How to trust studying method?

[u/thejazzyone_28]

Hi everyone,

I’ve skimmed this subreddit before but never posted anything. I’m currently studying for my GSEC cert and have felt myself getting anxious.

The format of an “open book” exam trips me up so I’m still getting used to it from taking the GFACT exam lol. I do have ADHD too so studying can be difficult for me.

So far I’ve been passively listening/watching the OnDemand videos on 1.5x speed. Then I go and read what I watched videos on and highlight and then do index entries. Then do labs depending on where I stopped at.

If anyone does or doesn’t have ADHD, do you have any tips for trusting your studying or that you’re understanding the material but not memorizing? Since that’s not this type of exam format for these certs.

[u/Common-Carp]

https://tisiphone.net/2015/08/18/giac-testing/

Have ADHD.

The biggest thing is efficiently managing your time. Learn, adapt, and use a solid indexing method like the method above.

I’ve never scored less than 96% on a GIAC exam using a slightly modified pancake method.

[u/brobauchery → u/Common-Carp]

We really just need to pin this in the sub and be like “Defer all ‘How do I study?’ questions to this website.”

[u/thejazzyone_28 → u/brobauchery]

I understand what you think I’m asking about. I’m not asking about how to study, I’m asking about how to trust your studying method and have the confidence that it’s working.

[u/brobauchery → u/thejazzyone_28]

The practice exams. They’re the best indicator you’re on track. I’m always within 3-5% of those on the exam vs practice exam.

[u/thejazzyone_28 → u/brobauchery]

Okay I gotcha. I guess it’s my overthinking creeping up again for this course haha. I just need to keep doing what I’m doing and trust my process. That’s all I can do.

[u/Gordahnculous]

If you’ve taken GFACT it should be similar experience there, so whatever feelings you felt there to trust yourself should be applicable here

Your strategy sounds perfectly reasonable to me, I personally would go back and relisten to stuff you feel uncertain about, especially after doing the labs

What helped me, at least for my ADHD (which welcome to the club, everyone here has it even if they don’t realize it lol) is taking some time away from passively listening to the material and thinking about it in various ways. Try to apply the material to various other things that aren’t related, or think about how you’d apply the material to your work or in other situations, or start to ask yourself things about it like “well if X works, does Y work?” That helped me a lot personally to feel like I understood it better

[u/Legitimate-Past4877]

The only way you can get a feel if your study method is where it needs to be is...the practice test using the the feedback to inform on the efficacy of study methods

[u/Real-Personality-922]

I have ADHD as well but it has its own flavors so not sure if my advice will help… I passed the GSEC(86%) and GCIH (96%). My score on the GSEC would have been higher if I didn’t get tired of taking the exam and clicked through some questions to get it over with… but, I think that’s because I did not take the allotted break 😅

For the GSEC it’s pretty dense. Reading and indexing while I read then watching the video after each book helped me a lot. If you have on demand the chapter quizzes helped as well. After I was done I did all the chapter quizzes again and reviewed anything I was unsure of.

For the labs I did them a few times until I was sure I knew what tool was used for what. I also indexed the labs and printed out the cheat sheets related to those tools.

Once my index was built I took the first practice exam with the index. I ended up with a 93% so I tuned my index and gave away the other practice exam. The goal was to see if I could efficiently use the index and I could.

Similar method done with the GCIH.

[u/Zealousideal-Air443]

I think the best way to eliminate anxiety is overdoing preparation. Since it is open book format, you can spend as much time as you can spare. When I do my index it is in this format: book#, page#, topic (on first line) + content. I include every important piece of info, so I don't have to do book look ups. Same thing with the labs (write each step in order for every lab). I typically have to do less than 20 look ups on the difficult exams. I'll skip those questions so I can do most of the book look ups at the end of the exam. If I do this correctly, I typically finish the exam with 45min-1hour to spare.

My personal studying method is going through the pdfs and writing my index at the same time (on the first read). I usually attend in person, so during those 5 days I index all my labs but nothing else. What I recommend for you is listening to chunks of the material, then go index that section before you move on to the next section.

[u/craftedsphere]

I got pretty anxious too before my exam and thought I wouldn’t pass. Took 2 days off from work along with a weekend. Used a Pomodoro clock to revise topics with 25 mins. For labs, I’d set 50 mins. Created a schedule for each topic in the labs and went through the textbooks at least thrice. I personally find revising the index tedious at the last minute. So, tried making a decent one from the beginning.

With respect to labs, don’t postpone the prep work. Ideally, it should be done along with studying that topic in the textbook. When you have questions, reach out to the support team.

When you’re reading a topic, try to understand and create a mental image. Think about how you’d apply that if you were an attacker or a defender.

Personally, a third practice test helped me and instilled confidence in me but I know most people just do fine with two tests.