RE: I Passed

That's a fantastic achievement, Nick. Your email below is one of the most
comprehensive explanations of your experience I've read and is very balanced
and informative.

From a personal perspective, it was a pleasure to help you achieve your
goal, and from a company perspective we're glad to be able to help out with
the free Quizzer - I'm glad it helped as it seems the OEQ's were a walk in
the park for you.

Now to go and relax...

Cheers,
 
Jared Scrivener CCIE3 #16983 (R&S, Security, SP), CISSP
Sr. Technical Instructor - IPexpert, Inc.
Telephone: +1.810.326.1444
Fax: +1.810.454.0130
Mailto: jscrivener_at_ipexpert.com

-----Original Message-----
From: nobody_at_groupstudy.com [mailto:nobody_at_groupstudy.com] On Behalf Of Nick
Sent: Tuesday, 5 May 2009 11:07 PM
To: Cisco certification
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 didnt pass any of my mock labs, but
that wasnt 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 wasnt 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 didnt
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 didnt really know where I went
wrong and still dont 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
couldnt 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 wasnt
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 dont 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
couldnt 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 havent 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 its 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, dont 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 didnt 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

Blogs and organic groups at http://www.ccie.net
Received on Wed May 06 2009 - 09:16:20 ART