From: Anthony Sequeira (asequeira@internetworkexpert.com)
Date: Fri Jan 16 2009 - 21:54:15 ARST
Congrats and thanks for your 2 cents!
Anthony J. Sequeira, CCIE #15626, CCSI #23251
Senior CCIE Instructor
asequeira@internetworkexpert.com
Internetwork Expert, Inc.
http://www.InternetworkExpert.com
Toll Free: 877-224-8987
Outside US: 775-826-4344
On Jan 16, 2009, at 6:45 PM, Joe wrote:
> In an attempt to keep this email list from filling up with non-
> technical
> and non-ccie related conversations, I won't ramble on about my
> "success
> story". Suffice it to say, like most IE's I had to put in a lot of
> time,
> money and effort into my pursuit and it finally paid off...If you
> don't have
> to sacrifice, then you are either a networking savant or you're not
> doing
> what you need to to pass.
> With that said, I would like to throw out some advice that I
> think is
> relevant to this list and hopefully helpful to those of you who are
> serious
> about obtaining your IE, especially those of you, who like me, haven't
> passed on your first attempt;
> 1st) Do practice labs! It's that easy, do as many as you can from a
> reputable vendor. I'm not here to prop one vendor over
> another...just find 1
> (more if possible) that has a proven track record and do their labs.
> *The
> key is not so much the material but how you study it! Do the labs
> just like
> you're are going to do the real lab! Meaning...in the real lab you
> don't get
> to see the questions or the topology before hand, you don't get to
> go to a
> proctor guide or google when you get stuck, you have 8 hours. So,
> when you
> have a lab manual, schedule your 8 to 10 hours, don't look at any of
> the
> material before hand...then just sit there for 8 hours straight,
> beating
> your head against the wall, using only the doc cd. When you start,
> don't
> touch a router until you have read through the whole lab, written
> down your
> "blue print" and point values and have a plan for the lab. Then go
> at it, if
> you get stuck or stumped, don't look up the answer! Track your
> points and
> save your configs (maybe a show ip route or ip bgp or what ever is
> relevant
> as well) to your PC for grading yourself later.
> When you have finished (either right after if you're that
> impatient) or
> the next day go through the lab and grade it, be honest with
> yourself, and
> find out what you missed, then study it, learn it and understand it.
> (Those
> are your "off" days). Then, schedule your next Lab session and do it
> again!
> At first you'll get owned, feel like crap and wonder what in the
> hell
> you are doing. Probably will take you more than 10 hours to get
> through the
> labs, but do it all. After the first 5 to 10 you'll get to where you
> can
> finish them in 8 hours, hopefully even sooner after 15 or 20 (the
> assumption
> is the labs get progressively harder but you are getting even
> faster). *part
> of completing a lab, is going back through the questions and
> verifying each
> task...without fail you will find at least one thing you did wrong or
> missed...that means you need to calculate that into your 8 hours.
> Get in the
> habit though
> 2nd) Once you have done 5 or 10 labs, if you are in a position,
> do a
> graded mock lab or... 7. See how you do. I wouldn't worry so much
> about the
> score or "explanations" after the fact, but more of "did I come up
> with A
> solution for every section?" "Did I finish it in time?" "How was my
> time
> management?" "How well did I think on my feet?"
> (While I did not pass one of my mock labs, I always completed them,
> came up
> with solutions and learned how important it is to notice the little
> details)
> Use the mock labs to evaluate your testing strategy.
> In all I did over 30 full labs (including my mock labs)...so
> sitting
> down for 8 hours in the real lab was nothing for me, I had been
> doing it 2
> to 3 times a week for months. That kind of experience is crucial for
> success
> in the real lab. What's more, I finish my lab (had a solution in
> place for
> each question) in 5 and a half hours and was able to spend the next
> 2 hours
> going back over each question. I easily earned between 15 to 25
> points that
> way. Having that extra time allowed me to re-read scenarios, pick up
> on
> key-words, verify syntax et...You need to be able to get through the
> lab
> quickly...if you have done 20+ "labs" all ready, the real lab isn't
> nearly
> as daunting in terms of time or manageability.
> The point is this, you can't do practice labs one way and think
> that
> you'll do the real lab another. The real lab should be 2nd nature in
> terms
> of your initial read through and assessment, your time management and
> troubleshooting of individual scenarios, and your re-read and
> verification
> at the end.
> I hope this has been helpful. Doing simple math 8 hours X 2 or 3
> times a
> week = a lot of time and that doesn't include the "off" days where
> you need
> to "grade" your self, study weak areas, practice configs, and browse
> the doc
> cd. It's a huge investment of time, but if you're going to do it, do
> it
> right and don't "cheat" yourself.
>
>
> Blogs and organic groups at http://www.ccie.net
>
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