Re: FINALLY NAILED IT: #25510 is mine !!!

Scott,

I definitely intend to stay active on GS and as you said, I also have
some messages to go through as well.
My day to day job is on CLI mostly so I can stay in touch with these.
Unfortunately the Lab and what we do in real-life configurations are 2
different things. Therefore, more obscure things will probably go away
quite soon.
A colleague of mine that certified in April 2008 has admitted that he
forgot a lot. I warned him already about the written...
Probably taking a lob from time to time would help refresh the stuff as
well.

Thanks for your suggestions, all are to be considered.

Scott M Vermillion wrote:
> Congrats for sure Mihai.
>
> Blogging might help but so will staying active on GS. It's not always
> easy to do once you've returned to some degree of normalcy in your
> life (I personally have around 2,500 GS messages I keep meaning to go
> through one of these days). The level of effort required on your part
> will largely depend on your day-to-day function in life. If you're
> rarely on the CLI for whatever reason (architect, manager, etc), then
> it'll be a bit more of a challenge. Personally, I've been meaning to
> maybe take on an 8-hour lab or two but I'm only home one or two days
> on the weekend, so it's all but impossible to commit to (lawn still
> needs mowed, driveway will soon need shoveling). To a limited extent,
> re-certification will keep you honest but more with you theory than
> your CLI prowess. If you sat through any bootcamps, you might have
> an option there for a relatively small re-sit fee. I've given thought
> to that option as well.
>
> Lastly, if you can find a way to teach or tudor, that's very helpful.
> I have been leading a weekly class based on the R&S v4.0 blueprint to
> the network engineering staff of the company I am currently consulting
> for. Fear of being unable to answer a basic question will definitely
> get you hitting the books pretty hard!
>
>
> On Sep 25, 2009, at 12:12 , Jitendra Anbu wrote:
>
>> Congrats man - well done.
>>
>> Start your own blog that might keep you update to date. Just revise
>> everything you've done & review when possible.
>>
>> ------------------------
>> Regards,
>>
>> Jit
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: nobody_at_groupstudy.com [mailto:nobody_at_groupstudy.com] On Behalf
>> Of mihai.grigore_at_onlinehome.de
>> Sent: Friday, 25 September 2009 7:36 AM
>> To: ccielab_at_groupstudy.com
>> Subject: FINALLY NAILED IT: #25510 is mine !!!
>>
>> Hi all,
>>
>> I was not posting too much here, I was reading more what others asked.
>> I just wanted to let you know that I passed the certification lab.
>> Number is
>> 25510, learned it this morning at 4:30AM local time. 4th attempt...
>>
>> I failed in January 2009 because I was simply too cautious and too
>> slow, not
>> that I did not know to answer the questions. I simply read all the
>> questions
>> many times, checked and re-checked and somehow, ran into a time
>> management
>> issue, I did not have enough time to finish all tasks. But as you all
>> know,
>> this is part of the game and I failed this....
>>
>> Approximately 1,5 year back, me and a colleague of mine assembled a
>> rack in the
>> company premises and I can tell you this is the best solution for
>> this trip. I
>> used before the INE racks for 12 hours/day and this was hell. I had
>> to start at
>> 6:00AM local time untill 17:30. Now having the priviledge to have my
>> "own" rack
>> that I can access via VPN tunnel from anywhere, I had a lot of
>> freedom to work
>> whenever I wanted. I stopped counting how many weekends, vacation
>> days, etc I
>> spent on that rack. Probably my wife knows much better than me. But I
>> guess you
>> all know this by now...
>>
>> Back to my lab yesterday, in Brussels. I was the first one to arrive
>> at Cisco
>> location, only the security guy was there at 7:05 AM. We started the
>> lab at
>> 8:15 with the proctor. Very professional, nice guy. He was helpful in
>> all my
>> questions when I needed clarifications. And I can tell you I needed
>> many of
>> these clarifications. Do not be shy about this. You have doubts, just
>> ask
>> politely for clarifications, NOT the solution.
>>
>> Open Ended questions were fair if you read the many recommended
>> books, there is
>> really nothing to worry about. I spent on them 10 minutes but checked
>> them 4
>> times in this period, just to be 100% sure. NO shortcuts here, as many
>> indicated in various posts...
>>
>> I moved to the configuration part. I got the Cisco diagrams that you
>> MUST
>> re-draw yourself, as Scott Morris recommended so many times. Again,
>> it was my
>> (TCP) slow start. By lunch break at 11:50, I was half done with the
>> IGP. But
>> somehow was not worried, I knew I could do it.
>>
