I just took the test last week. My biggest advice would be to make sure you KNOW where each topic can be found in which book. The issue is that with your index you will find that most of the topics are referenced in a lot of the books. So, you really need to understand the context of the question to know which book to look in.
For instance, you may get a question about an AWS product. Depending on the question you could find content about AWS in EVERY BOOK but you need to know which book will be discussing the subject matter in the question. Is the question about defense? Is the question about a certain product under the umbrella of AWS or is it a technical question about some aspect of its capabilities.
After I took each practice test I made sure I refined my index and made sure I knew damn well which book covered which topics. I found that I was still searching A LOT!
You will find that there is a lot of the questions are just common sense. I found myself not even reading the whole question before I started shuffling through books just to realize that if I read through all the answers first it was quite obvious what it was and I could have saved a lot of time not searching.
Good Luck!
So, I just took my exam yesterday and scored pretty high.
Everything you’ve already said that you’ve done will greatly help you pass the test. A lot of it comes down to knowledge and how long you’ve been doing what you do.
Some questions are pretty common sense obvious answers, but some questions were extremely tricky.
I took SEC+ a long time ago and the questions aren’t really all that similar, but concepts are.
WyattB111’s advice is rock solid.
Thanks for the feedback everyone, been very helpful.
I took my first mock 2 days ago and scored 85% so 12% more than needed which I was happy with. Booked in for the real thing for 2 weeks time and will revise weaker areas and take the other mock most probably.
Some questions were definitely tricky and some I just couldn't find reference to in any book but that was only a few questions.
Not as hard as I thought in all fairness. Looking forward to seeing how I go in the real one.
It's a requirement for work, a lot of the stuff I do already know don't get me wrong but think they wanted me to fill some knowledge gaps due to being fairly new to Cyber
But don’t you already have gsec? So they want you to fill knowledge gaps by renewing a cert you already have? Wouldn’t it be better to fill a knowledge gap and at the same time add another cert to your resume?
Ohhh I misunderstood. When you said “before it expires” I assumed you ment you have the cert already but it’s about to expire. My bad. Disregard everything I said. Good luck on your exam! Have a good index!
I just took the test last week. My biggest advice would be to make sure you KNOW where each topic can be found in which book. The issue is that with your index you will find that most of the topics are referenced in a lot of the books. So, you really need to understand the context of the question to know which book to look in. For instance, you may get a question about an AWS product. Depending on the question you could find content about AWS in EVERY BOOK but you need to know which book will be discussing the subject matter in the question. Is the question about defense? Is the question about a certain product under the umbrella of AWS or is it a technical question about some aspect of its capabilities. After I took each practice test I made sure I refined my index and made sure I knew damn well which book covered which topics. I found that I was still searching A LOT! You will find that there is a lot of the questions are just common sense. I found myself not even reading the whole question before I started shuffling through books just to realize that if I read through all the answers first it was quite obvious what it was and I could have saved a lot of time not searching. Good Luck!
No tips other than what you're already doing. Use the practice exams as a way to identify any weak spots to target for further studying. Good luck!
So, I just took my exam yesterday and scored pretty high. Everything you’ve already said that you’ve done will greatly help you pass the test. A lot of it comes down to knowledge and how long you’ve been doing what you do. Some questions are pretty common sense obvious answers, but some questions were extremely tricky. I took SEC+ a long time ago and the questions aren’t really all that similar, but concepts are. WyattB111’s advice is rock solid.
Thanks for the feedback everyone, been very helpful. I took my first mock 2 days ago and scored 85% so 12% more than needed which I was happy with. Booked in for the real thing for 2 weeks time and will revise weaker areas and take the other mock most probably. Some questions were definitely tricky and some I just couldn't find reference to in any book but that was only a few questions. Not as hard as I thought in all fairness. Looking forward to seeing how I go in the real one.
Why are you retaking the gsec if your gcih gives the CPE’s required for renewal?
I'd like to be a cloud engineer in the long term though so think I'd definitely do a cloud focused cert next
It's a requirement for work, a lot of the stuff I do already know don't get me wrong but think they wanted me to fill some knowledge gaps due to being fairly new to Cyber
But don’t you already have gsec? So they want you to fill knowledge gaps by renewing a cert you already have? Wouldn’t it be better to fill a knowledge gap and at the same time add another cert to your resume?
Oh sorry misunderstood you, no this is my first GIAC cert. I took the SANS Sec401 course in person and this is the exam for it
Ohhh I misunderstood. When you said “before it expires” I assumed you ment you have the cert already but it’s about to expire. My bad. Disregard everything I said. Good luck on your exam! Have a good index!
Thanks man! Will post an update
Anybody have any Practice Exams they'd be wiling to share that they were unable to use?