From: mani poopal (mani_ccie@yahoo.com)
Date: Thu May 26 2005 - 01:38:51 GMT-3
CONGRATULATIONS AND ENJOY THE RESULTS
MANI
Sammy Wong <swong093@adelphia.net> wrote:
Hi everyone,
I just wanted to say I passed the lab at RTP this past Monday.
I'd like to take this time to give credit where credit is due. I thank God
for being with me during this entire process from start to finish. With God
all things are possible.even if it's highly improbable like passing the CCIE
on my first try!
Thanks to the 2 Brians at InternetworkExpert. I appreciate the feedback I
got from the mock labs and enjoyed your technology seminars, especially the
IPv6 one.
Thanks to Scott Morris and his wonderful Audio Bootcamp. It was a great
summary of the most common technologies on the lab. I listened to you quite
a lot in the car!
Thanks to Bill Burns at Racktimerentals. RTR was my rental provider of
choice. Anytime I needed a cable reseated or encountered a hardware issue,
Bill responded in a quick, helpful manner. Or as Bill once quipped, "I was
trying to test your troubleshooting skills today!" :-)
To Bruce, Val, and Bob at Netmasterclass - THANK YOU. They changed the way
I saw internetworking technologies by making me focus on grouping
technologies by similar characteristics. That breakdown later helped with
creating decision diagrams and checklists.
I've included a list of things that helped me on my quest for the CCIE.
It's kind of long and mostly common sense. I figure everyone has read the
same textbooks so I don't mention that below. I realize there is no
one-size-fits-all method in preparing for the CCIE, but here's what worked
for me:
Workbooks -
I started off by using the IE Vol 1 workbook. It was a great way to lay
down the foundation that I needed to pass the CCIE lab. The answers in the
answer key are easy to understand and thorough. After doing each of the
labs a number of times, I bought the NMC DOiT workbook and that took me to
the next level. In my opinion, the scenarios in that book are more
challenging than the real exam but that's what I needed. I knew if I could
tackle the hard stuff, I would be better prepared to deal with the real
thing. During the final few weekends, I did the DOiT labs in order of
increasing difficulty - 15, 16, 13, 14, 17, 18, 5, 6, 1, & 24.
Attention to Detail -
I took the IE Mock Lab 1 in March and got a 63. That was an eye-opener!
Only then did I realize just how easy it was to lose more than 20 points.
After reviewing what I had did wrong, I realized most of my wounds were
self-inflicted! I had much too many careless mistakes. I actually could
have gotten back over 20 points and passed if I had been more careful. It's
important to verify your work with show commands and debugs if necessary.
Also, speed makes an impact too because the faster you can finish the lab,
the more time you have to double-check your answers afterwards.
Taking the RS-NMC-1 class - HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
I took the class in early April. This step was probably the most
instrumental in helping me get my number. Up until the time I took the
bootcamp, I had been studying real hard. But, I didn't have a good study
plan. My mindset going into the class was that universal connectivity was
the most important part of the exam and everything else was peripheral.
What I found out instead, was that critical mass topics are the things that
make or break a candidate. Fortunately, I had done my fair share of DOiT
labs prior to attending the class. By the time I attended the class, I was
able to confidently get to the golden moment. The selection of topics that
Bruce, Val, and Bob covered ended up being perfect for me because they were
the ones I was traditionally weak in.the critical mass topics!
Pressure -
By the time I returned to work the following week, everyone thought I had
already taken the lab and were asking me how I did! I had to explain to
them that I had just taken a training class and nothing more. But things
were never the same again. Since I had taken the bootcamp, everyone
naturally assumed I was going to be taking the lab real soon. Do you
realize just how annoying it is to have everyone ask you, "So are you ready
for the exam?" Or "Don't worry, you'll do fine." From that point forward,
I tried to keep my intentions a secret. If people didn't suspect anything
out of the ordinary, then it was just business as usual and it minimized
stress for me. Only a trusted few knew.
Horizontal Learning -
Horizontal learning was a big part of my study plan. I knew critical mass
topics were key. I spent my final few weeks pouring over the IE and DOiT
labs, going from scenario to scenario, concentrating solely on one topic
(like multicast, for example) and making sure I could come up with just
exactly what the solution should be in answer key. I never touched any
routers during this time. I just wanted to see if I could spot the issues.
The IE answer key is great because it's catered specifically toward this
type of piece-meal learning. However, NMC has a lot going for it in their
extremely powerful SHOWiT tool. Going over multicast, for example, I could
display the routing table and the mroute table and know exactly where a RPF
check failure was going to happen. And all without touching a single
router!
Creating a Checklist and Knowing Thy Options -
The next part of my study plan was to create a checklist and know my
options. These two things go hand in hand. The checklist is a logical
progression of steps used to tackle a problem. However, the wording in the
lab will often determine what options will be taken away. There were two
instances in my exam where I was forced to think outside the box. The
important thing is not to make a snap judgment when you first read the
problem. Take time to analyze what is being asked. You should know
multiple ways of accomplishing a task and think about which solution best
fits the problem. I used Jongsoo's checklist and the NMC TechLibrary
decision diagrams as a starting point.
Speed -
I was able to improve my speed by working on the DOiT workbook. The
scenarios in that workbook are hard to say the least. At first I couldn't
finish them. Over time, things gradually became second-nature. I got
better and, consequently, I got faster. When I took the lab on Monday, I
was able to get to the golden moment, configure BGP, and finish multicast
all before lunch. That was important because that gave me time to
investigate topics on the doc cd I wasn't too familiar with.
Studygroup -
I'd like to thank Paul for the Groupstudy resource. Not only is it a great
repository of knowledge, I find it's nice to know I wasn't alone in my quest
for the CCIE. In a world full of things that work against you, it's
refreshing to see so much encouragement being shared among fellow peers. I
also had the pleasure of attending Bruce's Saturday studygroup. I must say
I learned quite a lot of QoS during those weeks.
I've been through a lot of the same emotional rollercoasters and heard the
naysayers who didn't believe it could be done. Don't let those things
rattle you. Let me tell you, it's all worth it in the end. As important as
getting the number is, don't forget you are honing your character
too.learning to deal with adversity, developing determination, and building
faith. Those things you can take with you anywhere you go in life. Okay,
I'm done ranting.
Sammy Wong
CISSP, CCIE #14686
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