From: Brian S turner (brian@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx)
Date: Wed Aug 23 2000 - 19:22:00 GMT-3
Well, as some of you may already know I finally did it on my second try.
I took my test in RTP, and I had Allen as my Proctor. He didn't help me
much when I asked him questions, but he was very fair with me. I had
come to the conclusion before I entered for the lab that I couldn't rely on
the proctor for help anyway, and I would have to say that if your network
isn't working like you think it should, it is most likely your fault, as I
found
to be true many times. I would suggest that you keep good records of
your network as you work through the lab, and I would also recommend that
you schedule your time so that at the end of day one you have 1-2 hours of
reviewing your work and testing everything. Wouldn't you rather find out
what isn't working before the proctor has to tell you? I thought I had
everything working, and I was done by 1:30 pm on day one. I got bored
and decided to read through my configs, and found where I had left some
commands in my config from testing something else, that would have caused
me to miss points, because these commands weren't allowed. I also
found a few more problems I didn't know I was having...
I appreciate the help I received from this study group and would like to
thank
everyone who replied to my emails, and challenged my thinking on a few
subjects.
I never really had a chance to go through the CCbootcamp labs, so I couldn't
really say if they would have helped me pass or not.
I will say that ECP1 and all the Mentor Technologies classes I took were
excellent.
CATM, BGP, OSPF, and especially CIT. If you really want to pass the lab
and you can afford it, ECP1 and CIT are invaluable... Next on the list I
would recomend
OSPF and finally BGP... the CATM class was great, but It didn't help me in
the lab,
because the things in the lab were more advanced than the CATM class.
After I failed the first time I found it was very hard for me to get
motivated to study
again. I only had 38 days between my two attempts but 2-3 weeks of that
time
I didn't study at all. I finally found a way to get myself going again. I
went to
the store and bought a bunch of my favorite kinds of candy (Runts and Peanut
Butter M&M's)
I opened all the boxes and poured all the candy out on the table. I had a
list of things
that I wanted to attempt in my lab before I went to the CCIE lab, and I
started at the top.
Each time I got one working, I would eat a few peices of candy as a
reward...
I also played some Techno Remix of Beethovan on my MP3... These two things
really
helped me keep at it.
The other big difference this time was that I didn't put any pressure on
myself.. I just
told myself that I would most likely fail it, but that I would do my best,
and I would
get to see more of the lab if nothing else...
I guess that is why now I feel like it isn't real. Like I don't really have
my CCIE..
I have been working on it pretty much non stop now for 8 months I don't know
how to not study on the weekends or how to not watch TV with an open book
in my lap. I guess I will get used to living again... I am starting off
tonight
by trying out Quake 3 for the first time... I really had to resist bying it
when it
first came out... I am glad I didn't now, because I wouldn't have been able
to
stop playing for weeks, and that would have hurt my efforts... This is all
probably
more info than you all really needed, but I just wanted to point out that I
am now, at
the end of this journey, and It is definately worth it. No one will ever
take my CCIE
away!!
Good Luck all!!
Brian S Turner
CCIE 6145
PS.. I will hang around the board for a while and help out from time to time
(if I can)
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