From: Joe Deleonardo (jdeleonardo@networkinsight.com)
Date: Tue Jul 12 2005 - 19:59:42 GMT-3
OK well I failed it. No worries. It's not like I'm the first person to fail a lab.
I got the email via my cell phone just as I was getting to the airport this morning. My first flight left RDU at 5:55am. I should have left last night, but I wasn't sure what time the lab would end in RTP. We were done at 3:30pm. What really sucked was I was stuck on the planes and couldn't get Internet access to check results until I got back to San Diego.
I always get the email faster when I fail, the two times I've passed I've gotten the emails the next morning at 8:00am or so.
It's funny I brought a book with me to read on the way home. It's the "Non-runners guide to running a marathon."
I've had it in my head to run a marathon for a couple of years and just 2 months ago I decided to get on the program. I've been building up my mileage. I run my first "official" 5k in a couple of weeks... I'm running that now.
The interesting thing about this book is that the book is based on a college class at the University of Northern Iowa. They take people that had never done any serious running in their life and train them to run a marathon in 16 weeks. I'm talking - one guy that was 80lbs over weight. People in their 40's and 50's, cancer survivors, mother's with young children. The only prereq is being able to run 3 miles. Which leads to my building up to the 5k... I did the "couch to 5k" plan (you can find it on google if interested). Heck I'm 32 and in not too bad of shape, so the only thing to stop me is me. My marathon training starts at the beginning of August. And let me tell you something when I go running on the beach here in San Diego. People that are so old you would think they would turn to dust if the wind blew hard enough, end up passing me by like I'm standing still. So what's my excuse, it's something I've wanted to do.
This wasn't a new concept. I've read it in a lot of other running books by some very respected people in the sport, anyone can run a marathon in 16-18 weeks, providing they can run 3 miles when starting the program and agree to train 4 days per week.
The different thing about this book is that the professors that teach the class are psychology professors. They talk much about the mental aspect of running a marathon. Many people never consider doing it, because they doubt themselves, think it's impossible or I always get, "why would you want to run 26.2 miles?". Much the same thing I hear from anyone I encourage to pursue a CCIE. I work with two really bright guys, that are probably brighter then I am and they're afraid of the idea of the CCIE.
Anyway today I was finally able to get more into the book, since I was able to put the tech books down for a break. Chapter 3 starts talking about performance and success. It has apparently been studied a lot - people tend to do their best when they are sort of, "in between caring too much and not caring enough."
I think I cared too much about passing yesterday. I got excited from the couple of postings of people that passed on the first try. I took a week off from work before the lab to study. I went over all the printed material and felt like I looked over every inch of Cisco's site.
In fact, there was only one thing on the test that I hadn't seen before and I was able to look it up.
I was so motivated, the adreniline was rushing. I was typing configurations fast as I could but early on I found myself having to go back and correct my frame-relay configuration. I mean for God sakes if I know anything I know frame-relay. I passed security and r&s and it took me three times for each. I've had a lot of practice on FR! Still I was screwing it up.
That's what happened. I burned all my time on the small stuff and the dumb problems that were fixed with a router re-boot. I rebooted these two routers when I went to lunch because I was at a complete loss. I came back from lunch and miraculously they were doing what they were supposed to be doing. From that point on I had 3.5 hours left and I piled drove through the rest of the test. But I had no time to think carefully about what I was doing or go back and verify that everything was working.
I'm telling everyone this as advice. Calm down. There is more then enough time to do the labs, on security and r&s I finished with 2-3 hours to spare. Then I used that time to go back over the test methodically and verify everything. When you don't stay calm and go slow you'll hit a wall like I did yesterday. The adreneline can only last so long. I would have had that time left yesterday if I didn't make the dumb errors and had kept my wits about me.
I thought when I left that lab - "the marathon is going to be a piece of cake compared to this... after all it'll only last 5 or 6 hours if I run really slow." I don't know about everyone else, but I feel like I've been hit by a truck after coming off that adreniline high.
I guess that's why I've always tried to go into the past labs with the assumption I was going to fail. It's just a mental game that takes the pressure off. I didn't do that this time.
It was a hard lab in the sense that it was a CCIE lab. Like the other labs, you can't just know how to configure the stuff, you have to understand the workings of it to configure it correctly. Memorization doesn't work.
