From: James Russell (osuphd2b@yahoo.com)
Date: Sun Jul 08 2007 - 13:25:48 ART
Ultra-short version: Passed R&S on 1st try at RTP. Woot!
Short version: Passed R&S on 1st try at RTP. Thanks to (in no particular order) my pregnant wife for being so understanding, The Brians, Scott Morris, Narbik, those of you who took time to answer my unicast questions, and everyone who posts on GS.
Long version: Wow, I'm still shaking! I started my journey in June of last year. I had no Cisco experience at all, but I started the CCNA. Got that on July 19th. Got hired as a network engineer and got my CCNP in October. Started on the written in Jan of this year and passed on Feb 3rd. Then I started on the lab. I used a well-known vendor's workbook, and the following books:
Routing TCP/IP Vols I and II
Internet Routing Architectures
Wendell Odom's QoS Exam Cert Guide
BCMSN Exam Cert Guide
The DocCD (duh!)
My study routine usually consisted of renting 11 hours of rack time every Saturday, and doing one of the labs 2 times. I would then spend the next week reviewing the lab and configuring any confusing parts on my mini-lab at work. As the weeks progressed, I would take some labs and do them all in Windows notepad. No tabs or question marks to help. I also read the complete command references several times for all routing protocols, QoS, frame relay, IP applications, IP addressing, switching, etc etc. Anything I couldn't understand, I labbed it up until I did understand it.
Ok, now for the lab itself. While doing the lab, and after completing it, I was kind of confused about the whole thing. Either the test was pretty straightforward and I had passed, or I was completely missing stuff and I failed miserably. My initial feeling was that it was pretty straightforward. By lunch, I had read and at least attempted to configure every single question on the lab. There were 3 or 4 that I had to skip and come back to, though. After lunch, I went back and did those, which took about an hour. I checked the whole thing and found a few errors. Checked it all again, and found 1 or 2 errors. Checked it all AGAIN and found nothing that looked wrong. By this time there was about 45 minutes left in the lab.
People say time management is key, and they are right. In my case, it was make sure you slow down and triple-check everything. In other cases, it might be to not spend too much time on 1 problem. The proctors were very nice and helpful. They even asked me about one of my tattoos!
Well, that's it. I'm going to eat some lunch!
James Russell Jr.
CCIE #18397
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Boardwalk for $500? In 2007? Ha!
Play Monopoly Here and Now (it's updated for today's economy) at Yahoo! Games.
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