From: Javier Tomé (fjtm@tid.es)
Date: Fri Nov 11 2005 - 03:16:12 GMT-3
Yes, I followed Simon Hart advice and went through Jongsoo' list several
times. To be honest, I found it quit interesting as a base, but a bit
rigid some times (too much specific on the way it solve some issues). I
suggest you to take it just as a framework; an starting point to compose
your own checklist. I shortened it a bit and customized it to my own way.
The list should be a result of what works for you on your practice labs...
Best Regards
Javi
CCIEin2006 wrote:
>Congratulations Javier,
> I was wondering if you followed a checklist such as Jongsoo's list?
>
> On 11/10/05, Javier Tomi <fjtm@tid.es> wrote:
>
>
>>Well, may be I am dreaming, but It seems to be true (have checked like a
>>hundred times at cisco web site)... I passed last Monday in Brussels
>>(CCIE#15333) and yes, it was my first time... :-)
>>
>>It seems I were really near to Leigh and I did not notice. It is a pity
>>because it would have been really nice to have a beer with a GS fellow
>>after the exam. Anyway, this is my story...
>>
>>Although my first time, it has not been an easy path. My written was 13
>>months ago, and since then I have been working hard to get prepared for
>>the exam. Like most of you I am employed and a bit overwhelmed at work,
>>and that leave not too much time to study.
>>
>>Although my boss agreed to pay for the taxes of the exam, they did not
>>offered me any more aid. I therefore had to make a personal bet on this
>>certification... After persuading my wife, I bought a fairly complete
>>home lab (over 6000 ) from another CCIE and begun to study. I passed
>>almost every minute I could playing with the routers, working on
>>different layouts, technologies... I also spend tons of time going
>>through different books and documentation from cisco on the way from
>>home to the work and back at home, even on the bathroom... Of course no
>>real vacations at all nor free weekends but for study. Last year I do
>>not recall having slept more than 5 hours even on weekends. Well, in
>>fact all this stuff is something you already know as surely most of you
>>are living the same right now...
>>
>>Several times I thought my wife will leave me. She had to carry on
>>everything, the house, my two little daughters (17 and 1 months),
>>everything... And she was really exhausted. But she did not give up, we
>>did not give up, and here we are.
>>
>>Regarding the exam, I arrive Brussels on Sunday, being the exam next
>>Monday. Just a few hours taking a last view over my notes and I went to
>>bed at 10:30 pm. To my surprise I managed to sleep almost 8 hours. After
>>waking up, I took a shower, had breakfast, and went walking to the
>>Examination centre not far from my hotel.
>>
>>We were over 10 taking the exam, although not all of us were for R&S.
>>Once on the examination room the proctor told us our rack numbers, gave
>>us brief instructions, and the exam begun.
>>
>>Hardly 5 minute after the beginning of the exam several people was
>>typing crazily on the keyboard, which really made me really nervous. I
>>tried to manage it and continue with my careful reading of the whole
>>test. I made drawings for FR, IGP, BGP, and Multicast, But when I reach
>>QoS I could not help but to stop reading and begin working on Layer 2...
>>Over 35 minutes had passed.
>>
>>At this point I found my first headache, ' the keyboard layout' was in
>>english and I did not know were to find anything. Of course this is
>>something I could have guess, but did not. I tried to change it but I
>>couldn't so It took me a while to get used to the new layout and to make
>>my quiet (I even had to ask the proctor where to find some keys...).
>>
>>Over 45 minutes had passed and I have entered no command at all on the
>>routers but my alias. But then, the magic appeared. I begun to go task
>>by task fulfilling everything. Whenever I found something I was not sure
>>about my approach I made a note and passed to the next task. As the time
>>passed I was more confident with myself, and even though I was fairly
>>more error prone when entering commands because of the english layout of
>>the keyboard, I managed to complete almost all the exam (over 90 points)
>>before lunch.
>>
>>At lunch time I had made all but the ISDN backup solution. I had also
>>checked full connectivity through TCL scripts and everything was fine. I
>>could not believe it. Life was beautiful...
>>
>>After lunch, and much more quiet than at the beginning, I finished all
>>the pending points (including ISDN backup and skipped questions). I had
>>still almost four hours to go. I reloaded all my routers and repeated
>>the connectivity test for both backup and normal situation. All was
>>fine, so I begun to evaluate my situation in terms of fairly assured
>>points (88), probably correct answers (10) and probably incorrect
>>answers (2). But this was only my guess...
>>
>>A second detailed pass through the exam question by question made me see
>>that I had made some little mistakes that could have made me fail.
>>Things as stupid as not disabling inv-arp in one of the FR interfaces,
>>the direction of a filter / policy-map...
>>
>>Although some of the task are clearly enough and leave no doubt, The
>>wording of other task gave a wide margin for interpretation. Therefore I
>>begun to ask the proctor for every little detail subjected to
>>misinterpretation. That was really useful, as I found some mistakes on
>>my approach and some implicit requirements I had not considered during
>>my first pass through. In fact the Proctor is one of the best tools
>>available on the exam if you are able to make the questions in the
>>correct manner.
>>
>>When my assured points where "more assured" I begun to work on the
>>"probably correct answers". As I still had 2 hours and no one was part
>>of the core I did not care about the value of each one or the chances of
>>getting the points. I just addressed them in order. The other 2 points
>>were something I did not manage to understand, so I left it untouched.
>>
>>I spent the time left triple checking my answers in the DocCD.
>>
>>I went out the exam as a happy man, being conscious that I had been
>>lucky with the exam, and that I had best chances to pass it.
>>Nevertheless, once in the airport I remembered all those stories I read
>>on GS and other forums regarding people who as me had done a good exam
>>but had failed anyway. The doubt begun to enter in my mind, and I spend
>>the another 2 hours reproducing the exam entirely (diagrams, questions,
>>points associated with each question...) while in the airport. I wanted
>>to be sure I will be able to complain in case a received a failed grade.
>>
>>Once at home in Madrid, and although I tried, I couldn't slept that
>>night. My results arrived at 2:20 in the morning. I had passed...
>>
>>I know I have been lucky, the exam was not too difficult, and everything
>>went ok. In any case, my personal opinion is that although knowledge is
>>a must to pass the exam, It is even more important the exam approach.
>>All that stuff about reading the exam carefully, preview where problems
>>can emerge, make IGP, BGP, Mcast diagrams to interiorize it all, skip
>>things you don't know or you are not able to configure at first sight
>>(but core topics) to do it at the end, be conscious of the value of each
>>task and the dependencies between them..... it really what makes the
>>difference.
>>
>>I would like to thank you all for your help and support. It has been
>>really helpful following the different threads posted by lots of people.
>>Even from the simplest questions posted here I have learn a lot. A
>>special mention for Victor Cappuccio, which has been my study partner
>>during lasts weeks, and made me keep on the road whenever my
>>determination failed.
>>
>>To the rest of you, I wish you all to be as lucky as me on your future
>>attempts. And remember, it is just an exam and therefore it is passable.
>>
>>Best Regards
>>
>>Javi
>>
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