Just passed the GCIA this morning! The test was incredibly difficult. I scored an 82%, which was slightly higher than my second practice test score, which was a 78%. I did feel like the real exam was a lot harder though. At my highest point early on in the test I was at a 92% and was feeling good. Steadily my score when down to 80, then back up to 85 then to the final score of 82%.
All things considered I think the test was very fair. I had no experience in this space prior to taking the SEC503 class. I studied hard for another month and a half after the class. The material was extremely challenging during the class and for the first week of self-stufy. I was finally able to put the pieces together during the second week of studying. I used the class books, and the IDS book by Judy Novak and Stephen Northcutt, which helped fill in some gaps... do not use the snort info as its dated!
I indexed all books and made tabs on them all for quick reference. I also brought in various **** sheets to help with hex/decimal/binary conversions -> thanks for the **** sheet
@josh.armentrout1. For those of you taking the test, make sure you are keeping track of your time, its too tempting to want to hunt down every answer you are pretty sure is correct, Just go with your instincts.
When I get around to another SANS class I will probably do SEC504 to round out my knowledge a little more, then I'll look into a specific field some more. I do enjoy incident response though...