I'm better for the experience, I get another month to go over anything I'm weak on and I'll be better for it in the end. So when I go take my lab again on Aug 15th, some one remind me to calm down and go slow. ;)
I hope all that rambeling helped someone! :)
Have a good one! Cheers,
Joe
________________________________
From: Scott Morris [mailto:swm@emanon.com]
Sent: Tue 7/12/2005 9:32 AM
To: 'Olopade Olorunloba'; Joe Deleonardo; 'DOUGLAS, DAVID N (AIT)'; 'Mike Dickson'
Cc: comserv@groupstudy.com; ccielab@groupstudy.com
Subject: RE: Observations on passing the Service Provider lab
I always hope they take their time to think about giving more points! :)
When I did my SP lab, it took 3 days. I was beginning to think that they
had lost my configs, but then it came in and all was good...
Scott
-----Original Message-----
From: nobody@groupstudy.com [mailto:nobody@groupstudy.com] On Behalf Of
Olopade Olorunloba
Sent: Tuesday, July 12, 2005 10:55 AM
To: 'Joe Deleonardo'; 'DOUGLAS, DAVID N (AIT)'; 'Mike Dickson'
Cc: comserv@groupstudy.com; ccielab@groupstudy.com
Subject: RE: Observations on passing the Service Provider lab
How long does it take for the result to come out. I thought you get it the
same day.
-----Original Message-----
From: nobody@groupstudy.com [mailto:nobody@groupstudy.com] On Behalf Of Joe
Deleonardo
Sent: 12 July 2005 02:16
To: DOUGLAS, DAVID N (AIT); Mike Dickson
Cc: comserv@groupstudy.com; ccielab@groupstudy.com
Subject: RE: Observations on passing the Service Provider lab
Yep, it was hard. Now the hardest part waiting to see if I passed. I just
hope I get the results before getting on the plane in the morning.
I know a couple of things that I did wrong. I had a dumb problem early on,
that was fixed by restarting two routers. I burned so much time, because I
doubted my original config and tried everything under the sun.
Next time - I won't doubt myself - I'll just restart right away. I had the
same sort of problem with ISDN on R&S. The config was perfect but the
routers required a reboot.
If I failed it was because I should have managed my time better. The problem
was a core part of the test so it made moving on to other topics difficult.
Oh well, if I fail, I'll be back in beautiful RTP next month.
All you need is 80 to pass - I'm hoping my luck holds.
Some body light a candle or something. ;)
Have a good one!
Joe
________________________________
From: nobody@groupstudy.com on behalf of DOUGLAS, DAVID N (AIT)
Sent: Thu 7/7/2005 7:02 AM
To: Mike Dickson
Cc: comserv@groupstudy.com; ccielab@groupstudy.com
Subject: RE: Observations on passing the Service Provider lab
I recently passed the CCIE SP on June 27th. I had purchased the IPExpert
and HC workbook. I found much more value in the HC workbook than the
IPExpert. In the HC all of the basics were there and it was laid out very
nicely. The solutions were not as complete as the IPExpert workbook, but I
would rather have no configs than wrong ones. There are lots of errors in
the IPExpert workbook and much of the book was a waste of time. Actually I
shouldn't say it is a waste of time because that all depends on an
individuals experience and strong points. As with anything, it is a good
idea to get as much information and research on a topic as possible before
claiming to be an expert. We need to remember that! These books are not
here to baby step us through passing the lab. I felt the HC book taught me
the basics on which to build on.
Bottom line is that this is a rough track to pursue and there really are not
any training companies to rely on.
My ".02
Dave Douglas
CCIE #14155 (R&S/SP)
-----Original Message-----
From: nobody@groupstudy.com [mailto:nobody@groupstudy.com] On Behalf Of Mike
Dickson
Sent: Wednesday, July 06, 2005 9:11 PM
To: comserv@groupstudy.com; ccielab@groupstudy.com
Subject: RE: Observations on passing the Service Provider lab
Sorry, I agreed to the NDA.
I used the IPExpert and Hello Computers workbook. You can't purchase the
Hello Computer workbook, which is a blessing, because it wasn't worth the
paper it was printed on. The IPExpert WB was very helpful. I would also
recommend that you start with the blueprint and work your way down the list,
using CCO and www.cisco.com.univercd to familiarize yourself with all of the
topics.
Mike
-----Original Message-----
From: Lee Bruce [mailto:ccie.sp.vn@gmail.com]
Sent: Wednesday, July 06, 2005 8:30 PM
To: Mike Dickson
Cc: comserv@groupstudy.com; ccielab@groupstudy.com
Subject: Re: Observations on passing the Service Provider lab
Mike,
There's not ISDN in blueprint. Did you see it in the Lab? Now, there are
very few workbook for CCIE SP, so how did you practice to test your
knowledge before taking lab?
Thanks.
On 7/6/05, Mike Dickson <Mike@dicksonnetworks.com> wrote:
> When I was studying for my R&S and Security, I didn't use the
> blueprint very much. For the SP lab, though, I started with the
> blueprint because there's not much else out there geared for the SP.
