Re: I Passed

Congrats, well done Nick

now u have to take a rist...

SE

On Wed, May 6, 2009 at 9:48 AM, Thameem Maranveetil Parambath <
tparamba_at_thecontactcentre.ae> wrote:

> Congrats! Its truely inspirational that you stayed on the path until you
> succeed!
>
>
>
>
> Nick <ccieaz_at_googlemail.com>
> Sent by:
> nobody_at_groupstudy.com
> 06/05/2009 10:10 AM
> Please respond to
> Nick
> <ccieaz_at_googlemail.com>
>
>
> To
> Cisco certification <ccielab_at_groupstudy.com>
> cc
>
> Subject
> I Passed
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Hi All,
>
> I passed my CCIE Tuesday on my
> 4th attempt.
>
> I thought I would take the time to tell you my story. During
> my
> studies I always found reading other peoples stories gave me
> motivation.
> I started studying for the CCIE written back in early 2007. For this I
> mainly
> used the usual CCIE books:
>
> Routing TCP 1 & 2,
>
> CCIE Exam Certification
> Guide
>
> And many others,
>
> While studying for the written I really only
> studied the theory, I
> think this was why it took longer for me. I should of
> been backing up
> my theory at this stage with lab time this would of speed
> things up
> and help it to sink in quicker :)
>
> I passed in Nov 2007 and went
> on to the lab.
>
> I started out using Dynamips for a month or two then was
> lucky enough
> to be able to build a lab at work with some pretty good gear.
> From start to finish I pretty much only used Internetwork Expert
> materials
> (Vol 1 - 3, audio classes, 5 or 6 mock labs, CK Sim) The
> additions to this is
> 1 IPexpert mock lab, the CCIE ASET labs, and the
> both the CCIE Assessor labs.
> I didn t pass any of my mock labs, but
> that wasn t my aim. My aim for the
> mock labs was to really understand
> each question and to take my time and to
> look into the detail. They
> also helped me get used to spending 8 hours
> configuring and
> troubleshooting and a good feel for my timing and speed.
>
> I
> took my first attempt in July of 2008. I wasn t ready for the exam
> if I am
> honest but was pushed into taking a stab at it early on. I
> went in with no
> real hope of passing. But on the day I was surprised
> that the lab was not as
> bad as I thought it could of been. I didn t
> pass on this attempt but went
> away knowing that it is possible to pass
> in the future.
>
> I booked my second
> attempt for Sept 2008 and prepared my self to give
> it my best shot this time.
> The exam went well and I nearly passed on
> this attempt. I spend too long
> troubleshooting one area and lost time.
>
> My third attempt was in Oct 2008
> and was a big shock to me. I walked
> out at the end of the exam and thought
> that I had passed this time but
> when the score report came in it was bad
> news. I took a big hit from
> this and thought about giving up. I didn t really
> know where I went
> wrong and still don t to this day. I was so sure that
> everything was
> good.
>
> I took some time out for a couple of months and went
> back to the books
> to check I really knew my stuff. I decided that I would
> give it one
> final attempt. So from Jan to May 2009 I studied for every spare
> hour
> I could find. It was pretty hard finding the time at weekends due to
> family life so spend the evening every night in the office studying in
> 3-4
> hours stints. I must have spent at least 200-300 hours in addition
> to the
> hours of my previous attempts. I had to give it my all as I
> couldn t afford
> to do it a 5th time.
>
> One of the best things for my study on my 4th attempt
> was Internetwork
> Expert Vol1 Workbook Version 5. It is so detailed and covers
> everything in easy to understand steps. It really filled in my weak
> areas and
> gave me the knowledge I needed. For anyone that is studying
> I would highly
> recommend this workbook. My only problem was it wasn t
> finished before my
> exam. :D
>
> While doing each section in the workbook I tired to find each task
> in
> the doc-CD and read the section there as well. This was another great
> tool. I mastered the doc-cd doing this and was able to find most
> topics in
> under 1-2 minutes at most.
>
> To study for the open ended questions I used a
> few things: CCNP books,
> CCIE Books, CCNA Books, IP Expert Quizzer,
> Internetwork Expert CK
> Simulation. I was really worried about these questions
> going into the
> lab. You just don t know what is going to be asked until the
> day.
>
> Also in my last month or study I used group study for any questions I
> had. I have been subscribed to the list for 3 years or so now and any
> question I had I just searched my gmail archive of mails and for 95%
> of my
> questions someone had already asked it before or the answer was
> there in
> another form. Group Study is a very good resource when used
> in this way. Also
> I found gmail search tool to be better then the
> Group Study archive search
> tool.
>
> So I went into the lab as prepared as I could be. I was very nervous
> about the open ended questions but once I saw them I was pretty
> surprised how
> easy the four I got were. I would personally say they
> are on a CCIE level and
> if you have studied for the lab well then you
> have nothing to fear at all. I
> answered these in around 5 minutes,
> went back to review, and reviewed once
> more.
>
> After the questions, I read the lab in detail and drawled my
> diagrams.
> I must have spent 30-40 minutes doing this.
>
> The lab went well
> though out the day. I finished with around 2.5 hours
> left to verify
> everything again. I went through and found at least 2
> stupid mistakes that
> would have cost me a few points. I skipped two
> questions.
>
> During the trip
> home I believed I had passed but during the wait for
> the results I was
> starting to doubt myself in a couple of areas. I got
> my email at 5am and told
> to check my results online. I thought the
> worst now. I had heard that you get
> another email to say congrats on
> passing if you passed. But I just got the
> one mail and feared I had
> failed once again. I checked online and there was
> my number. I
> couldn t believe it, all the pain and late nights were worth it
> in the
> end.
>
> There are a few people I would really like to thank:
>
> Paul
> Borghese - Thank you Paul for maintaining Group Study. Its one of
> the best
> free resources for CCIE studies.
>
> Scott Morris (Internetwork Expert)
> Anthony J. Sequeira (Internetwork Expert)
> Jared Scrivener (IP Expert)
> Narbik
> Kocharians (MicronicsTraining)
>
> Thanks guys for posting so often to group
> study. Your replies are
> extremely helpful. Without these posts group study
> would not be such a
> great resource.
>
> Thank you to IPexpert for giving away
> your Quizzer for free. It was
> great to be able to have this tool and to give
> it away free was a
> brilliant idea guys!
>
> Also thank you to everyone else
> that also takes the time out of their
> day to reply to group study. Thank you
> everyone.
>
> And my final thank you is my biggest and most heartfelt. I want
> to say
> thank you to my wonderful Wife and Daughter for their support. I spent
> countless hours in the last 2 years away from home studying in the
> late hours
> of the evening and early morning. I never had enough sleep
> because of this
> and was always tired. Without your support I would
> never have been able to
> pass the exam or even study for it in the
> first place. Thank you so much.
> So, what next? How do I fill the gap of the studies everyday? Well
> first off
> I want to get my life back for a while. I need to get fit
> again and catch up
> with friends and family that i haven t seen for a
> while. After that, well I
> would like to look into CCIE SP but I am in
> no rush for the second. Maybe
> next year :)
>
> I am so glad it s all over for now. It was really going to be
> my last
> attempt and with the changes coming in Oct I am glad I got through
> it.
>
> One final tip, don t take the exam on a Friday! :D
>
> My third attempt
> was a Friday and I had to wait till Monday for the
> results. All weekend I
> didn t really sleep well. I hate waiting and I
> would never take the a CCIE on
> a Friday again
>
> Thanks everyone. Sorry for the long post.
>
> Nick Stobbart
> CCIE # 24303
>
>
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Received on Wed May 06 2009 - 10:24:57 ART