The CPE handbook states 45 CPE in 3 years; 15 minimum each year for 3 years. However, I am uncertain if I can do all 45 focusing on skill builder in the first year.
The reason I ask is because when I passed the CC exam May 7th 2024, I saw that the MFA receipt said "Begin Date June 1st" and proceeded to plow through 6 CPE opportunities under News & Insights from July/August 2023 through May/June 2024 not thinking that the CPEs would not count until after my June 1st start date. I found I lost the 6CPE opportunity on a support call to begin my first skill-builder course that was giving me a registration error (I was not adding from learn.isc2.org). Right now I am focused on completing all the Skill Builder bundles before turning my focus to NIST CSF 2.0 to pick up where I left off back in 2016 before heading back to finish graduate school while between qualifying jobs.
I know it may seem unusual to want to do 45 CPE early in the first year of CC. However, life got really wonky over the last decade especially with covid. It seems beneficial to just get as much done in the NOW than wait for unexpected challenge to fall out of the sky and risk missing requirements as per my experience.
One small point is that I am in the first year of the 3 year cycle which ends on 31JUL2026. The CPE portal showed that I had 0 of 20 cpe's completed for the first year of the certification cycle (actually only 6 weeks left in year one of the three years).
I guess that the point, 20 cpe's is 'recommended' for each of the cycle years vice mandatory makes all the difference in the world.