From: oluwaseyi ojo (sameoj@gmail.com)
Date: Sun Jun 08 2008 - 10:03:59 ART
Congrats Chan,
that a detailed write-up,this will make me to have a re-structure of my game
plan,thanks alot,pal.
ENJOY !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
On Sat, Jun 7, 2008 at 10:56 PM, C Chan <cch.ccie@gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi friends,
>
> I got my CCIE# three weeks ago. I would like to contribute my story to
> those beginner, in-the-middle and get-ready friends.
>
> I started my lab preparation since Oct 2007 and worked 25 hour/ week on
> average. Though I was almost ready to take the first attempt with 50%
> chance
> to pass in Mar, I turned out to defer my first attempt to two months later.
> My logic is that if I fail the first attempt, I usually take another 2
> months before second attempt. Why not I do better preparation and increase
> my confidence level (say, to 80%)? It does not only save my $$, but also
> avoid to suffer from the struggle of failure. The result proved that my
> proposition is correct.
>
> I followed the similar practice as most of GS friends by choosing one full
> lab WB out of three vendors (IEWB, IPExpert, NMC) in the first few months.
> I
> do not rush to finish each task of the full lab in first practice. I never
> chose to read the suggested solution directly if I do not know the answers.
> I was doing my own research and study on docCD carefully. If I still cannot
> find any hints, then I will try to search answer from cisco.com and repeat
> any test I thought. After finishing the whole lab, I read through the
> solution and compare with my own solution and review the comments posted in
> vendor's forum. The first full-lab practice experience gave me a very good
> chance to expand my horizon of technology and tried different ways to
> tackle
> the same problem. You should NOT mind how long you have to take for a full
> lab exercise. Sometimes, it took me 20-30 hours to fully digest a lab. But,
> it is worth to do so.
>
> I re-thought the 2-months study plan after deciding to defer my lab exam at
> Mar. I had three options in my mind.
> 1. Re-do the same set of full lab WB
> 2. Purchase Accessor Lab / Mock Lab of another vendor
> 3. Purchase another set of WB from another vendor and start the practice
> again
>
> Finally, I chose option 3 in term of price and performance. The price of
> two
> Mock labs is nearly equal to a full set WB (20-25 scenarios) of another
> vendor. Even though I cannot complete all scenarios of new WB in two
> months,
> I can still able to practice at least 10 more different scenarios which are
> asking differently than my first-set WB. I also understood the importance
> of
> timing and practice under pressure. So, I intended to count my work hour of
> each section in detail for this new WB practice. Basically, I will divide
> them into several major sections (eg topology drawings, L2/WAN, IGP, BGP,
> v6, multicast, other IOS features). I had my work hour blueprint for each
> section. I usually took 7-10 hours to finish a full lab during this
> intensive practice. I understood my speed is still below standard. The norm
> of completion hour of real lab is around 6 hours. I had to rethink and
> improve my exam strategy, which is the key for my success. I have outlined
> some exam strategy for your reference.
>
> Exam strategy
>
> 1. Practice and build the TCL script and switch macro within 5 mins. TCL
> script and macro are very useful when you perform quick verification
> repeatedly especially during afternoon session. Practice to use "Ctrl-H"
> of
> notepad when converting TCL script to switch macro.
> 2. Practice to use "send *" command under term server
> 3. Shorter the alias commands. Practice and build them ASAP by using
> "send *". Here are a few examples
> - alias exec r sh ip route
> alias exec c conf t
> alias exec sr sh runn
> alias exec sri sh runn | inclu
> alias exec srb sh runn | begin
> alias exec srr sh runn | begin ^router
> alias exec o sh ip ospf
> alias exec e sh ip eigrp
> alias exec b sh ip bgp
> alias exec r6 sh ipv6 route
> alias exec srr6 sh runn | begin ^ipv6 router
> alias exec a sh ip access-list
> alias exec sac sh arch conf diff
> - alias exec siibe sh ip int bri | e una
> - alias exec o6 sh ipv6 os
> - alias exec mr sh ip mroute
> - alias exec pi sh ip pim
> 4. Practice to use "sh arch conf diff" natively, which is useful
> during troubleshooting
> 5. Save your configuration only if you have *verified* IP reachability of
> each device. If there is any abnormal in the afternoon session, use "sac"
> to
> discover the problem of newly added configuration quickly. That's why you
> shouldn't save your config frequently in the afternoon session.
> 6. Learn to use different verification steps for the same task from
> different angle as quick as possible
> 7. Though we get use to prove the network behavior to work in right way
> (or as expected), think about how to prove the network behavior is
> *NOT*working
> *wrong*. Sometimes, you cannot spot out how to prove it right. But, you
> can use reverse logic to prove it "NOT wrong"
> 8. Do not always trust the Proctor's interpretation. He/ she might not
> give you a right direction and make you more confuse. Though you might
> feel
> some contradiction among questions, you can discover that they does not
> contradict if you read them carefully from a high level. Be confidence
> and
> trust your technical knowledge and interpretation.
> 9. You should not under-estimate the difficulty of real lab. But, most
> importantly, you should* NOT over-estimate* the difficulty. It is just
> about.
> 10. Do not insist to complete all L2 and IGP tasks before going to BGP
> and rest of sections. Time control is very important in the exam. The
> bottom
> line is to ensure the IP reachability before going to next task.
> 11. Practice to draw all L2/ L3/ redistribution diagrams with your
> always-use color-code and glance through the whole question set within
> the
> first 45 mins.
> 12. Think and practice a way to discover the pingable addresses of BB
> routes. "Trial and error" is not a good way in real lab.
>
>
> Moreover, I glanced through each chapter one by one of some key technology
> books (eg IPv6, multicast, security) of DocCD in final two weeks. I had
> performed some own lab tests that didn't cover in the WB. I had to make
> sure
> that I knew some key command/ keywords of unfamiliar technology before real
> exam. It would definitely speed up the search time in case of facing some
> stranger question in the real lab.
>
> I worked behind my plan schedule before lunch in real exam. I nearly
> finished the IGP part only before lunch. But, I caught up to complete the
> rest of sections and ran ahead of my plan schedule after lunch. It turned
> me
> to finish the whole lab in 6.5 hours, which was faster than my self
> practice. This lesson taught me that I can win back if I do not lose
> confidence and refine the strategy by using the lunch break.
>
> Best wishes for every fighter in the battle. Keep your momentum and
> fine-tune your real-exam strategy.
>
> Good luck!
>
> Best Regards,
> CH
>
>
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