> Using the blueprint like you say really helped.
>
> Mike
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Joe Deleonardo [mailto:jdeleonardo@networkinsight.com]
> Sent: Monday, July 04, 2005 11:44 PM
> To: Neil Moore; Mike Dickson; comserv@groupstudy.com;
> ccielab@groupstudy.com
> Subject: RE: Observations on passing the Service Provider lab
>
> I'm trying something different this time. I'm going down the blue
> print item by item.
>
> I never did that on R&S or Security. I locked myself into the
workbooks.
> Then of course I'd take the lab and there's something on it I've never
> seen before.
>
> I wonder if I'm the only person that over looked the blue print as a
> tool. It seems so dumb on my part to have over looked it in the past.
>
> I've gone through both books workbooks, configured everything I wasn't
> familiar with. But going down the blue print has helped me a lot.
>
> Even though a lot of it isn't difficult... like 802.1Q-in-Q or NSF. It
> would be such a waste of time in a lab to go look up something trivial
> when I could use the time for something more important.
>
> I also have to say I think the TAC case collection can be priceless.
> Here's the link if anyone is interested:
> http://www.cisco.com/kobayashi/support/tac/tsa/launch_tsa.html
>
> Have a good night everyone!
>
> Regards-
>
> Joe
>
>
>
>
> ________________________________
>
> From: Neil Moore [mailto:neil@droopy.com]
> Sent: Mon 7/4/2005 8:05 PM
> To: Joe Deleonardo; Mike Dickson; comserv@groupstudy.com;
> ccielab@groupstudy.com
> Subject: Re: Observations on passing the Service Provider lab
>
>
>
> When I was studying for the SP lab.. what I did was take my R&S labs
> and modify them to the service provider blueprint.
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Joe Deleonardo" <jdeleonardo@networkinsight.com>
> To: "Mike Dickson" <Mike@dicksonnetworks.com>;
> <comserv@groupstudy.com>; <ccielab@groupstudy.com>
> Sent: Saturday, July 02, 2005 9:11 PM
> Subject: RE: Observations on passing the Service Provider lab
>
>
> > Congratulations! It must feel so good to pass on the first attempt.
> >
> > And thank you! My lab is in nine days. I've been through both books
> > HC
>
> > and IPExpert, but had be focusing on HC. I has be putting that book
> > down and going back to IPExpert. ;-)
> >
> > Regards-
> >
> > Joe
> >
> >
> >
> > ________________________________
> >
> > From: nobody@groupstudy.com on behalf of Mike Dickson
> > Sent: Fri 7/1/2005 9:48 PM
> > To: comserv@groupstudy.com; ccielab@groupstudy.com
> > Subject: Observations on passing the Service Provider lab
> >
> >
> >
> > Last Tuesday, I passed my Service Provider lab on my first attempt.
> > I
>
> > wanted to make a few observations about the experience, and
> > hopefully,
>
> > other will find these observations helpful.
> >
> > I used both the Hello Computers and IPExpert workbook as part of my
> > preparation. In my opinion, the fact that the Hello Computers
> > workbook is no longer for sale is a blessing in disguise. I found
> > their exercises to be repetitive, and the solutions to be literally
> > incomplete. By incomplete, I mean only half the configs were posted
> > on the web site. On the other hand, I found the IPExpert workbook
> > to be very helpful. Even though the current version is a bit long
> > in the
>
> > tooth, it still mapped well to the lab, and I think it did a good
> > job preparing me for the test.
> >
> > Secondly, I was very impressed with RTP. My other labs were taken
> > at San Jose, and I was a little nervous about RTP. However, I found
> > the proctors at RTP to be extremely helpful and very open to
questions.
> >
> > Finally, and I hope I'm not getting too close to violating the NDA,
> > but I found the SP test to be the first lab exam that seemed to be
> > more of a puzzle than a straight test about technology. The R&S and
> > Security labs seemed to be testing specific technical ways to
> > accomplish a task. The SP lab seemed focused on providing more
> > complicated tasks that forced me to figure out ways to combine
> > multiple technical steps to accomplish a task. The other tracks
> > seemed more focused on making me select the proper technique out of
> > many possible techniques through the wording of the requirement.
> >
> > Hope y'all find this helpful.
> >
> >
> > Mike Dickson
> > CCIE #12281 (Routing & Switching, Security, Service Provider),
> > MCSE+Internet, MCDBA
> >
> > ____________________________________________________________________
> > _ Subscription information:
> > http://www.groupstudy.com/list/comserv.html
> >
> > ____________________________________________________________________
> > _ Subscription information:
> > http://www.groupstudy.com/list/comserv.html
>
> _____________________________________________________________________
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