From: fadel lubbos (fadellubbos@hotmail.com)
Date: Sat Jan 19 2008 - 15:23:42 ARST
Congratulation.....
> Subject: RE: Another CCIE for CANADA, #19817> Date: Thu, 17 Jan 2008
09:59:11 -0600> From: Bruno.Wollmann@rqhealth.ca> To: ccielab@groupstudy.com>
> Hello GS,> > Sorry for this long-winded message. I just wanted to share my>
experience in hopes that it helps others attain their CCIE goal.> > On Monday,
January 14th in San Jose I passed the CCIE lab on my second> attempt. I was
very surprised at how quickly I found out. 3 hours> after we were booted out
of the lab I got the email telling me to check> the website for my results.
After a few nervous clicks, I saw the great> news.> > I want to thank all who
contribute to this list as it is a great> resource for learning. I joined this
list in July, 2007 and I think I> have only had to post 2 questions as all my
other questions were> answered by reading the archives. This is a fantastic
group.> > I want to thank the proctors in San Jose. They were very helpful.> >
I also need to thank my family and especially my wife. I have 3 kids> who are
very busy with sports and my wife took over my parenting duties> to allow me
to study. I am truly lucky to have such a great wife. I> can now go back to
being a father, husband, friend and coach as I used> to coach my kids hockey
and baseball teams before I started studying for> CCIE.> > Final thanks go to
IPEXPERT and INTERNETWORK EXPERT as it was their> products I purchased to help
me study.> > I also have to apologize as I will most likely be decreasing the
average> salary for a CCIE. I live in a place that doesn't have a very large>
population and not many large networks (I think I work on the 2nd> largest
network in my area already) so the only way to get a higher> paying job is to
move. There is no way my family wants to move. I do> like my current job so it
would be hard to leave. The only other option> is to become a traveling or
remote consultant. Let me know if you're> looking for such a person :)> >
STUDY MATERIAL:> IP Expert WB version 9.0> IE WB version 4.1 Volumes I, II &
III> IE Advanced Technologies CoD version 4.5> Cisco UniverCD - many, many
hours spent here> Group Study Archives - many, many hours spent here as well>
ftp://ftpeng.cisco.com/ipmulticast/training/index.html> > STUDY STRATEGY:> My
study strategy for my 2nd attempt was very different than for my> first
attempt (June 2007). For my first attempt the only thing I used> to study was
IP Expert WB version 9.0. This book got me very close to> passing but I didn't
use it the right way. I completed this workbook> from cover to cover and that
helped me come up with a very good strategy> for taking the exam itself but I
still had holes in my knowledge. I am> in no way bashing IP Expert. I am very
happy with their product and I> would recommend it to anyone. My problem was I
stuck 100% to the> workbook. I didn't go exploring to change any solutions to
see the> affects that different commands have on a working system. I also
spent> no time with the UniverCD. I went into my first attempt being very
weak> in QoS and Multicast. This was a bad idea. It truly is an expert level>
exam and weaknesses will be exposed. I took 6 weeks holidays from work> right
before this attempt and worked from morning to night. I think I> burnt myself
out and really gave myself no chance to pass.> > I started studying in October
2007 again after taking 3 months off to> enjoy summer and so that I could get
involved with my family again. I> started by reading the UniverCD and trying
different commands to> understand how they work and what they do. I spent many
hours in the> QoS and Multicast sections.>
ftp://ftpeng.cisco.com/ipmulticast/training/index.html was next. I felt> very
comfortable with multicast after reading everything on this> website. I then
went through the IE CoD. This was a good refresher for> topics I already knew
and felt comfortable with. It was a great tool> for building a good foundation
for my weak areas.> > I then took another 3 weeks holidays from work for the 3
weeks right> before my 2nd attempt. In these last 3 weeks I only did 8 full
day> labs. I did a few from IP Expert and a few from IE. Each 8-hour lab> took
me about 16 hours over 2 days. This is because I looked up> everything in the
UniverCD so that I knew where to find everything if I> needed it during the
exam. The other reason was that I tried every> possible solution to each
