From: Jonathan Greenwood II (gwood83@gmail.com)
Date: Sat Jan 17 2009 - 00:37:06 ARST
Congrats Joe!!!!
Jonathan
On Fri, Jan 16, 2009 at 3:45 PM, Joe <joe.clyde@utah.edu> 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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