>> Lunch was just to get some calories into my body, I chatted with the
>> proctor
>> and other candidates a bit, took the chance to relax and reset from
>> the lab
>> stuff. It is very important, you cannot configure 8 hours without
>> having a
>> break, your brain cannot stand it. At least mine cannot... I have
>> seen posts
>> here from people complaining about food quality in don't remember which
>> location. I was not interested in that at all, just get your brain some
>> calories, to be able to go on for the second round. Took some light
>> fish menu,
>> a drink and light desert. If I eat too much, I get sleepy afterwards,
>> so beware
>> of this.
>>
>> Round two started at about 12:30 with still 4,5 hours to go. I knew I
>> could do
>> it. Naturally, I read through the whole lab at the beginning, but you
>> get the
>> small things (which are killing us) only when you actually configure the
>> various tasks.
>>
>> I used DOCCD 4-5 times, but I must say I knew exactly what and where
>> to look
>> for. Like Anthony Sequiera once told us, it took me 30 seconds to
>> find what I
>> wanted, the Ctrl+F to search for the keywords. It worked just fine.
>> Be sure to
>> know where is located what, it will save you time.
>>
>> I walked away with a good feeling and this morning at 4:30 I could no
>> longer
>> sleep, opened the mail, my lab report was already available. Logged
>> in with
>> wrong credentials 3 times (what would you expect at 4:30AM ???) and
>> at 4th
>> attempt, there it was: PASS. Wow, that was a big relief!!! I cannot
>> describe
>> it... of course I was no longer able to sleep further...
>>
>> I noticed that many of the people that passed reported on GS a similar
>> behavior, learning the news at small hours in the night, not being
>> able to
>> sleep. I guess you simply feel when you do good.
>>
>> Some years ago there was a movie "Doing time"... I did my time, now
>> it's back
>> to normal life, family and friends again. I am now anjoying some
>> drinks right
>> now...
>>
>> For those still striving for it, I would recommend to do the ASET
>> labs if
>> possible. These are available for Cisco partners through your Cisco
>> SE. There
>> are 15 mini-labs and 6 full labs. These are free of charge. I
>> scheduled about
>> 12 sessions, 10 hours each. You get to know the way how the questions
>> are
>> asked, how topology diagrams are presented etc. I found particularly
>> interesting the reversed lab 6. You get the outputs and you need to
>> configure
>> in such a way to get those outputs. By doing this, I learned to check
>> line by
>> line and word by word. This way I could find some minor mistake in my
>> configuration in the lab and saved me some points.
>>
>> John Galt Kupec is the person supporting the ASET labs and he was a
>> great help,
>> very responsive and professional when I indicated some issues. These
>> were
>> addressed and corrected immediately.
>>
>> Besides that, I spent my last 6 weeks with the INE R&S WB Volume1
>> ver. 5. It is
>> a great source of information, VERY well written, with lots of
>> details and
>> clarifications that I have seen nowhere else. It helps immensely
>> understand how
>> things work. I cannot recommend it strongly enough!
>>
>> I was using mainly INE's materials and I would like to thank them for
>> their
>> materials and great instructors. Especially Scott, he was simply
>> great during
>> the boot camp last November in Reno!! Enjoyed both the style and
>> contents...
>>
>> I will mention again INE Vol1 version5. Peter's 400 pages CoS section
>> (but not
>> only) is simply amazing. Of course, I used all 3 volumes.
>>
>> Brians were also great instructors on the CoD. I still cannot
>> understand how
>> Brian Dennis can speak so fast for so long. I had to listen CoD 3
>> times in
>> order to get ALL the details they talk about.
>>
>> I learned also many interesting things on this GroupStudy, lots of
>> knowledge
>> here and many helpful people. Just put your question there, someone
>> will answer
>> you.
>> Of course, a lot of noise, like in any forum that I participated, but
>> I guess
>> this is human nature...
>>
>> All this helped me during my preparation. Thank you again and sorry
>> if I missed
>> anyone.
>>
>> Thank you for your patience to read this, hopefully it would help you
>> too. Wish
>> you all the luck with your preparations.
>>
>> NOW, you might think I am crazy, but I will still seriously ask this:
>> HOW DO
>> YOU KEEP YOURSELF UP TO DATE?
>> A colleague of mine has got his number more that one year ago and he
>> has to
>> re-certify soon. But with the blueprint 4.0 now. Naturally, I have
>> some ideas
>> but would like to hear yours.
>>
>> Best regards,
>>
>> Mihai Grigore
>> CCIE# 25510
>>
>>
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Received on Sat Sep 26 2009 - 19:10:41 ART