From: Armen_Assatoury@kaz.com.au
Date: Sun Dec 15 2002 - 21:59:19 GMT-3
Hi All,
It's been about a week now that I've been drunk with happiness..... now
that I've sobered up I'll run through my helpful hints so that it might
help someone somewhere to pass and enjoy the same happiness and freedom.
Especially freedom !!!!!
On the 9th of December for the third time I sat for the R&S lab in Sydney.
There was just one more guy from the US doing R&S for the first time.
Started at 9:35 am, break for lunch at 1:35, back in at 2:00pm, and
finished at 6:00 pm.
The exam was easier than I thought, no real surprises. I guess for the
third timer you would be unlucky to get something really brain straining.
The reason I say this is that TIME IS STILL THE BIGGEST KILLER !!!!!!!.
Although with no real surprises I just got to finish (with some level for
confidence) about an hour early. So I used the time to go over the lab. I
was one who always felt comfortable with my answers as I worked through
them, and one of the reasons behind two failed attempts......
Below I've outlined my technique of how I went about the exam; and below
that, what I studied to achieve a pass.
1) Create alias statements, I had no more that 30
2) Spend no more than 30 to 40 minutes reading the entire paper,
understanding the requirements, writing your alias commands, and drawing of
the network diagram.
3) Before going to lunch you must have finished at least if not more than
half the paper. It may sound impossible but it isn't if you know it like
the back of your hand, everything will fall into place. Even if it doesn't
you should be able to fix the issues on the fly like second nature. The
reason why I say this is that the challenging part of the paper comes once
you complete the first half.
4) Go to lunch and relax (but not too much). Think about the issues your
having because while you're relaxed you have a chance to think clearly.
5) Back from lunch and this is the hard part (mentally). With a stomach
full of food to carry you through another 4 hours you naturally feel tired
and sleepy. Drink a lot of water, do what you have to do to keep focus....
very important because it's uphill from here. In my previous attempts I was
up to this part of the exam only at about 3:00pm !!!!! not good.
6) You have to somehow finish about an hour to a minimum of 45 minutes
early to check your work. No matter how good you are you still need this
time to go over your work and secure your marks.
7) The above is easier said than done, but it's not impossible. The first
two times, every time I felt I should have passed, but now that I look back
I realise how much I didn't know and slow I was configuring and
troubleshooting.
My study techniques in order of events starting from 11 months ago. Mind
you I had already gotten my CCNP and CCDP by December 2001.
1) Read "Routing TCP/IP" Vol 1 by Doyle, cover to cover AND re-create every
scenario and understand what It has to teach.
2) Read "Internet Routing Architectures" by Halabi, again cover to cover
AND re-create every scenario not only the way it teaches but try and
achieve the same result in different ways.
3) Do every single Fatkid lab until you throw up and then do some more !!!!
do the Expert Redistribution and any hard ones, three to four times. By the
end of it even if you don't do it for months and then come back to them,
even the hardest labs (after the initial IP addressing and set up) should
take you no more than 10 to 12 minutes to complete.
4) CCbootcamp labs are excellent, so are the three Routopia labs. Have a
study buddy, bounce ideas off each other.
5) By this stage I had my second attempt and came very close to passing
(this was 2 months ago). During this time constantly monitor the types of
questions asked on Group Study and try and resolve them yourself, if you
feel confident of your answer, reply to the owner if not do the research
for yourself. Don't forget to keep doing the lab scenarios that you've been
doing so far, over and over again !!!!!!
6) Almost memorize the CAT3550 section on the CD, read it as much as it
takes to at least have a mental map of where everything is. The same goes
for the rest of the CD. Don't commit to memory anything that you don't have
to, commit to memory the indexing to it only. Set challenges and try to
find the answer on the CD within seconds (certainly less than a minute).
The above is the formula I used, it may not work for every one, but pick
the parts you like and adapt it to what works for you.
As a final note, I would just like to thank my beautiful wife for her
support and patience, colleagues at work for their knowledge and support,
and last but not least, our team leader and boss for their understanding
on how hard and demanding this certification really is. Good luck to all on
this endeavor.
Regards Armen
.
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