From: Jonathan Stevens (jonathanstevens.net@googlemail.com)
Date: Mon Jan 30 2006 - 05:08:51 GMT-3
Congratulations!
Jonathan (15714)
Peter McCreesh wrote:
>Hi there,
>
>Just sending out a note of thanks to all who contribute to this list. I
>passed the lab on Thursday last (26th) in Brussels.
>Have been doing a bit of celebrating since so thats why i'm only getting to
>this now :-))
>
>I think my biggest thank you has to go out to Globalknowledge and my
>instructor in particular, Tom Lijnse, for providing the excellent training
>course I attended last year.
>It was the CCIE Netgun programme and it was absolutely fantastic. I would
>highly recommend it to anyone and this course is a big part of the reason I
>got this the first time round. I had to put in a lot of hours between course
>weeks and afterwards but it laid a solid foundation to build upon and I
>think, for me at least, it was the perfect way to do it. There was more
>emphasis on learning the technologies than passing the lab. You can check it
>out at:
>
>http://www.globalknowledge.net/NetGun_Programme_CI_CCIE_1360.html
>
>The Netgun programme focused on separate technologies for the most part and
>then tied everything together at the end and this was the way I based my
>studies after the course finished last October.
>
>I never used any of the popular workbooks discussed on this forum (which I
>thought may be something to be concerned about before the exam but that
>wasn't the case) but instead, I took a technology and tried to learn the
>detail behind it before completing full labs. This was a much better method
>of study for me but everyone has their own way to do it.
>I never did a full 8 hour lab until the week before the real thing and found
>out that my strategy was completely wrong and I wasted too much time messing
>around with a question worth a couple of points instead of just moving on
>and coming back to it later. In order to improve my lab strategy (I had
>heard people say that this is as important as knowing your stuff, I agree
>100%) I booked a CheckiT lab from NMC on the weekend before the lab and
>found that I still had some brushing up to do so decided to book a second
>CheckiT on Tuesday 24th. NMC had no rack space left as they were all booked
>up but Indy in NMC was absolutely fantastic and managed to get a rack
>together specifically for me and I did the second CheckiT and was very happy
>with the way it went.
>
>I thought the CheckiT labs are a fantastic way to guage your knowledge of
>the material aswell as ensuring that you have the right strategy. I found
>them a massive help for the real thing as I was totally relaxed during the
>real lab due to sorting out my strategy with them. Indy and the staff at NMC
>couldn't have been better and I would highly recommend them.
>
>I wanted to make sure I was a relaxed as possible for the lab so I knew that
>a good night sleep the night before was key. To make sure I slept, I got the
>earliest flight from Ireland to Brussels I could get which meant I had to
>leave home at 3AM to head for the Airport. I was in Brussels at 10:30 AM and
>by 3PM I was trying to stay awake. I went to bed at 9PM and slept better
>than I had for about a year (my two young kids may have been some of the
>reason for this!!) and got up at 5:30AM.
>
>I made sure I got an excellent breakfast to put me in the right road and
>headed over to Cisco at 7AM.
>Met a few other guys and waited for the proctor, Eric, who I have to say was
>absolutely excellent on the day. I did happen to ask "one or two" questions
>on the day but Eric made sure that my questions were answered as far as he
>could and this made the whole thing more relaxing too.
>
>When the lab started, I never touched the keyboard for the first hour. I
>drew out my own diagrams and made a few notes and then read the exam twice
>to see which parts were linked to which. When I finished reading it I was
>feeling fairly good as I though I could get through it OK if I just stuck to
>my preplanned strategy.
>I was a bit behind where I wanted to be at lunch but made this up during the
>first hour back after lunch and finished with about and hour and a half to
>spare. I rechecked things a few times and corrected a few of those silly
>errors that seem to creep in from time to time and then did a bit of
>additional testing to make sure the requirements of the tasks were being
>met. I reloaded the kit about three times throughout the day. Once at lunch,
>when I was finished after my first pass and then after the additional
>checking and testing, followed by another bit of checking.
>
>I didn't really know what to think when it was all over. I felt good about
>the exam but had heard so many times of people who thought they definately
>passed it, but didn't so I tried to keep myself calm without much success I
>have to say. I was more nervous after the exam than I have been since I
>started studying for this. Luckily I was put out of my misery at 10PM that
>night. The infamous email arrived and I opened it. I then seemed to
>completely forget how to use a computer as it took me about 3 minutes to log
>onto the cisco site (which was a lifetime in the circumstances). The page
>appeared and then I seemed to loose the ability to read as all I could see
>was a fuzzy web page and then it emerged from the page. The magic number
>15722. I couldn't believe it (so checked about 10 more times).
>
>Anyway, apologies for the long email but I just want to make the point that
>a study plan for this doesn't have to be the same as anyone elses, as what
>works for one may not work for another.
>
>Using the question mark on my lab at home along with the doc cd was one of
>the best study aids I had. When I was configuring things that were standard
>I would just start looking at options with teh question mark and then
>finding out the detail on the doc cd.
>
>This group has been absolutely excellent for me so thanks to those who ask
>the questions as well as answer them.
>I've rambled on a bit here but emails like this helped me along the way so I
>hope it may provide some sort of help to someone.
>
>Regards,
>
>Pete
>
>_______________________________________________________________________
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