Overview
GIAC Certifications are highly-regarded by many companies and government agencies. The exams are known for being relevant, rigor and not for the faint of hearts.
I have taken five SANS courses and obtained the following certifications:
SANS Courses are crucial for GIAC Exams and if you have a chance to take the exam, take it. The materials are highly relevant, the instructors are extremely knowledgable, and you will find yourself using the knowledge in your daily work quite often as a cybersecurity professional.
I used to be super anxious taking exams; so much so that I have dreams about taking exams a lot :P. After 5 SANS Courses, I have many trials and errors in my exams taking skills.
This article is a summary of what I have learned to master my exam taking skills, specifically GIAC Exams that I hope would help you as well as a cyber professional.
Tip 0: Schedule the exam
Scheduling the exam as soon as you can gives you a deadline. This can help you plan when to index, when to take the practice tests, and when to prepare yourself.
Don't schedule it the last day possible, but rather a couple weeks after the course; you will retain information better.
Tell your loved ones that you'll be studying like crazy these few weeks, make sure they understand the exam is hard, very hard indeed. Schedule alone time to study, without any distractions.
Tip 1: Indexing is Crucial
Figure out your learning preferences. If you're a visual learner, use mind maps. I use the built-in app Freeform on Ipad to draw mind maps during lectures.
Get a bunch of the following marking tabs (Amazon Link in the photo)
Use the bigger tabs to mark the sections in each book, and the smaller tabs to mark the topics of each slide. Include the acronyms in the slides if you're bad at it, like me.
Depending on the class, some might give you an index page already, most of them don't. This is my trick to make your own index pages.
- Make an Excel sheet with the Book name, Topics, and Contents as table headers, and color coded them with the same color on your tabs. This way you can print the page out and will be able to check where the contents are with colors.
Tip 2: Read the slides notes and highlight key points
Highlighters are your friends during class. Check the slides notes and highlight any key points with different colors for different points. For example, I use yellow highlights for action steps, green for tool names, and pink for acronyms explainations.
Write on the books itself helps me more than on paper. Make sure you can read your own hand writing after a few weeks, I know I had to learn that.
Tip 3: Take the practice exams a few weeks before
Most GIAC certs will include free practice exams. Take the first one going in blind, meaning without any preps, to see how much you remember. Treat it as though it's the real exam.
I usually take the first exam without any looking at any printed materials. I tend to dislike open notes tests because they make you rely on the books, so this is one of the times where I can test my true knowledge. This way I can take notes of what I'm missing, and what I need to relearn.
After the practice test you'll see where you stand in memorizing the materials. This is the goal of the exams: What you remember after the course, how well you retain information without checking materials.
Take the second practice exam open notes like it's designed to be to check your indexing skill. If you failed these, it's okay, don't be too hard on yourself. Go back and review the topics you're weak at, and index them better.
Tip 4: Don't look at materials the day before the exam
The day before the exam you should take care of your well-being and your health:
Get a good night sleep. Not 6 hours, not 7 hours, but the full 8 hours with REM sleep and everything. We know how terrible we are without proper sleep. Read the book Why we Sleep
Eat a good breakfast, drink water, exercise 2 days before.
That's it! Hope this helps!
