Your method of Attending/Studying a SANS

chili369

Will be taking 504 next week in Orl. Looking for suggestions on Attending/Studying.
Do you prefer to listen in 6 day class and not try to create an Index during lecture/lab?
Do you prefer to create as much as possible in the index during the 6 day class?
Do you review the days work at night after 8 hours of lecture/lab or get away from it until the next morning?
What one or two suggestions for the first two weeks after class working towards certification?
Any other suggestions are appreciated!
Thanks in advance for your valuable time and comments.....CHILI

cdx

Listen during the class, they will throw a ton of information at you in a quick manner so you must pay attention to learn. I barely took notes because I would miss lecture if I did.

Create index after you go back home.

wiseguy

cdx wrote: »

Listen during the class, they will throw a ton of information at you in a quick manner so you must pay attention to learn. I barely took notes because I would miss lecture if I did.

Create index after you go back home.

I agree with cdx. I'll just add what I did last year at my first SANS course. I just wrote down page numbers in a notebook when an important/interesting topic came up during lecture. That will help you when create your index later.

636-555-3226

Listen in class, enjoy the night events or make your own. Index when you get back home, or if you want to hide in your hotel room then go through the book that night and start creating your index while it's all fresh. I prefer to enjoy the nightlife at a new locale, however, and get some fresh air!

alias454

I listened without taking notes during the lecture portion. I created my index once I returned home. I went through the books three times. Once during class as I followed along with the lecture, the second time, I read and used a highlighter to mark key terms and concepts, and the third time through, I typed up my index without re-reading the entire set of books.

TechGromit

chili369 wrote: »

Will be taking 504 next week in Orl. Looking for suggestions on Attending/Studying.
Do you prefer to listen in 6 day class and not try to create an Index during lecture/lab?
Do you prefer to create as much as possible in the index during the 6 day class?

Concentrate on paying attention in class, there will be time enough to work on your index when you re-read all the books and create your index. It took me a good 4 weeks carefully re-reading the books and creating my index. This isn't something you can make in class while trying to listen to your instructor. I would take it easy on the junk food they provide during the breaks and drink lots of 5 hour energy drinks. The caffeine will allow you to focus and get as much out of the class as possible.

chili369 wrote: »

Do you review the days work at night after 8 hours of lecture/lab or get away from it until the next morning?

I was pretty much burned out after 8 hours of lecture, I will say this, DO the Labs, some people in my class skipped the labs at the end of the day to get out a little early, they are beneficial to you, don't try and rush them. Also there are Net Wars and lectures at night, make sure you try and catch some of them.

chili369 wrote: »

What one or two suggestions for the first two weeks after class working towards certification?

Make sure you start studying soon as possible after classes are over, Way too many people think 4 months is plenty of time to study and put it off to the last minute which usually leads to a fail. Don't rush your studying either, give yourself a good month of studying / building an index before attempting your first practice exam. Treat your practice exams with respect. I can think of no other certification that has official practice exams that are just like the real exam. There are lots of 3rd party exams for other certifications that may or may not be like the exam, SANS is giving you practice tests so good, they if you can pass a practice exam with at least 5% above minimum passing grade, chances are pretty much guaranteed you'll pass the real thing. Have your index ready when you take your first practice exam, treat it as your taking the real test. If you do well, go ahead and schedule your exam, if not, you'll see where your weaknesses are and where you can improve your index. You only get two practice exams, it's possible to purchase more, but SANS has said they offer a diminishing return, which suggests the practice exam questions are pulled from a limited pool of possible questions.

TechGuru80

chili369 wrote: »

Will be taking 504 next week in Orl. Looking for suggestions on Attending/Studying.
Do you prefer to listen in 6 day class and not try to create an Index during lecture/lab?
Do you prefer to create as much as possible in the index during the 6 day class?
Do you review the days work at night after 8 hours of lecture/lab or get away from it until the next morning?
What one or two suggestions for the first two weeks after class working towards certification?
Any other suggestions are appreciated!
Thanks in advance for your valuable time and comments.....CHILI

There is only so much you can do during the onsite courses unfortunately. For me the best option was to create either a CSV or Excel spreadsheet and as you go through the course, at minimum write all the terms/tools/etc. along with the book and page number, and highlight them in the book. If you can, highlight the definitions or key concepts as well. Should you have downtime or on breaks if you feel like it, you can start writing definitions into your index but ultimately plan on completing the rest of your index when you go back home.

I tried creating tabs during the course but the sticky tabs they give you fall out and you might want to add/remove or change how you tab them later anyways.

That was my strategy but I also tend to make a pretty thorough index.

UnixGuy

TechGromit wrote: »

drink lots of 5 hour energy drinks. The caffeine will allow you to focus and get as much out of the class as possible.



.

Mate that sounds really bad, I don't drink energy drinks (poison) but I drink coffee. Hope they offer that! I might pack my lunch if they only offer junk

the_Grinch

We were on our own for lunch so were able to grab the local fare. I think maybe one day they provided lunch and it was hotel food (since it was in a hotel).

TechGromit

UnixGuy wrote: »

Mate that sounds really bad, I don't drink energy drinks (poison) but I drink coffee. Hope they offer that! I might pack my lunch if they only offer junk

I don't like coffee. I've read "5 hour energy" drinks are very acidic and bad for your teeth, I always wash one down with water, using water to rinse my mouth before swallowing. Also I usually only take half a bottle at a time. They do not offer 5 Hour Energy drinks, it something I bring with me to the conference. Bringing your lunch is a good idea as well. I've done that before. If I ever get to facilitate, I'll do that every day.

TechGromit

the_Grinch wrote: »

We were on our own for lunch so were able to grab the local fare. I think maybe one day they provided lunch and it was hotel food (since it was in a hotel).

They had an happy hour the 5th night at the one I attended in Philadelphia, they don't normally do that. It was something the hotel did to appease SANS for construction noise that occurred during the conference. Me and a couple other students were able to hang out with two of my former instructors all night, and my current instructor stopped by to say hi. It was a great networking opportunity. Bryan Simon's will be at the SANSFire conference, I see if there an opportunity to hang out with him again.