LPI Security Essentials Study Plan

This study plan contains general study tips, an overview of how to create and use flash cards
effectively, other study tools, and a suggested 20 day study plan. The purpose is to provide
students with some general information and a general plan that they can adapt to fit their own
learning goals.

General Study Tips

- Studying and learning are very individualistic. Not everything works for everybody. Find
the tools, methods, and strategies that work for you.
- The average person has an attention span of 20-30 minutes.
o Once you have reached the limit of your attention on a task you should do
something else for a while.
o Any time you spend studying beyond your attention span is generally wasted
time because you the studying will become increasingly inefficient.
o The key to maintaining attention is to divide work into different tasks and
alternate types of tasks. For example, you can watch videos for 20 minutes, then
review notes for 10 minutes, then work on learning tools for 15 minutes, then
get up and move around for 15 minutes before returning to videos. You can also
alternate watching videos with another task like working on learning tools.
- Be realistic and learn how you learn. If you have a shorter attention span, then set your
study time accordingly. Try some different time spans and activities and see what works.
If, for example, sitting still makes you lose focus quickly, try to engage in some activity
such as following along with the closed captions, taking notes, or even walking around
as you watch the video.
o If a strategy or tool isn’t working after a few days of trying it, change to it.
Learning how you learn is mainly the result of trial and error.
- Once you have the plan set, establish small rewards for following the plan. This could be
30 minutes of uninterrupted video game time, a food or drink treat, or anything else
that will motivate you to stick to the plan. The reward is just for following through on
the plan for that day, not for getting a particular score on a practice exam or a quiz.
- Find the balance between strictly following the plan you created and extreme flexibility.
o Strictly following a plan that isn’t working or is too ambitious will create anxiety
and you will lose motivation. If the 20 day plan is creating too much anxiety, you
can switch to a 30 day plan, or modify it so it fits with your learning style.
o Being extremely flexible, for example, constantly changing the plan, will cause
you to lose focus and lose motivation.
- Don’t beat yourself up over a perceived failure. This includes not sticking to the plan,
failing a quiz, or failing a practice exam. Instead think about the factors that may have
led to the perceived failure.
o If the factor is something in your control, change it. For example, if you planned
on studying for an hour and lost focus after 30 minutes, change up the plan to
make it work for your attention span. If studying during your lunch break was
 interrupted by people talking in your lunch space, change the lunch space or
schedule your studying for another time.
o If the factor is not in your control, ignore it. Life happens and feeling badly about
things beyond your control isn’t helpful.

How to Use the Videos Effectively

● As you watch the videos
○ Add notes to the study guide
○ Highlight terms and concepts you want to make flashcards for
○ Mark terms or sections based on how well you understand them
○ Put question marks next to any concepts you want to do more research on
● After you watch a section
○ Reread the study guide and the notes you have made to ensure you
understand what you wrote while the material is still fresh in your mind
○ Create flashcards or study tools
○ Review the previous day’s flashcards or study tools

How to Use the Practice Exams Effectively

● While taking the practice exams
○ Follow the tips from the Conclusion
■ Do a brain dump when you begin the exam to practice the process and to
see whether it will be helpful to you
● After you take a practice exam
○ Review the questions that you got incorrect
■ Read the explanation
■ Add to your flashcards or study tools and to your study guide
○ Review the brain dump you created and evaluate whether you should make
changes to it
○ Make a list of the objectives for the questions that you got correct and those
you got incorrect. Using a tracking chart like the one below will help you see
trends

Practice Exam number Objectives of correct answers Objectives of incorrect answers

#1

How to Make Retaking the Exam an Effective Learning Tool

● When you retake the exam
○ When you read a question that you remember, take a moment and think
through why the correct answer is correct instead of just clicking on the
remembered correct answer
 ● After you retake the exam
○ Review the questions that you got incorrect
■ Read the explanation
■ Add to your flashcards or study tools and to your study guide
○ Review the brain dump you created and evaluate whether you should make
changes to it
○ Add the retake to the tracking chart

How to Use Flash Cards Effectively

Flash Cards can be a very effective learning tool if they are set up correctly and used correctly
and consistently. In general, there are two types of flash cards: Written and Apps. Each has its
advantages and disadvantages.

