Adarq.org

Week 125

Monday - 08/22/16

-= Workout Log =-

-= Study Log =-

Cybrary Video Course
CISSP Module 3 of 9 finished

Real Test Questions
Learned 173 cards (441 remain)

Will lift and update later.

edit: didn't lift will have to make it up

Week 124

Friday - 08/19/16

-= Workout Log =-

Weighted Pull Ups
BW x 5
+30lbs x 3
+60lbs x 10 PR

Lateral Raises
40's x 5               >> 60sec rests.
45's x 3
50's x 8
45's x 12
45's x 8

one hour break

ATG Squat
135 x 12         >> Will go for x6, then go up 5lbs per week I guess.
135 x 5
185 x 5
225 x 3
275 x 1
315 x 5

DB Lunges
65's x 8/leg PR

Romanian Deadlifts
225 x 5           >> Felt like loading up 4 plates, why not?
315 x 1
405 x 3 PR

Seated Calf Raises
135 x 5               >> 45sec rests.
150 x 8 PR
150 x 5
135 x 8

Calf Raise Machine
495 x 5             >> 45sec rests.
545 x 10 PR
545 x 8 PR
545 x 5 PR

Negative Dragon Flags
5            >> 60sec rests.
5            >> Still getting better at these. Should record them again.
5            >> I can now do a couple reps after resting at the bottom and slight cheating.

Bent over DB Rear Delt Flyes
30's x 15              >> Should have used 40's.


-= Study Log =-

Cybrary Video Course
CISSP Module 1 of 9 finished

Real Test Questions
Learned 237 cards (600/1,314)

Workout felt pretty good.

Also feels good to have a much lightened study load. Just watching vids and making a final deck of notecards that I'll learn when I finish the video series (around Thursday). It'll have notes from the vids plus all the other areas I'm weak in that I listed in my previous post. I'll have like 5 days to study it all, which is more than enough.

So right now I'm just memorizing the test questions that I got wrong (or got right by guessing). Can do this pretty quickly with the phone app.

Oh and that job that I wanted at Stroz Friedberg? Turns out my professor who's writing me a letter of recommendation published a paper with friedberg himself lmao. Hope I get it. Won't know for a couple months though.

Week 124

Wednesday - 08/17/16

-= Study Log =-

Review Questions

Real Practice Tests
Today: 839/1,170 Correct (71.7%)
Total: 1,190/1,670 Correct (71.2%)

Whew. That's a lot. New test questions were posted so I wanted to go overboard today and still not have as much to do tomorrow. Now I "only" have 545 questions to do tomorrow! It'll seem like cake in comparison to the 1,170 I did today. Literally studied for 10+ hours today. That also includes the cards that are coming up for review on myspaced repetition app lol. I still have to memorize the cards for the last chapter of my book, btw. I'll do it next week... got no time for that right now.

Week 124

Tuesday - 08/16/16

-= Workout Log =-

ATG Squat
135 x 12         >> Had 315x5 in me but too lazy.
135 x 5
185 x 5
225 x 3
275 x 1
315 x 3

Lateral Raises
40's x 5               >> 60sec rests.
45's x 3
50's x 8
45's x 12
45's x 8

DB Lunges
65's x 6/leg PR

Weighted Pull Ups
BW x 5
+25lbs x 3
+50lbs x 2
+75lbs x 1
+90lbs x 3

Romanian Deadlifts
225 x 5
315 x 1
395 x 5 PR

Seated Calf Raises
135 x 5
150 x 6

Seated Cable Rows
200 x 5
220 x 3
240 x 5

Calf Raise Machine
495 x 5
545 x 8 PR

Negative Dragon Flags
7

Back Extension Rear Delt W Flyes
45's x 8


-= Study Log =-

Review Questions

Real Practice Test
Today: 351/500 Correct (70.2%)
Total: 351/500 Correct (70.2%)

Did just a couple sets of everything in this workout. No way I was going to do 3 sets of everything lol.

Studying... did a 250 question test and then I realize the test was a bit outdated. Got 79%.

Then did a 500 question test with up to date questions... 71.8%. Not good, really. ~70% is passing (can't really tell since some questions are weighted more). Some sections I SUCKED in. Seems like the book barely covered them at all. Book literally even said at times "but that's beyond the scope of the exam" and what do you know, it was on the exam. This is why everyone says you can't rely on a single source of information for this exam.

I have 1,570 updated questions more to do. Turning the ones I get wrong into notecards and committing them to memory starting Friday... looking to bang out all 1,570 in these next two days. Then have a nice weekend at the beach. Then watch videos starting on Monday while constantly reviewing hundreds of cards lmao.

I've already scheduled the exam for September 1st!

^ ha that would be cool. i would have lost a lot of stuff from my net+ and ITIL-F certs... the Sec+ cert stuff is still fresh in my head as the CISSP just expands on it. I haven't been keeping up with my net+ or ITIL-F cards. screw that, especially net+, i hated that one. hated the networking topics in the CISSP textbook as well, though it wasn't nearly as deep.

