CCIE #24239 (R&S)

Dear fellow GroupStudy members,

I am happy to report that I passed the CCIE Routing and Switching Lab
Exam on Monday, 4/27/09, in San Jose, CA. By His Grace, God allowed me
to finally pass this test on my third attempt and receive CCIE #24239.
First and foremost, I would like to thank my Lord and Savior, Jesus
Christ, without whom I am nothing. Receiving my number the day after
the test was good news, but the true Good News having eternal value can
only be found in the gospel message. All my life, I used to believe
that my own righteousness was sufficient to have a relationship with
God. Reading the Bible for the first time eleven years ago and coming
to know Jesus Christ turned all of that thinking upside down! Please
read and consider the gospel message for yourself at
http://www.gty.org/Resources/Articles/A335 and e-mail me offline with
any questions you may have.

Regarding the exam, as long as you know each technology in the lab
blueprint well and are able to manage the eight hour test window
efficiently, you will have a great chance of passing. During my first
two lab attempts, I made the mistake of trying to tackle each task
sequentially without reading the entire exam at the beginning. As a
result, I wasted too many valuable minutes troubleshooting certain tasks
in the first part of the exam and did not leave myself enough time at
the end of the day for task verification. Read the entire exam before
starting any configuration and do not be afraid to skip tasks. Also,
the short answer questions at the beginning of the exam are not
difficult, if you are well prepared for the lab.

Regarding my test preparation, I read the following books - CCIE Routing
and Switching Exam Certification Guide, 3rd edition (Odom), Routing
TCP/IP Volumes 1 and 2 (Doyle), and Internet Routing Architectures
(Halabi). For lab work, I used NLI's workbooks, as well as Internetwork
Expert's Mock Lab and the two CCIE Assessor tests. These are all
excellent resources, in my opinion. I also attended Narbik's boot camp
in August 2008, which was held in Pasadena, CA. To be honest, I was a
little bit skeptical heading into Narbik's class after hearing all the
hype about him. However, after having completed the boot camp, I can
say without hesitation that Narbik is by far the best instructor I have
had in my fourteen years of networking. He has a unique gift for making
obscure topics very easy to understand. His workbooks are also very
good. I would highly recommend Narbik to anyone that is pursuing his or
her CCIE.

Lastly, I would just like to encourage everyone to stay motivated and
keep studying hard!

Thanks,
Chan H. Baik
CCIE #24239 (R&S)

Blogs and organic groups at http://www.ccie.net
Received on Wed Apr 29 2009 - 14:10:54 ART