From: fadel lubbos (fadellubbos@hotmail.com)
Date: Wed Sep 26 2007 - 22:02:11 ART
Congratulation...> Date: Wed, 26 Sep 2007 03:50:51 -0400> From:
ryan@egate.net> To: ccielab@groupstudy.com> Subject: CCIE #18953> > Hi
everyone,> > I sat for my R&S lab for the first time today at RTP today... and
passed!> 16,921 Groupstudy messages have provided the insight and motivation
I> needed to get through in one shot.> > A quick overview: I've worked with
Cisco equipment off and on since 1999,> intensely for 5 years. Finished the
CCNP & CCDP in Spring 2006. I> started preparing for the written in September
'06 and completed it in> December. At work I was able to assemble a lab with
leftover 2600s and> 3640s to mimic the IPExpert lab book, and later I rewired
it to match the> NMC DoIT lab book.> > From January to September I worked
through these two books (I didn't> finish NMC). 2 - 4 hours most nights and
days on the weekend. IPExpert> provides a great ramp up on all the
technologies and covers most topics> well. NMC provided that last push on
things like Catalyst QoS, 4 switch> spanning tree and other things. I would
split the labs into two parts,> and perform the core routing and switch one
evening and the services,> security and QoS the second. I knew I was getting
close when I was> finishing labs in a single evening. Upon completion of a lab
I would> review the doc CD on all the topics that had to look up. The NMC
answer> key is also a great resource.> > I wrote 3 NMC CheckIT labs, once each
week leading up to the exam. I> passed two out of three of these and felt I
was ready. Honestly, these> labs were much tougher than the actual CCIE lab
test I took.> > Thanks to everyone who posted to this list, I learned a lot
from> reviewing your issues and labbing up the more arcane questions. Thanks
to> the lab proctor who sent me back to my workbook 3 times on one question>
(the answer was staring me in the face), and thank goodness I found a> really
dumb typo at 3:00 in the afternoon that would have lost me all my> BGP marks.
And a special thanks to my wife who spent all those evenings> and weekends
alone with our (now) 15 month old daughter.> > My advice to everyone: ask the
proctor. They may be clear as mud, but if> you know your stuff the suggestions
will make sense. Second, everything I> needed was right there in front of me,
in the drawings and on the> question sheets. When I thought my rack was mucked
up, it was all me.> > I'm flying home tomorrow for a few much needed days off
and time with my> family, and I can't wait to pick up my guitar again.> > Good
luck to all. I hope my story provides motivation to everyone.> > Ryan Morris,
CCIE #18953> >
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