CEH v7 Review

[BillV]

Hmm, NetCom.. is that Titu's company? I'm pretty sure that sounds familiar. If it is, I'm not surprised. They are a highly respected ATC by EC-Council have won numerous awards. I met him last year at Hacker Halted down in Miami. Very cool guy.

[ba22er]

I also attended the class, but as a paying customer and not someone on a freebie I was totally underwhelmed buy the course materials provided. What good is the book of slides that was provided as course notes? They were not indexed and contained many inaccuracies, as such there was no way they could be used for revision or for reference later on.

The screenshots for the labs differed from the instructions that were given under them and were usually wrong. In some cases the software provide was a different version than the examples and in some cases the labs did not work.  

The course topics did not match the exam topics and due to how the course notes were provided (a copy of the course slides!), there were questions on things that were not mentioned in the notes. A lot of the questions had inaccuracies and there were several questions that only permitted you to put one answer even when there were more than 1 correct answer (even where the correct answer was repeated even down to the spelling mistake).

The only good thing was the excelent knowledge and skill of the trainer.

The course covered the correct topics and would have been fine if this was a pre-release runthrough and proofing exercise but it is not. It is the final version that they have released and are charging for. This will be worth doing in a few months when the instructors have corrected all the slides and excercises and basically done the proofreading and basic spellchecking that EC-Council didn't.

[Steve_Sanchez]

BillV - yes Titu's Company, just spoke with him on the phone briefly but was assisted greatly by his team in Vegas, all good guys.

ba22er - I can't comment on the test as it relates to the courseware as I have not taken the test yet, planning on it in the next few weeks. And yes I agree that the labs should have been vetted by a few folks as there were some obvious inaccuracies.

[BillV]

I was honestly wondering about the content of the exam and how it relates to the courseware. If anyone else that takes the exam has some feedback on that it would be nice to hear about it.

[hayabusa]

I can tell you, there was much on the exam, BillV, that had I not been more well-versed, and had not already been a CEH, I wouldn't have expected.  In honesty, the exam threw some curveballs that were NOT discussed, in any manner, during the class.  Again, my reviews came as someone who had been there, before.  I didn't go much into the exam, because, honestly, I didn't want to frighten people.  If the instructor is good (ours was,) he or she will clue you in, a bit, on some things to watch out for on the exam, that weren't really 'covered' well, during normal class flow, and you'll still pass.  (After all, that IS the point of a bootcamp, right, and many have 'MUST PASS GUARANTEES.'

As noted by Steve_Sanchez, I think it's a good course, overall, for those getting started, but I also have to acknowledge ba22er's frustrations, as I could easily have seen our bootcamp go that way, had we not had both a good instructor, as well as the couple of us that 'lent a hand' to get over the humps that were the mis-configurations, incorrect options shown in 1 or 2 slides, and just the extra effort.  Admittedly, it did make a difference, both with who the instructor was, as well as who attended.  And this time around still, IMHO, wasn't as good as my original CEH bootcamp, not because of instructor or material quality, but because the original provider went above and beyond.

That first time around was more along the line of what Steve_Sanchez said about his, with extended opportunity to spend time in the labs, etc.

ba22er, I feel for you, and maybe, if you approach that ATC with a positive attitude, they'll try to make it up to you.  While I passed mine, I can say the ATC I took it from, Solutient, in Independence, Ohio, even GIVES all bootcamp participants the option, for free, of sitting the class again, one more time, within a year period, on their dime.  The only requirement is that you bring your original books and class materials with you.  They don't give you a second set.  (This - the re-sit, not the needing to being my books for the second sitting - came as a shock to me, as I'd never heard of such, but it is a very cool practice, I must say!)  I might re-sit it, just to help out and make personal connections, again.  who knows...

[BillV]

Yeah, that's definitely something for ba22er to look into. I think many training places off a free re-sit within a certain time frame. Thanks again, hayabusa.

[ba22er]

I'm not after a resit, I passed the exam so my comments were not sour grapes, I felt that i needed to put forward my thoughts on the course and exam.

I also felt that the EC-Council appear to think that they can just trot out any old course with what would appear to be no internal validation prior to launching this course for paying customers!
The course was not ready and the final exam did not match the course content.


All the people on my course have complained that we were not there to proof read and test a course which was clearly not ready.  We were customers attending the grand launch of a new fully finished course and that was simply not the case.

[hayabusa]

I can understand your frustrations, and I AM glad that you passed.  With regards to the resit, I only mentioned that, as it might've at least given some (I know you're not looking for it) folks the opportunity to go back, and take it when it's more polished, and have a better experience with it.  It's sad, unfortunately, that someone would need / want to consider that, but it does happen.  Sounds, though, from what I'm hearing, that this launch went off wrong in more places than just yours, so that's a shame.

I'm also glad, at least, that you found value in the instructor, so at least that gives me more hope for things, knowing that EC-Council DID get a qualified instructor for you.  Often times, even in the worst bootcamps I've attended, the instructor could've / had made all the difference in the entire experience.  

Again, I understand your frustration, and can easily see why you feel that way, based on our experiences, as well.  Had I been a paid customer, and one who didn't actively participate to help resolve some of the situations we ran into in our class, I might've felt differently, especially if mine went as bad as some of the others have said theirs did.  So while I'm not EC-Council, and certainly, therefore, can't speak for them or on their behalf, I'm sorry that your experience went badly.  Definitely, at least, make sure you send your feelings and thoughts to them.  I can't speak for what will come of it, but hopefully, they'll take them into strong consideration, when planning future courses.