From: Kevin Baumgartner (kbaumgar@xxxxxxxxx)
Date: Mon Oct 09 2000 - 19:32:20 GMT-3
Some very valid points on the test. And from my experience I really didn't
find it that hard. The problem I had was that I spent too much time on the basi
c
things and when it came time to work on things I didn't understand I had no tim
e
to research on the CD. So as I continue with my studying I am going to be
spending more time on some of the basics and trying to complete them faster.
I believe this test is as much about time management as knowing everything.
Kevin
At 04:03 PM 10/9/00 -0600, you wrote:
>Hi Everyone
> I am glad to say that I got my number (6286) on friday in RTP on my
>3rd try. I will try and give some inputs on how I went about it and try hard
>to stick to reality and the NDA while I do it. I have been working with
>routers and switches now for close to 3 years. I was a CCSI with my previous
>company. I taught ICRC/ACRC/CLSC etc and this gig gave me a great
>opportunity to learn the basics of internetworking in a proper way. This is
>also the time I made up my mind to go for my CCIE.
> My first attempt was in San Jose in Nov'99. I studied for about 20
>days. I did not have my own lab to practice. So most of the preparation was
>reading the config guides and the usual books. I did badly and could not
>make it in to day 2. I had got 28. If I had not done a couple of bad
>mistakes, I would have seen day 2. Anyways I came back from the test and
>rescheduled for March 2000.
> About 45 days before my 2nd try, I took the ECP1 course. It is a
>great course and I figured I would need the hands-on because I still did not
>have my own lab. This time I studied for a month and a half. I was better
>prepared. I did well in day 1. I thought I had aced it. But when I went back
>on the morning of day 2, the proctor pointed out a few things that I should
>have really noticed myself previously. I must have lost about 10 points but
>I still got to move on. So I tried my best with the questions on the morning
>of day 2. Well during the lunch of day 2 I figured I had an outside chance
>of making troubleshooting. But I was wrong. I did not have enough points to
>get in to troubleshooting. At this point of time I was pretty mad at myself
>because I had nailed almost all of IP but still did not have enough points
>to even make it in to troubleshooting.
> I rescheduled for my 3rd try. Postponed it a couple of times. Took
>my vacation. And finally I had it scheduled for October 5th and 6th. I
>talked my boss in to buying a rackfull of equipment this time. I had also
>bought Marc's labs. I started working on it about 30 days before the test.
>There were some good days and some bad days. Basically I wasn't consistent
>in the amount of hours I was putting in. I even thought a couple of times of
>taking the swap offers that kept popping on this list. Thank God I didn't.
>Things improved a little bit and the last 10 days were super. I was
>concentrating well and getting in to the groove. So when I walked in to the
>test I figured I had a reasonable chance. I did pretty well on day 1. Had
>enough time to go over the configs twice. There were a couple of things that
>I wasn't sure about and I went with my best guess on those. The next day the
>proctor told me that I had done a pretty good job and pointed out one thing
>as a mistake. I must have lost about 3 points. I did fairly well morning of
>day 2. There were a couple of scares though. At a couple of points, I almost
>lost my cool and blew it. Thankfully I kept going and figured them out. I
>knew I was getting in to troubleshooting this time. I found out I was. I
>also did well during troubleshooting. A few tense minutes later, I saw the
>proctor and the yellow post-it in his hand. I thought I was going to fly
>away.
>
>Some of the things that I learnt during the process:
>
>1. It is hard. I have noticed an interesting thing about the test. People
>who do not pass say it wasn't incredibly hard. (I said the same thing after
>my first try). People who pass it say it was fairly hard. The thing is you
>will not see anything on the test that is really really bad. It is just that
>getting it all together in the time alloted is very hard indeed. It needs a
>level of knowledge that is truly "expert". And it needs indepth knowledge in
>a lot of areas. Not just IP.
>
>2. Get a lab. I should have really cleared this thing on my 2nd try. The
>difference was that I did not have my own lab to practice. Well my point was
>I work every day on production networks. And I think I have a very good
>understanding of the internetworking basics. So why can't we just read the
>config guides and go at it. Well the fact is there are a lot of landmines
>involved in a lot of topics. And those landmines will be there in your test.
>Unless you have come across them in a production/practice environment, u are
>going to lose points and time. And this test is all about points and time.
>So I got my equipment from Brad Ellis. Great guy and great gear. You will
>need it.
>
>3. It is an open book test. What that means is you are only a few clicks
>away from what you will need in the test. I did not put in as much time on
>the routers as some of the others (not something that I am proud of but just
>the way things worked out) and I have about 32 bytes of volatile memory.
>Thats it. I used the CD extensively in all my attempts especially on my 3rd
>try. Also relying on the CD makes the test a little less monstrous because
>we can concentrate on the concepts and look up the commands. It worked for
>me.
>
>4. Clarity of thought. I think the key differentiator on the test is how
>well we know the basics. There were a lot of times in the test when I had to
>ask myself some very basic questions. "why is the packet not coming in to
>the router?" And I had to answer the question from the first principles. You
>know Comer and that kind of stuff. The reason the test is hard is it makes u
>think on ur feet. We could practice all the scenarios and they will still
>come up with something which will make us go "uh?" So spend the time in
>reading through the "why" It will be time well spent.
>
>5. Stay relaxed. If we choke we will only make it harder. Be very relaxed
>and very alert. Don't worry too much about the result. I think a lot of
>questions on the test do not give 100% information on how we should go about
>them. A perfect situation to make mistakes if we are not thinking straight.
>
>6. This list ROCKS. If it were any cooler, Al Gore would have it banned as
>an environmental hazard. There are guys on this list who are total gurus and
>there are a lot of willing learners. Use the list. I went through about 3000
>mails from the archive a week before my test. If I had not done that, I
>would have been posting a much shorter mail for a date swap. The way Scott
>answers about ATM or Earl explained about LSAP filters is just awesome.
>Makes me want to be like them someday. Paul u are Da Maan for bringing so
>many great guys together. A good way to find out if you are ready is to
>check if all the posts on the list begin to make sense to you. If they do, u
>must be close.
>
>7. Do it for the right reasons. Somewhere in the process, this thing stops
>being a certification and becomes something personal. I guess the one thing
>I feel good about through the whole process is that I am a better network
>engineer because of it.
>
>8. Keep at it.
>
>Resources:
>
>Doc CD
>Jeff Doyle
>Bruce Caslow
>Sam Halabi (BGP and OSPF design guide)
>Beau Williamson
>Marc Russel's labs and lab time (Totally awesome customer service!!!)
>
>And finally
>
>"Apply cool in all situations
>Also, apply cool on all interfaces"
>-The Gita v2.2
>(Obsoletes RFC 791)
>
>Thanks everyone for answering my questions helping me learn
>
>Sanjay Maljure
>(resist the temptation)
>
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