However i plan to continuously review my CISSP cards long after i pass the exam until I get a good job. Reason being is that I'm learning all this stuff not just to have the credential, but to actually LEARN. I will kill it at interviews for entry level positions with my breadth of knowledge. that job i almost got at the bank? Half of the stuff they asked me i learned from sec+, the rest from my master's degree!

In total I've made over 900 cards for this CISSP textbook lol. also this cert covers lots of information that my courses in my final semester this september will cover (lots of stuff on risk management, incident response, intrusion detection)




Next steps:

- memorize the final chapter tomorrow
- do ~200 real test questions a day and score myself
- put all the questions i get wrong in a deck and memorize them
- After about 5 days of this, complete the cybrary CISSP video course. 2hrs a day for 7 days.
- Sit the exam at the start of september if i feel ready. if i don't, i'll read a whole other textbook and take the exam at the start of october.

Week 124

Saturday - 08/13/16

-= Workout Log =-

Seated Calf Raises
90 x 5              >> 45sec rests.
150 x 8 PR
150 x 5 PR
150 x 4 PR

Seated Cable Rows
200 x 5                 >> 2min rests.
220 x 3
240 x 5
230 x 5
220 x 5

Lateral Raises
35's x 5                   >> 60sec rests.
45's x 3
50's x 9
45's x 10
45's x 8
40's x 8

Machine Calf Raises Non-Stop
520 x 15 PR                 >> 45sec rests.
520 x 10 PR                 >> Machine maxes out at 495lbs but i held a dumbbell too.
495 x 10 PR

Weighted Pull ups
BW x 5                         >> 60sec rests.
+30lbs x 4                    >> 9 rep PR. I've done +75lbs x 8 before though. Why was this so hard?!
+60lbs x 9 PR
+60lbs x 2
+60lbs x 1
BW x 7

Negative Dragon Flags
5            >> 60sec rests.
5
5

Back Extension Machine Rear Delt W Flyes
40's x 15

-= Study Log =-

Textbook #1
Read chapter 19 of 21

Review Questions
Chapter 19 (22 cards)

Real Test Questions
Learned 0 cards (350/2,300)

Read a chapter. May get a head start on chapter 20 today. Made the cards for chapter 19 but haven't memorized them yet. Too lazy right now. Entire textbook will be completed tomorrow (chapters 20 and 21) thank goodness. Going to the beach the day after that

About to go lift so I'll update in a couple hours.

Edit: lifted and updated

Last two chapters: Software Development Security and finally Malicious Code and Application Attacks
Going to get a headstart on that first one today so that I don't have too much to read tomorrow.

^ ah man working from home would be awesome. that would be my dream. not sure how i could work from home in cyber security without having programming skils, but oh well.

consulting is my goal. i'd like to go on my own after having several years of experience and credentials (masters degree, CISSP, CISM, CISA, CGEIT, CRISC). Theres a ton of certs I want lol. I would like SANS GIAC certs too, but they cost a ton... i would only do those if my company paid for it. There isnt much learning material for them out there either, it's mostly just bootcamps that i wont pay for myself.



Also, spaced repetition is just ridiculous. Wish i knew about it in undergrad, it just puts learning on easy mode. There are so many reasons spaced repetition works it's not even funny. Here's what i like explaining to people:

1) if you're just reading your outlines, how do you know if you know something? Only if i take your outline from you and ask you a question! The stuff you know, you'll answer. The stuff you don't, you won't answer. You want to study stuff you dont know as well. By only reading notes, you lack a good way to measure what you don't know. Sure, when you read certain things the answers will jump out at you and you'll be like "yeah i know this stuff." But maybe they jumped out at you because you read over it and recognized the answer, rather than arrived at the answer in your head and THEN reading it on paper

2) if you turn all of your notes into questions, then you will know if you know something. The stuff you can't answer, just study those more. The stuff you can answer, put them aside for later. it identifies your weak areas more accurately than reading over notes. this leads to efficiency because you will fill in a lot more blanks (leading to higher scores) focusing on your weak areas.

3) the mere act of answering questions instead of reading notes helps you retain information better! Active recall ftw. so not only are you more often studying the stuff you dont know (which is more efficient than studying everything equally) but you are learning it at an increased rate, regardless of how much studying you put into it.

4) the kicker is to take all these questions and put them into a spaced repetition software for long term memory retention. this will automatically make you more often study the stuff you dont know as well, so theres no math to be done. Just answer the questions that come up at you.



however, i like to add in techniques to the above. the above is just a structure or something. what about... HOW should i structure my questions in my flash cards? which is better to ask:
(A) Q: What color is the sky? A: Blue
(B) Q: What is the blue thing above called? A: The sky
You can reverse questions like that. I guess i could just include both in my flash cards, but then i'll have a ton. i wonder which is more efficient for learning.

I also like to include images in the flash cards. some questions i will make for myself will ask me to draw something, or to write out an outline.

This job would be perfect for me:

http://jobs.jobvite.com/careers/strozfriedberg/job/ocwE3fw9?__jvst=Job%20Board

I'm definitely applying. One of my older professors knows people there. He's writing me a letter of recommendation for it. Hope it goes well.

Definitely going to do a crash SQL course after passing my CISSP.