From: Andy Alves (mota_anderson@hotmail.com)
Date: Mon Mar 03 2008 - 16:14:01 ARST
Hi Ed,
I'm happy for you, what a history! After your dedication, you deserved a PASS
on your grad, Congrats...
Anderson Alves
CCIE3# 16778 (R/S, SP and Security)> Date: Mon, 3 Mar 2008 12:56:00 -0500> To:
ccielab@groupstudy.com> From: ebalow@hotmail.com> Subject: Passed!! R&S
#20152> > Finally, I get to send out this email! I passed the R&S Lab in RTP
on Sunday,> March 3rd. I'm going to do a pretty lengthy email> simply because
I liked to read them as encouragement while I was studying, so> I'm going to
try to return the favor. > > I've been working on the CCIE off and on for the
past 10 years. I completed> the CCNA back in 1999 but was working primarily
with servers> at the time. It wasn't until 2004 when I finished the CCNP. I
began picking> up home rack equipment at the time and knocked out the CCIE
Written. I also> picked up the IPExpert workbooks. I was just never able to
put together a> regular study regiment and therefore never progressed. > >
Last year I became a father and my priorities changed a bit. Realizing>
studying would likely get harder and harder, I knew I needed to get on> the
ball. While my wife was expecting, I picked up the IE CoD and watched> every
last minute of it. I also listened to the> Audio CDs during my commute. The
material was excellent and really helped get> me to the CCIE level of
understanding required for the lab. In September I> then took the IPExpert
bootcamp with Marvin Greenlee. Monday through Wednesday> went well. On the
Thursday lab I told Marvin, "On the bad side, > I'm painting myself into every
corner the lab leads me into, but on the good> side I'm able to work my way
out of it." Then after the Friday lab, I realized> I was nowhere near the
level I needed to be. I even told Marvin I feel worse> now than I did before
the class.> > For those of you that think this is odd, let me assure you this
was a blessing.> It is IMPOSSIBLE to get someone to the CCIE level in a week.
The bootcamp did> three very important things. It was the first time I
dedicated 8 continuous> hours to a lab on a daily basis. It gave me immediate
feedback whenever I had> a question on a task, instead of searching online to
find the answer when the> DocCD just wasn't enough. Finally, it made me wake
up and understand I had a> lot more to do before even considering attempting
the lab.> > After the bootcamp, I did a full, relatively uninterrupted 8 hour
IPexpert lab> every weekend. Once January arrived I did an IE graded lab on>
Saturday and a IPexpert lab on Sunday. I really cannot say enough about the
IE> graded labs. I had no idea how many little mistakes I was > making that I
wasn't catching before that. > > Within a month, my IE graded lab scores
raised up to 65%. I took the first lab> attempt on January 25th. I walked out
feeling I could have> passed. Unfortunately I wasn't even close. By looking
back at my IE graded> labs, I realized how accurate they really were at
gauging performance.> > Naturally I was a bit bummed out I didn't make it the
first time. Marvin> offered some words of encouragement and explained how
close I really> was. He recommended I take the test the next month. > > I
continued doing IE graded labs on Saturday and IPexpert or IE workbook labs>
on Sunday. On my last IE mock lab I scored over 90%. Of course> all my score
report says is PASS, but I wouldn't be surprised if that was close> to what
the actual score ended up being.> > So what did I do differently between the
1st and 2nd attempt? The bottom line> is on the 2nd try I spent much more time
on verification. No matter> how insignificant, I did another "show run" to
ensure the config looked right,> and then the appropriate show commands to
verify it "took". > Another major change is I used a single terminal window
from the terminal> server on the first attempt. I went with 10 windows on the
2nd> try. I highly recommend 10 windows so you can see your debug and logging>
messages on multiple devices on the same time. I was originally> worried of
using more than 1 because I was afraid I'd get the windows mixed up.> Getting
practice with multiple windows helped stop this from> happening. Another thing
is I made a detailed Layer 2 diagram where I drew out> every single switch
port. I also made a high level BGP diagram to> draw every adjacency. Last, I
added multicast information to the Routing> diagram to help with
visualization. > > The bottom line is even though I knew the material well
enough technically the> first time, I needed to do better planning and
verification. I also kept a> picture of my son on the desk while I worked.
Whenever I began to feel drained> he would inspire me to keep going. > > Also
on the first attempt I only asked a few questions. This time I must have>
asked 20-30. I wasn't going to assume ANYTHING. The proctor, Tom,> is back
from a one year hiatus of working at the lab. He's now proctoring on>
weekends. He was always very patient and did a great job of > clarifying
several questions for me. It only took him less than 2 hours to> grade the
lab. So if any of you are worried about a grading delay on the > weekend,
there isn't one. > > A few of the materials used:> Routing TCP/IP (Doyle),
especially Volume I was my favorite book for actually> learning the
technologies in preparation for the written. > OSPF Network Design Solutions
(Thomas), was an excellent OSPF resource both for> learning and reference>
InternetworkExpert Class on Demand, priceless for bridging the gap between>
being "booksmart" on the materials and actually being able to configure them.>
InternetworkExpert Labs, have the best explanations and verification>
demonstrations> IPExpert Labs, vague wording really helped in preparations>
IPExpert 1 week bootcamp, very motivating and filled in a lot of gaps> CCIE
Assessor, great for understanding the question formats and how the labs> are
graded. > Groupstudy, I've been a passive reader for nearly a decade. Thanks
for all the> tips and inspiration over the years.> > And of course I have to
thank my wife. I would never have been able to stay> focused, especially with
a newborn at home, without her help and sacrifices.> > Ed Balow> CCIE #20152>
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