From: David Oakman (doakman@xxxxxxxx)
Date: Fri Jul 16 1999 - 19:48:46 GMT-3
I took the BRS class with Bruce Caslow back in April and the class was fantasti
c both from the technical aspect and test taking strategy. I was fortunate to h
ave Fred Ingham as my partner when he getting ready to start teaching the class
. I don't think you could go wrong with BRS or the new class that Bruce is teac
hing at Chesapeake.
As for Wichita State I am not certain. There is another prep lab available at U
niversity of Colorado Boulder. http://itp-www.colorado.edu/~itplab/ccie.html .
I visited the site and got a chance to look at the scenarios which looked prett
y solid. The downside of this is that you are on your own with no one available
to help you work through issues if you get hung up. The proctor can only help
with equipment failures and was not very technical. At $500 a day I figured it
would be better to go and take the lab (similar circumstances, but a chance to
pass the test as well) instead of renting rack time from U Colorado for the sam
e price.
I took the lab at the end of May in Brussels. I was able to get the lab schedul
ed much sooner there than any place in North America. The flight was about $450
direct from Boston so the cost wasn't a big deal.
I knew jetlag would be an issue with a 6 hour time difference and an overnight
flight so I flew out a few days earlier and only tried to prepare myself mental
ly not technically. If I didn't know it by now I wasn't going to learn it. This
helped, and allowed me to go into the test relaxed. My goal entering the test
for the first time was to make it to day 2. Illusions of grandeur said that I w
ould pass the test my first time.
The lab was only 7 hours but the proctor stated that the scenarios were the sam
e as everywhere else, but there was another thing that needed to be configured
in the states. I think to myself great I just lost 1/2 an hour.
At the end of day 1 the proctors took a break and graded each person in an arbi
trary order. It started at about 6:00-6:30 and it took about 1/2 hour per perso
n which meant if you were last you didn't get graded until about 8:00. This was
pretty nerve racking. I finally got graded at around 7:45 and I was allowed to
come back for Day 2 but with only 30 points I knew I was done for. You can rea
lly only afford to loose 8 or so points on the first day to go into day 2 comfo
rtably.
By lunch on the second day I was gone, but I at least got to see what day 2 was
all about.
My feelings about the test were that it is very difficult but very fair. I you
know the basics cold and go in with a clear head and good plan of attack you ha
ve a chance if not you won't make it to day 2 let alone pass the test. I felt t
hat the proctors were ultra-critical and could have been more lenient on someth
ings, this was probably due to the fact that one was teaching another and going
into excruciating detail on the configs.
Out of the 12 people (2 groups of 6) taking the test when I was there
(5) made it to day 2
of these 5 (3) had taken it before
(2) made it to the afternoon of day 2
not sure if either passed
I will spend most of my time preparing for Sept 1 in Halifax working on plans o
f attack and time management. I will also continue to hammer away at the config
s.
ttfn
DaveO
6 weeks and counting
good luck to all
-----Original Message-----
From: Chad Marsh [SMTP:chad@wa.net]
Sent: Wednesday, July 14, 1999 9:54 AM
To: CCIE Lab; Cisco
Subject: Best classes etc. for CCIE Lab prep
I'm looking for feedback from CCIE's, or those close to it, on what best
to spend two weeks of paid training on, in preparation for the CCIE lab.
What I am considering so far:
Bridges, Routers & Switches by ARS (class that Caslow's book is based
on)
ANEW I & II by Geotrain (Advanced Networking Expertise Workshops)
CCIE Prep lab at Wichita State University
Others?
Any feedback on these or others appreciated.
Regards,
Chad Marsh
CCNP+Voice, CCDA
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