Written Flash Cards

- Writing is an effective way to create memories, so writing your own flash cards will help
you to remember material even if you don’t use the flash cards later.
- Set up your flash cards consistently. For example, use the lined side of the card for
definitions and the blank side for terms. Visual clues (like lines) often work in our
subconscious to help us remember.
- Use colored flash cards to distinguish different parts of content. For example, use pink
cards for learning ports and protocols. This creates a visual clue and helps you associate
the term with the content that it falls under.
- Consider drawing pictures and diagrams on the cards.
- When you go through the flash cards, sort them into stacks based on how confident you
are that you know the material or how much time it takes you to think of the answer.
See if you can get all of the cards into the stack that represents that you know the
answers.
o Examples stacks for how long it took you to think of the answer
▪ Knew it right away
▪ Had to think for a moment
▪ Had to think for a while
▪ Had to look at the answer
Flash Card Apps
- There are many flash card apps available. Most are free or low cost. They often contain
games or methods of going through the cards that are designed specifically to make
your studying more efficient. They also prevent you from just thinking “I know that” and
moving on by requiring you to perform a task to prove you know it.
- Some apps offer ready made stacks that have been created by other students. While
this may seem like a quick alternative, many of these stacks are not set up well and may
contain errors. Making your own is a more reliable way to ensure the quality of the set
up and content.
 - The most important part of the set up for flash card apps is consistency. Generally, you
should have short answers and longer definitions, descriptions, or questions. Be sure
that the answers are consistently on one side of the card.
o This becomes important when using apps that have you type the answer, which
is the best way to determine if you know the correct answer. Shorter answers
will allow you to type the answer more effectively and quickly. If the answer is a
sentence or longer phrase you won’t be able to remember the exact words in
the answer and you will be marked wrong even when your answer was really
correct.
- Flash card apps like Quizlet and Anki have modes that help you learn content by first
setting up multiple choice questions and then fill in the blank questions. This is based on
research into memory and how to create it.
- Brainscape uses a confidence measure to sort cards into stacks similar to how you would
use written flash cards. This can be very effective as long as you are honest in your
confidence ranking.
- Some apps allow you to create lists in word processing programs and then importing
them into the program. This is very handy and makes creating the cards faster and
more consistent. Normally you type the answer, then tab and write the question. You
copy and paste the whole page of answers and questions into the app.

Other Study Tools/Methods

- Using the exam objectives and turning them into questions can be a powerful way to
figure out what areas you need to work harder on.
o Objective 5.5: Explain types and purposes of audits and assessments.
o Term: Attestation
o Question: What is the purpose of attestation?
- ChatGPT offers a way to check your learning. Enter a question into ChatGPT. Before you
look at the ChatGPT answer, write an answer of your own. Compare your answer to
ChatGPT’s answer.
20 Day Study Plan

Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Day 4 Day 5

Watch section 1, set Watch section 2, Watch section 2, Watch section 3 Watch section 4
up a Linux videos 1-5 videos 6-10
computer
(optional),
Download PDFs
Day 6 Day 7 Day 8 Day 9 Day 10
Watch section 5 Watch section 6 Watch section 7 Watch section 8 Watch section 9
Day 11 Day 12 Day 13 Day 14 Day 15
Watch section 10 Watch section 11 Watch section 12 Review notes Take 1 Practice
and 13 exam
Day 16 Day 17 Day 18 Day 19 Day 20
Review Practice Take 1 Practice Review Practice Retake Practice Retake Practice
Exam and add to exam Exam and add to exams exams
notes notes