From: Daniel C. Young (danyoung99@xxxxxxxxxxxx)
Date: Wed Aug 15 2001 - 04:46:46 GMT-3
Group,
I passed mine this weekend on my first attempt. For the most part, my
thoughts and sentiments are no different than those in pervious postings,
but I would like to make my contribution and share with the group my own
personal experience:
**Day 1**
The exam was indeed tricky. I took well over one hour just to settle in,
figure out the cabling, addressing and naming convention that was required.
Do spend some time in this section to make sure that you do not loose silly
points for overlooking easy tasks. This was truly a test that required
careful attention to detail. Most, including myself, simply concentrate on
accomplishing the technical portions of the lab. This is fine when
practicing, since there are no points awarded for 'arts and crafts'.
However, a sizable portion of the required Day 1 tasks on the real CCIE lab
exam demands just that -- arts and crafts. Even though I finished with a
comfortable time margin, when I re-checked my work and ran my ping script I
still found that I had overlooked things.
**Day 2**
Four of the Day 1 folks advanced to Day 2. The Day 2 morning tasks were much
more straightforward than Day 1. I believe that the Day 2 tasks were
designed not to test your issue-spotting skills, but rather your ability to
quickly locate reference material if asked to configure the unusual. I did
have to crack the CD twice but was able to find things immediately. I
finished early once again, but found overlooked items once again when I
re-checked my work.
**Troubleshooting**
All four of us returned from lunch with good news. Troubleshooting was
indeed a different animal. Many many things were broken, but I just relied
on the layered approach: access to the routers, physical, data-link, etc.
During the last hour before the proctor called time, I began to feel
mentally fatigued. But I persevered and attempted to find as many bugs as I
could. After it was all over, I felt incredibly relieved. Pass or no pass, I
was extermely satisfied that I made it all the way through and finished
well.
**Advice**
Have a firm knowledge and grasp of the routing & switching theory. Start out
by reading the documentation CD first. Then supplement with additional text
material and the whitepapers from the TAC database. This way, you learn how
to navigate and recognize the shortcomings the documentation CD early on.
Develop a habit to configure with efficiency and precision. Find a study
partner who will test your theoretical understanding and challenge your
configuration habits. Document the issues and configuration caveats you
discover for each required task. Become extremely dissatisfied at not
knowing and not understanding something. When practicing your goal should be
to understand and not simply finish the tasks on the bootcamp and fatkid
labs. In the real lab, your task is to finish the tasks and not give them
much thought at all. Be able to simply read through a lab and spot the
issues immediately. Remember to test everything yourself -- the routers and
the code are the final authority. Most importantly, enjoy the learning
process itself. Tell yourself that all the personal, financial, and social
sacrifice you are making is not for the compensation or the status -- you
are doing it for the learning process and the personal gratification. Keep
your head clear of anything that is outside your control (unfair proctors,
imperfect testing procedures, or changing formats), especially during your
last week.
**Preparation Cost**
I have spent well over 1000 hours of study time, divided fairly equally
between reading and lab time. I had spent over $25K between equipment,
training, books and travel. ECP1 with Val Pavlichenko was the best $4K I
have ever invested in myself. I studied about 4 hours every day for the
first few months, still reserving some personal time for family. During the
last 2 1/2 weeks, I spent 10-12 hours in the lab with my study partner going
through an exhaustive review of the major topics and configuring the minor
topics at least once.
**Credits**
Special thanks to Raymond, my study partner, for constantly challenging me
to see whether I truly understood the solutions. Also, to my teammates at
the Irvine IDC for their enduring support especially during these last few
weeks. Val, thank you the great class and for staying until 9 PM on each
night during ECP1.
#7998, #8000, #8001: Congratulations! It was great to have all of us pass
together. If you read this posting, drop me a line.
Best wishes,
Daniel C. Young
Sr. Network Engineer
(909) 221-1928 Direct
dan.young@sbc.com
SBC Internet Data Center
2681 Kelvin Ave.
Irvine, CA 92614
(949) 221-1900 Main
(949) 221-1978 Fax
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