From: Mike Bauer (mike2ccie@hotmail.com)
Date: Thu May 19 2005 - 23:04:15 GMT-3
Shanky,
Regarding your question about "Whats a good way to start for the Lab Prep",
I am starting on my journey to CCIE certification and I have same questions
you have. I have decided to take the plunge for CCIE certification and I am
spending my own money on this certification and I want to make sure I get
the most for my money. Based upon my research, you should also check it the
NMC CCIE Preparation web-portal: what I call the "Matrix".
The NMC CCIE Preparation "Matrix" possesses:
Extensive roadmaps that provide you with steps to follow to CCIE
certification
A 3 Tier CCIE Preparation Approach that breaks the process down for you in
digestible steps
An extensive lesson plan with suggested readings and web-links
A 1000 page+ technical library which is full-text searchable
The Technical Library is full of lots of Technology specific Checklists and
Decision Diagrams
The Technical Library also contains alot of Lab Strategy Checklists; similar
to Jungsoo's Checklist
Electronic access to all 24 DoiT scenarios (Each of these is an 8+ hour
scenario)
Over 1000 pages of DOiT Answer Key material and the SHOWiT engine
The SHOWiT engine provides you with an interactive answer key that's like
accessing a rack of routers.
Additional knick knacks like quizzes, profiles, etc.
All of this inside of your own personal web portal. I have made this page
my home page. I live in my NMC web-portal. You've got to check out the NMC
Matrix. It's very nice.
There is a demo account you can use. Go to the www.netmasterclass.net and
login with the demo account. Also, you can buy cheap bundles and
subscriptions for NMC services if you want to try them out. You can gain
access to the web-portal for about $30.00 bucks a month. This gives you
everything except the DOiT labs. I bought access to the NMC web portal and
I have also bought the DOiT labs. They are awesome. Each lab has a 50+
answer key and has this SHOWiT support that allows you to query the answer
key.
Please let me know if any other vendor has anything like this. If they do, I
want to check it out. I need to get the most for my money.
On top of all of this, NMC has their CHECKiT assessment labs with an
unbelievable amount of feedback. These CHECKiT labs allow you to measure
how close you are to taking the actual lab. IE has mock labs. Check them out
too.
What I like about the CHECKiT labs is that the results of my CHECKiT labs
are placed inside of my personal web-portal. I can see my progress. The NMC
team can also see my progress and provide help as needed.
All of this sounded good to me but I needed to see hard proof that all of
these services were effective. In my research, I was lucky enough to attend
a Saturday Study Group held at the NetMasterClass office about a month ago.
At the StudyGroup I met Jungsoo. Yes, the famous Jungsoo of GroupStudy fame!
During a presentation, Bruce Caslow referenced the NMC technical library and
its repository of zillions of Checklists and Decision Diagrams. Bruce
constantly stressed the NMC motto of "Know thy Options, Make No Assumptions
and Spot the Issues". I was impressed how the NMC team has put their words
to action in building out the numerous Checklists and Decision Diagrams in
the NMC Technical Library.
Before I made any decisions to go with NMC, I wanted to see how Jungsoo did
in his lab. In about a week, Jungsoo passed his lab.! After seeing all of
this, I decided to give NMC a try.
Go to NMC's main page and see how many recent CCIE's are listed on their
page. You will see that people are getting their numbers by using NMC
services. Also, compare these numbers to the other companies. And make a
decision. You can start cheap like me and buy a low cost bundle.
Finally, the folks at NMC are very friendly. Bruce Caslow, Val Pavlichenko,
Bob Sinclair (I see his posts alot here) are great people. India Teller and
the whole NMC support staff are great too. If you are in the DC area, stop
by their office. I am sure many of the people on this list have worked with
the NMC team before. Maybe they have some comments about their services and
their web-site. Anyway, that's my input.
HTH,
Mike
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