Tuesday, November 3, 2009

GSEC update

Time is still of the essence. I scheduled the test for November 16th, and thought I might bump that up. At this point, I'm thinking my review will go at least that long. I'm in the process of creating "cram sheets" for each book as a review of all the material. The first couple took a long time because I think I put too much info into each. Starting with section 3 I'm focussing more on points to jog my memory and leaving the details for the book. The exam is actually open book, open note, so I intend to use my cram sheets as indexes more than anything else.

I also have yet to take the practice exam, but will do so tonight. The problem is that they mimic the actual exam in that they are 180 questions and are allocated 300 minutes (5 hours) to complete, with one 15-minute break allowed. By the time my family is down to sleep for the night and I can focus on taking a test it is usually 9:00 at night, and I'd hate to waste the attempt by being unable to finish. Regardless, I'll try one tonight by buzzing through it, making note of areas of weakness and focussing my study on those areas moving forward.

Side note:

I am really looking forward to being done with this. I really love information security. I'm really tired of trying to pass tests. It will be nice to take a few minutes during the day to listen to music, call my brothers and sisters, maybe even get to know the woman I live with...I think that at one point I recognised her as my wife but it's been so long since we've actually spoken that it will be like dating a new person! (I'm only half-kidding. Sandra, if you read this I really love you and thank you for putting up with me)

I'll report on the sample exam after taking it.

No comments: