A 30-day practice menu

02A calendar is not a gate

Pair each goal with a resource and its access requirements. The owned cards need no account or installation. External platforms can have different registration, cost, event and device requirements; check those when you choose to use them. A homepage statement is not evidence that a particular challenge was launched.

Include a review day and a catch-up day before filling more sessions. A missed day should change the schedule, not erase useful notes. Optional external progress is separate from the course's saved understanding checks. Later belts or advanced challenges are not prerequisites for this stage.

03Build the 30-day sheet

Copy the four skill names from the resource card onto the template. Add a review day, a catch-up day, and the fallback.

30-day menu
A day is a suggestion. A missed day is a catch-up day. There is no streak.
No-install path: the printed cards in this stage.
Install path: optional and deferred. The menu can be finished without it.

Skill goals, write four:
1.
2.
3.
4.
Review day:
Catch-up day:
Fallback if tools cannot be installed today:

Resource cards
R1. Desk Lamp cards in this course.
Account: none. Install: none. Scope: the printed files. This is the required path.

R2. CyLab Security Academy. https://cylabacademy.org/
The homepage says picoctf.org is now CyLab Security Academy.
It says practice can be self-paced, in a classroom, or live in a competition.
It says the academy is always free.
You do not need to log in or open a challenge for this page.
Optional. Not a gate for this stage.

R3. pwn.college. https://pwn.college/
The register page asks people not to publish writeups, walkthrough videos, or livestreams of its challenge solutions.
No account was created. Later belts are not required before this stage.
Optional.

Four skill goals for the activity menu: files, web requests, encodings, logs.
Plus one review day and one catch-up day.
The no-install fallback is R1.

1. Write the four skill goals: files, web requests, encodings, and logs.
2. Add one review day and one catch-up day inside the 30 days.
3. Name R1 as the fallback when tools cannot be installed.
4. Check: the sheet has 4 skill goals. Stop. Do not create an account for this check.

04Optional challenge

Replace the second files sitting with a fresh file from the same skill: read F-3's first line again and write a new inference about shelf 2, labeled as an inference. About ten minutes.

05Fresh cases for the checks

Use these fictional cases for the checks below. They have different inputs from the worked examples. Read them here or make notes; no installation or external service is needed.

P1: read a supplied local text note. Account none; install none.
P2: inspect a supplied saved HTTP request. Account none; install none; no sending.
P3: map supplied hex code points to text. Account none; install none.
P4: order supplied UTC event lines and cite a line. Account none; install none.
P5: optional external machine session. Account and installation required; not available today.

The plan needs two skill sittings, then review of both notes, then a catch-up slot, then a new skill.
The two first sittings are files followed by request reading.
Slots: session 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Each sitting is bounded to 25 minutes.
A missed skill sitting moves into catch-up; useful notes are not erased.

Today: phone browser, no account, no installation. Goal: practise reading a saved request. P1–P5 have the access needs shown on Resource card A.

06Explain the evidence and its limit

Optional self-check: make a bounded month menu with four goals, resource access needs, review, catch-up and an available fallback.

Review it: each resource fits its goal and device constraints; review follows real notes; missed work is rescheduled without deleting useful progress.