From: Kenan Tahsin Hersan (taso@equant.com.tr)
Date: Mon Dec 13 2004 - 11:37:23 GMT-3
Hi GS!,
It's my turn to write. :) Last Thursday Dec 9th, i passed the beast on my
third attempt. I was most of the time a silent member of GS but i always
followed the threads and used GS as a valuable source of my studies.
I wanted to thank all of you for your great support.
My story: I started my studies 2 years ago. Attended CCPrep.com's CCIE
Bootcamps first. Lou Sr. Rossi and Steve M. Sowell were my teachers at that
time. That bootcamp was an eye opener and i realised how little knowledge i
had and i was very slow. Lou and Steve was very bright and knowledgeble
teachers. Thank you guys, i learned alot from you! They were very courteous
and even let me to access their labs for couple of months after the
bootcamp. Lou and me became friends and he even came to Turkey (Istanbul)
after the bootcamp :). After the bootcamp I decided i needed a workbook and
chosed Netmasterclass Do-IT workbook. I worked on it with my lab setup in
company (yes i was lucky :) ) for 6 months and failed on my first try.
I must say, DO-IT Workbook was more than enough for me as a workbook. Real
challenging labs and very good detailed explanations. Online Show-IT Engine
was also very good. Seemed like real exam was easy for me after studying
NMC's *evil* labs :) but i did stupid mistakes and failed. After the first
failure i had to give a break because of business. But i started studying
again in Summer 2004 and attended Netmasterclass NMC-2 Bootcamp. I was rusty
after 6 months break but with the help of NMC, i was back on track. That
bootcamp was also very good for identifying my small mistakes and the topics
i needed to study more. I want to thank Bruce Caslow, Bob Sinclair and
especially Val Pavlichenko for their magnificent support during and after
the class. I couldn't do it without their support and encouragement.
I also had the opportunity to take 5 different NMC Check-IT Labs after the
class. 8 Hour close-to-real lab simulation with the detailed scoring showing
my weaknesses including Detailed explanation of test. It was vital to my
success. On my second try in October, i didnt know what i did wrong but
still failed. Probably stupid mistakes and overkill configuration problem.
:( I even requested a re-read but score didnt change. I immediately
scheduled my third attempt for December. Between both attempts i only did
two more Check-ITs and did couple of Do-IT scenarios, that's it. I still
cannot beleive this but i finally passed!
My recommendations for candidates:
- If it's possible dont take long breaks and dont wait too much between lab
attempts if you feel you almost got it last time. I did this mistake and it
cost me couple of months to remember some stuff and to speed up.
- Dont ask for re-reads. :( Instead go for another try as soon as possible.
- Try to get a workbook and if you have budget, attend a bootcamp. Buying a
workbook is vital. I know some people success without going a bootcamp but
in my case couldn't do without it. Bootcamps are definately speeding up
learning process and puts you into the right mood.
- In the exam, try to think questions as simple as possible. Do not think
into too much detail. Of course you should think about the things that can
affect others but try to do just what is asked in the question. If you have
doubts, ask the proctor. Header / Title of the question may also be
helpful/hintful for you.
- Try to test and see everything you have done with show and debugs. This
will slow you but believe me it pays off at the end. On my passing attempt i
tested everything after i configured, because of that i only had 45 minutes
left when i finish the test. On my second attempt i finished 3 hours earlier
and failed.
- Colour/Mark the different masks (like /30) on your network map. Pay
special attention to them. If you forget a /30 and configure it as a /24
instead, you most likely will fail.
- Use aliases / house-keeping commands to speed up. Though it is not
required, i always delete my aliases at the exam end. Just keep your notepad
open until end, add "no" to the lines and copy paste it to routers. :) There
is already a "wr mem" at the end, so by doing this you're also saving your
configs at the end.
I hope my recommendations will help you guys.
Take care and good luck on your CCIE Journey!
Best Regards,
K. Tahsin HERSAN
CCIE #14251
Professional Services
Equant Turkey
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