GCIA: Passed (12.17.2015)

Another one down-- woo! Thank you for the continued support, encouragement, and great tips everyone!

Needless to say: this was much more challenging than the GSEC that I sat last month. I was a bit nervous, to be honest. I had taken my first practice exam 6 weeks ago (66%-- failed by 1%); followed by the second practice exam 2 weeks (70%). As you can imagine, I was thinking, "Whoa. I've used both practice exams and barely passed the second one".

I noticed that I had ample time remaining during both practice rounds. I internalized this and told myself, "Slow down and take your time." I'm happy to say I passed the real thing with an 84%. I'm not entirely ecstatic about this, but happy nonetheless!

I finally get a break from school and won't be back on the SANS track until I attend SEC504 in May.

Cheers,

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Comments

JoJoCal19

Hey Robicus, congrats on the pass! I'm actually studying for it now and have it scheduled for 1/8/16. Can you give me any advice (within NDA bounds of course)?

DAVIS NGUYEN

Congrats!

cyberguypr

Congrats!

Robicus

Thanks everyone!

@ JoJoCal19:

I'm sure that you're already on top of this, but: I'll re-emphasize how important the index is (or whichever tool/resource/method you use that allows quick look-ups). I came across questions that I really had to dig deep for (buried in the notes section of the book, and not an obvious overarching concept).

I read one book per night leading up to the test. Admittedly, I didn't read every word of every page, but I did go through all of the book again, making sure to read all the details on the sections I felt shaky on. I find doing this reinforces where things are in the books, making it user to know where to look when obscure questions arise.

I was also impressed with the nature of the questions. I'll just say this: they do a really good job devising questions that really make you apply the knowledge.

I have no doubt that you'll be fine!

ccnpninja

Nice job!

JoJoCal19

Robicus wrote: »

Thanks everyone!

@ JoJoCal19:

I'm sure that you're already on top of this, but: I'll re-emphasize how important the index is (or whichever tool/resource/method you use that allows quick look-ups). I came across questions that I really had to dig deep for (buried in the notes section of the book, and not an obvious overarching concept).

I read one book per night leading up to the test. Admittedly, I didn't read every word of every page, but I did go through all of the book again, making sure to read all the details on the sections I felt shaky on. I find doing this reinforces where things are in the books, making it user to know where to look when obscure questions arise.

I was also impressed with the nature of the questions. I'll just say this: they do a really good job devising questions that really make you apply the knowledge.

I have no doubt that you'll be fine!

Thanks! I have heard it's an exam where you really have to know how to DO the stuff in the books, specifically the lab workbook. So after I'm done reading the books and indexing (going slower than I'd like), so I was planning on dedicating the full week of the exam to labbing to ingrain the concepts into memory. Good idea?

fuz1on

congrats!

Robicus

Thanks ccnpninja and fuz1on!

JoJoCal19 wrote: »

Thanks! I have heard it's an exam where you really have to know how to DO the stuff in the books, specifically the lab workbook. So after I'm done reading the books and indexing (going slower than I'd like), so I was planning on dedicating the full week of the exam to labbing to ingrain the concepts into memory. Good idea?

Absolutely-- that's a great idea! It sounds like you're being extremely thorough with your index. I'm sure that if you also re-work some of the labs you'll be golden. Looking forward to your pass post.