Tuesday, July 23, 2013

Study Update

Well it has been about two months since I have passed the written exam. I started studying the very next week and hit the ground running. My wife and I developed a study schedule that consisted of 3 hours/4 nights a week. After that 4th night in a row, I look forward to taking a break on the weekend. On Sunday night however, I am anxious to getting back to it.

With that being said, I know that there are others out there that study hardcore everyday of the week. While everybody has different study habits that work for them, I believe any more during these early stages would burn me out too soon. A balance of family vs study life is also needed. It is important to have that support and not shove it to the side since they are on the journey with you.

The schedule started off great with strict start and stop times. However, it has become relaxed as the weeks went on. This led us to re-assess where I am in my study plan. I have found that I am below my average goal of 12 hrs a week study time.  We will be correcting it, and I plan to increase to 4hr/night beginning in August (~Week 9). I am a little over 3 months from my scheduled live bootcamp and want to be prepared enough to absorb 100% of topics covered during that time frame.

As far as the actual material goes, I have already made careless mistakes or assumptions in specific scenarios and in my first practice lab. (Which I am still working on.) I feel like I am extremely slow at this point, but I have read and believe, that speed will come after a confident knowledge of the technology is there.

One of those 'DOH' moments I have made will be in my next post and will be more a technical one. I would rather have those moments now, than when it counts.


Until then, happy labbing!

~P