Great point! Let me offer a double edge sword response since one side the blade is sharper than the other, yet both will in the end cut down that tree. It is all about silently whetting your axe before you go out to cut that tree.
There is a way to guaranteed success in life. Most people don't take it because they are too impatient to even try it. They think it will take too long when in reality it is an effective REAL shortcut.

So the focus for most is to pass that darn exam, but in reality once you pass the exam, very few gained the 2nd objective which is probably the most important. Gain the practical experience to perform the Pen Test or Digital Forensics investigation.

You need to weigh the pros and cons here:

Let’s say you choose to take the CHFI first, the question you need to ask yourself is? Would you have the ability to truly think like a hacker in order to catch a hacker? If you spend more time learning about how and what techniques /  tools the nefarious evil hacker will use? Your investigations will be far more successful because you have better knowledge to make a more precise technical guess-timate.

After acquiring an image of your evidence the contents of image files are analyzed to identify evidence that either supports or contradicts a hypothesis or for signs of tampering (to hide data)

I taught a lady that was certified as an FTK or Encase investigator having never learnt anything about hacking etc, and after her training she was so thankful that she could improve her investigations many times over. Cause she was able to grasp a much deeper and broader understanding of how the break-in happened so she knew more precisely where to look for the evidence.

We need to think outside the box here. Rather than cramming so much material into a very short period of time like when you attend ILT classes next year perhaps look at a Blended Learning Approach for CEH and them continue with your plan of attending CHFI next year.

One of the biggest challenges when I teach ILT classes which is not very often anymore!  Is HOW THE HELL AM I GOING TO GET THROUGH SO MUCH MATERIAL in 5 days? And end with a result that I am confident the learner will go-out and succeed. It’s for this reason that I created CEH, CHFI etc SWAT, Blended Learning style.

Firstly you get the entire lecture and demo based video’s, plus weekly live 2 hour mentoring sessions by me. Most importantly you have the time to gain the much needed practical skills by slowing down your learning pace to a more comfortable level. Mastering each topic, from a theoretical and practical hands-on approach.

http://www.sequrit.org/study-options.html

We have been beta testing this model for a long time now and I can honestly say the end results are like way beyond expectations! 40 to 50% improvements of the learners understanding and practical know how to get the job done.

We are offering for a very limited time and low cost an opportunity for those who are still skeptical about blended learning the chance to experience the difference it will make to your ultimate goals.

Hope this will help you folks? Adios

Wayne

Wayne,

Thanks for taking time out of your day and explaining it to me.  I appreciate it.  I spoke the guys at my interne and after I explained what you are telling me to do they completly agree, "become a hacker and think like one, before you can try and figure out what they did to a network or file etc".

They are just worried about when I can get my CHFI because then I will be worth more to them and can then handle evidence and such.

I work in both forensics and hacking.  I can tell form experience that they definitely complement each.  However, like sil mentioned, they are entirely different animals.  While hacking knowledge provides a certain insight into a hacking case, we have plenty of good forensics investigators that are capable of catching a hacker without any hacking knowledge what-so-ever.  They are mostly ex-cops and ex-feds with serious investigative backgrounds.  That's the part that's key.  Don't forget that very few investigation deal with hackers. 

While you can teach the technical knowledge required for forensics work, in my experience, the investigative skills almost entirely come from experience.  A good investigator has solved enough cases where he or she can easily assume the role of the person their investigating, regardless of the circumstances.  Think of a detective in a serial killer investigation.  The detective obvious has been in the shoes of a killer, but he is able to think like one.

Those are just my two cents.