From: Scott Vermillion (scott_ccie_list@it-ag.com)
Date: Mon Mar 03 2008 - 16:25:43 ARST
Hi Ed,
Great story and a worthy read. Congratulations dude! BTW, I just wanted to
amplify one of your thoughts:
>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.
This is how I have always done business. It tried tabs and terminal
servers, etc, but none of it worked for me. I got a great piece of advice
that I followed in the lab to help keep all those windows straight:
Open R1 thru Rn. Then open your instance of Notepad. Then open SW1 thru
SWn. Somehow or another, this helps to keep things clear down in the system
tray.
In practice at home, I actually arrange my windows on the screen to reflect
the lab topology as drawn in L3, but in the lab you're unlikely to have
enough real estate on your screen to do this effectively. Regardless,
having all of the feedback from all of the devices all at once to me is hard
to live without.
Sorry to highjack you there, but I thought this was worth mentioning. And
again, CONGRATS number 20152 (we're 199 apart)!
Regards,
Scott
-----Original Message-----
From: nobody@groupstudy.com [mailto:nobody@groupstudy.com] On Behalf Of Ed
Balow
Sent: Monday, March 03, 2008 10:56 AM
To: ccielab@groupstudy.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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