Dear Mr.Sainath,
I have been following your comments which are posted in a most diligent way and I am sure will you help me with my preparation with CISSP exam.
I plan to take the exam this June and I hardly has 2 months time for preparation.
Please guide me how to proactively utilize my time and schedule my preparation. I am an InfoSec Consultant hence can manage my time accordingly. There are no time restrictions though.
I am just poor at planning and get nervous while I try to plan reaching a target. But I am good at sticking to the schedule hopefully.
I just read one of your replies in time management, and thought you can help me too.
Thanks,
KN
Sainath's Advice on Sunday, April 01, 2012 :
Hi,
Firstly, there is no reason to get nervous. What is the worst thing that can happen - you may not be able to clear the exam and lose the money paid for the same. Nothing beyond that - even in the face of such an eventuality it should not damage your self esteem and self-confidence. But this is an extreme scenario and ideally will not happen.
CISSP is a typical marathon certification. Based on my interaction with other professionals who have cleared this exam, some of the characteristics of the exam are mentioned below:
- You will never reach a stage in the preparation where you will feel that you are 100% prepared, meaning that you have got everything covered. On the contrary, at a particular stage you will need to make up your mind and go ahead and give the exam on faith putting your best into it. Typically, I have observed this kind of strong decision preceding successful clearance of the exam by many professionals.
- As the amount of course matter to be covered is significant, you need to schedule your studies with precision and rigorously follow it. The problem is that many of us are completely unaware of how to plan and schedule. I had written an article earlier giving all the details of how I myself prepared for clearing the PMP. Below is the link, it may be useful to you.
http://www.dotnetfunda.com/articles/article383-cracking-the-pmp.aspx Much of the pressure and stress you are experiencing is due to the fact that you do not have a clear road map in hand. My advice to you is to take 1-2 days off and just plan out or rather map out your schedule and then stick to it. It is not about taking 1 large leap - it is about taking many small steps and completing something on a daily basis. Once you get small results every day - you will feel a sense of progress and start gaining momentum and grow in confidence which will eventually lead to success.
One final word of caution - reading the entire article and then actually creating the schedule will require work and patience, it is not a quick-fix or easy solution.
Regards,
Sainath S,
www.ugain.info