9 - Took 1st practice test - 80%
• 5 - Took 2nd practice test - 92%.

I did not repeat any of the labs during my studing.

The practice tests repeated about 20-30% of the questions. The actual test repeated none of the questions from the practice tests.