question. I learned how each option affected> the solution and I also learned
the show and debug commands to verify my> solutions. I didn't know many show
and debug commands for my first> attempt. As backwards as this sounds, I think
taking 16 hours to do an> 8-hour lab actually helped with my speed. When I got
to the real exam,> I was able to immediately think of a few different options
for each> question and then all I had to do was decide on the correct option
and> apply it.> > In the last days leading upto my exam I was getting very
good at the> core topics. For the remaining IE labs I didn't do the layer 2
and 3> portions. I just read the labs and the solution guides and just>
answered the remaining lab questions on routers and switches without any> base
configs. Obviously I couldn't test IP reachability with this> method but I
didn't need to. I just wanted to be able to read a> question, understand the
problem and know what solution to implement. I> found this to be a good
strategy for Security, IP and IOS Features.> > I quit studying at noon on
Friday, January 12th. I installed a new> dishwasher in our kitchen on Friday
afternoon and took my youngest son> to a hockey game on Friday night. I flew
to San Francisco early> Saturday morning and went shopping for souvenirs. I
didn't study all> day. At night I went and watched the San Jose Sharks beat
the Toronto> Maple Leafs. Before I went to bed, I check GS. On Sunday I woke
up at> 7:00am and went on the tour of Alcatraz and then toured around>
Fisherman's Wharf for the rest of the day. Sunday night I went to a> movie and
then checked GS before I went to bed. I kept myself very busy> on the weekend
and did a lot of walking while shopping and site-seeing.> This was to ensure
that when I went to bed at 9:00pm on Sunday I was> tired enough to get to
sleep. This worked like a charm. I was> exhausted after all the walking and
slept like a baby.> > EXAM STRATEGY:> I started off by making a 4 column
table. The first column was to> indicate the status of the question: blank -
not done/skipped, check> mark - done, question mark - solution entered but
need to re-verify> later. The second column was the question number. Third
column was> point value. Fourth column was for notes.> I read the entire exam
once making notes as I read. I then read it> again.> I then started the exam
and verified every answer using show and debug> commands as I went along.> I
finished everything with about 2.5 hours left. I used that time to> re-do the
exam. I'm glad I did because I found a few errors that didn't> affect the
solution but also didn't meet the requirements of the> question. I would most
certainly have gotten zero for those questions> and may not have passed.> > I
think I went to the proctors about 4 or 5 times and referenced the> UniverCD
about 7 or 8 times.> > FINAL THOUGHTS:> Know yourself.> > You must know what
your weaknesses are and focus on strengthening those> areas. I spent 2 months
studying only QoS and Multicast. I got to the> point where I was hoping for a
hard question in these 2 subject areas on> the exam. OK, maybe I wasn't hoping
for a hard question but I was> certainly prepared for it.> > You must know
what you are capable of. For me, studying 16 hours a day> for 6 weeks straight
last June was way too grueling. I really cut back> the hours I studied in one
day and spread it out using more days but> less study hours in each day. My
brain needed time each day to chew on> the new information it just received. I
couldn't retain anything during> the 16-hour days.> > Don't study the day
before or even 2 or 3 days before your exam.> Because of the 2.5 day break I
took before the exam, I was fresh and> ready to go. I was more attentive and
alert because of the break.> > Finally, this is a hard mountain to climb but
it can definitely be> climbed. It takes hard work, dedication, intelligence,
imagination and> heart, especially if you've already failed. I read a few
posts on GS> where people are worried that there are too many CCIE's and that
this> certification is becoming de-valued. I say bullsh*t. I don't care if>
there are 20,000 or 200,000 CCIE's out there, it still takes the> qualities I
just mentioned to become a CCIE. These qualities will never> be de-valued.> >
thanks and good luck to all those that are still climbing,> Bruno Wollmann>
CCIE#19817> >
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.4 : Fri Feb 01 2008 - 10:38:00 ARST