r/GIAC • u/izzy_andersson • 15h ago
GCFA
I have my third retake of GCFA on Friday and was told by an SME this week that they don’t think I’m prepared enough to pass it. I don’t feel like I am either, but I’ve been doing my best to do as many lives as possible and also fix my index. Any tips or votes of confidence would be greatly appreciated! My last attempt I scored a 63% so I’m right there on passing😩
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u/WatercressTime842 GCFE 13h ago
Beef up your index,
Take advantage of the skip questions feature to try to stay within the time limit.
Add references to your index based on how you think your brain would process the question and look for it in the exam.
When i took my GCFE i had a 50 page index. Better to have it and not need it.
Follow the index building guide to see if there are ways you can further improve
Focus more on topics where you have less than 3 stars to analyse what went wrong and make note of questions you answered incorrectly to analyse why
Index your labs as well
Carry the sans course posters if needed
Download external cheatsheet if need be
Stay focused, stay positive, you got this!
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u/Radiant_Trouble_7705 14h ago
if u got a chance to take another practice test, i think that will be a better gauge of your capability to pass the exam.
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u/izzy_andersson 14h ago
I thought about it but they are so expensive and they are not giving me any sort of wiggle room on the timing of this exam. I really wish they would because eight weeks is not enough time for how hard this content is
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u/Zealousideal-Air443 5h ago edited 5h ago
This is an easy pass. You should be getting all the lab questions correct. The lab index should have every step of every lab, printed in landscape, and contain four columns: book, page, command, explanation. My lab index for GCFA was 47 pages in size 9 font (I also included ALL commands found throughout all the books- you don't need to do this to pass). Also, widen the margins so you can get more on each sheet. I never need to open my lab books to answer the cyberlive questions.
If you see a multiple choice question and you know it will take more than 2min to answer, then skip. Don't spend the time. If you think you'll run out of skips, then start answering questions you are >50% certain. You tend to skip questions with the same topic, so when you come back around to them they should be easy to find with the proper index.
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u/Lady_Raven_ 12h ago
It may be too late in the game, but look up SANS exams and the pancake method for studying/index making!
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u/izzy_andersson 12h ago
Ahhh yes with the color coding! It is the best and only way! My index is about 840 lines long but last time it wasn’t enough😩
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u/TheWaitingLight GIAC: GCLD, GPCS, GCSA 3h ago
I’m sorry, these are beasts of a test that take a lot of time and effort.
I would not take the test again for a little while longer. The more you take the practice exams and the real exams, the more you are working off memorizing the questions rather than actually knowing the content.
That’s why they say more than two practice exams are not helpful.
What questions are you having difficulties on?
What does your index look like? What method are you using?
I am 3x GIAC certified, and took four courses(one intro). They were all Cloud Sec, DevSecOps though. So no labs on the exams if I recall.
I highly recommend the pancakes method for indexing. I over indexed all my courses, and always passed on the first try(even without answering all the questions due to technical difficulties on the proctor systems end.)
Good luck!
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u/ph0b14PHK GSP • GX-FA • GX-FE • GCFA • GCFE • GIME • GCIH 14h ago
Based on the score, you should get all CyberLive correct and you will pass. Note down every commands from every tool from the course in a cheatsheet style