Finally passed the GAC exam after two attempts — here's what worked

by Brian Y. 458 views3 replies
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Brian Y.OP
May 27, 2026

Long-time lurker, first-time poster. I just got my results back yesterday and I'm honestly still in shock — I passed the GAC exam on my second try with a 78%. My first attempt was a 64%, which stung pretty bad after all the prep I thought I'd done. The difference this time was actually finding a decent GAC practice test that matched the real question style. So many free ones out there are way off in terms of difficulty and phrasing.

The areas that tripped me up most the first time were the threat intelligence sections and the incident response scenarios. They're not just knowledge questions — they expect you to apply concepts in a specific order under pressure. I spent about 6 weeks the second time around, roughly 90 minutes a day, and leaned heavily on a structured study guide that organized topics by domain rather than just throwing everything at me at once.

Happy to share what resources helped if anyone's prepping right now. What's everyone else finding hardest about this exam?

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Kevin O.
May 27, 2026
Congrats on passing! I'm currently 3 weeks out from my attempt and the incident response stuff is killing me too. I keep second-guessing the prioritization questions. Did you find any good exam tips for those scenario-based ones specifically? I feel like I understand the concepts but the way the answers are worded throws me off every time.
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Jordan L.
May 28, 2026
That score improvement from 64 to 78 is huge. Shows the second-attempt strategy actually matters more than raw hours. Good luck with whatever's next — and post here if you have tips once you've had a few days to decompress!
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Kevin O.
May 28, 2026
Two attempts is nothing to be ashamed of — a lot of people I know took it three times. The GAC is legitimately harder than the marketing makes it sound. The threat intelligence domain caught me off guard because I came from a network background and had to basically relearn how to think about adversary behavior. Took me 8 weeks of dedicated prep, not the 4 weeks the official guide suggests.

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