Update

_episodes/06_CMSDASPreExercise-git.md

@@ -416,6 +416,11 @@ Send a pull request to the main branch of the upstream repo (GitHATSLPC).
 
 Advanced topics not explored in this exercise include: merging, rebasing, cherry-picking, undoing, removing binary files, and CMSSW-specific commands and usage.
 
+If you want to learn more, here are some additional resources:
+- [HEP Software Foundation training modules](https://hsf-training.org/training-center/)
+- [git comprehensive guide](https://git-scm.com/book/en/v2)
+- [CMS-specific git twiki](https://twiki.cern.ch/twiki/bin/view/CMS/CMSGitTutorial).)
+
 Students are encouraged to explore these topics on their own at [CMSGitTutorial](https://twiki.cern.ch/twiki/bin/view/CMS/CMSGitTutorial).
 
 {% include links.md %}

_includes/swc/intro.html

@@ -1,7 +1,16 @@
 <p>
-  CMS is a large collaboration of three thousand people, spread over several institutions, across five continents. It is very important to bring the collaborators up to speed, learning about the CMS detector and computing software, in order to contribute to physics data analysis. CMS maintains the <a href="https://twiki.cern.ch/twiki/bin/view/CMSPublic/WorkBook">WorkBook</a> as much as up-to-date as possible to help guide its users. In addition to it, several <a href="https://lpc.fnal.gov/programs/schools-workshops/hats.shtml">tutorials (a.k.a. HATS)</a> and <a href="https://lpc.fnal.gov/programs/schools-workshops/workshops.shtml">workshops</a> are held regularly to give a hands-on experience to the users. There are tutorials covering all aspects of CMS data analysis from reconstructed physics objects (e.g. muons, electrons, photons, jets etc) to trigger, generators, statistics, machine learning, software development and access to grid and computing resources. where one learns the basic CMS software tools. While these HATS are usually offered over several weeks during the late Spring/early Summer, CMS Data Analysis Schools (DASes) offer a boot camp model, concentrating all of the training in a very short period of time. In the beforetimes, DAS used to be in-person and 5 days long, during Covid-19 times it became fully remote, and it expanded into two weeks, with an asynchronous and a synchronous component. The CMSDAS@LPC2023 will be the first in-person school since 2020.
-  <br><br>
-  To prepare CMSDAS participants, a series of pre-exercises are required to be completed, with the laptop that will be used during the school. The goal of the pre-exercises is to make sure all basic issues can be resolved before the actual start of the school so that participants can hit the ground running.
-  <br><br>
-  Links to all the past and upcoming CMS Schools can be found <a href="https://twiki.cern.ch/twiki/bin/view/CMS/CMSschoolsCommittee">HERE</a>.
+  These exercises cover the basic software skills you will need for the CMS Data Analysis school.
+  The lessons are short and targeted, intended to get you up and running in just a few days. 
+  The material is taken from longer-format tutorials, for example:
+  <ol>
+    <li>The <a href="https://twiki.cern.ch/twiki/bin/view/CMSPublic/WorkBook">CMS WorkBook</a> </li>
+    <li><a href="https://lpc.fnal.gov/programs/schools-workshops/hats.shtml">Hands-on tutorials (HATS)</a>, covering all aspects of CMS data analysis such as 
+      physics object reconstruction (tracks/electrons/muons/jets/etc.), trigger, generators, statistics, machine learning, ...</li>
+    <li> The HEP Software Foundation's <a href=""https://hsf-training.org/training-center/">training center</a></li>
+    <li>List of <a href="https://twiki.cern.ch/twiki/bin/view/CMS/CMSschoolsCommittee">all previous schools</a></li>
+  </ol>
+  All students should aim to complete the pre-exercises with the same laptop they'll use during the school. 
+  The goal is to setup your computing environment ahead of time, so you can dive into the real material on day one of CMSDAS.
+  Advanced participants (i.e., those who have spent time on LHC experiments already) may not need to complete the pre-exercises as thoroughly, 
+  but please do read through everything to make sure everything works (e.g., accounts, certificates, and environments). 
 </p>