Re: PASSED R&S (with kids!)

Congrats. Its the hard work always pay. Enjoi the good time with family.

Akhi
Sent on my BlackBerry. from Vodafone

-----Original Message-----
From: Paul Negron <negron.paul_at_gmail.com>
Date: Fri, 10 Dec 2010 22:09:44
To: <malickmuz_at_gmail.com>; <ccielab_at_groupstudy.com>
Subject: Re: PASSED R&S (with kids!)

Well Done!!

You did ALL the work!

You are right in giving credit to your wife and children for the sacrifices
they made.

No one can take it away from you.

Congratulations. Sincerely.

Paul

-- 
Paul Negron
CCIE# 14856 CCSI# 22752
Senior Technical Instructor
www.micronicstraining.com <http://www.micronicstraining.com> 
> From: Muzammil Malick <malickmuz_at_gmail.com>
> Reply-To: Muzammil Malick <malickmuz_at_gmail.com>
> Date: Fri, 10 Dec 2010 21:16:04 +0000
> To: <ccielab_at_groupstudy.com>
> Subject: PASSED R&S (with kids!)
> 
> Hey Everyone
> 
> Apologies in advance for the essay!!!
> 
> I cant believe my journey is finally over. I took the R&S lab
> yesterday and found out today that I passed.
> CCIE should come with a warning "CCIE study is hazardous to your life
> if you have a wife and kids"
> 
> My journey began in January 2009 when i began preparing for my
> written, my study was based purely on
> reading lots of books and making lots of notes. I used the Cisco Press
> R&S Certification Guide and TCP/IP Vol 1 and 2.
> At the time of studying I was working away from home and so I had lots
> of free time to study whilst my wife took care of my 2 year
> old son and I would visit them on the weekends.
> I passed the written mid 2009 and it was around the time when v4
> blueprint was announced. So I decided to book myself a date
> for the v4 exam and work aggressively towards it. I took the first day
> that v4 was introduced in Brussels.
> 
> Now from here on in I would just like to say that what I did was
> probably not something you would want to follow if you are preparing.
> It was a learning experience for me!!
> 
> I began by studying the Doc CD in detail! I worked through all the
> blueprint sections and read lots of RFCs, books, blogs, Internet and
> made sure
> I knew all the commands for all technologies relevant to the blueprint
> and understood how they worked.
> This included 3 hours every evening, and entire weekends labbing all
> the technologies using the DOC CD as a guide. I made notes on all
> these commands
> and technologies.
> I did this for 6 months all the way to my lab date in October.
> My first attempt was an eye opener. I had OEQs which I failed but
> kicked myself later. My troubleshooting was miserable and my config
> was even worse.
> Overall I came out of the exam and decided that I could definitely
> pass but I had a lot more work to do.
> 
> This is where the problems started. I had found a flat near work and
> my wife and son moved in with me and my wife was expecting in November
> 2009.
> I knew it would be tough to take the lab again in this period and so I
> was forced to take a break. My second son was born on December 1st and
> I did not start
> studying again till February so I had a fair few months out of the game.
> 
> Now I will say that between the time I took my next  attempt and
> yesterday's I have taken a "few" attempts. I wont go into them but
> what I will say is that my study pattern changed
> drastically throughout the year and I think it is this change that
> enabled me to pass.
> 
> When I started studying again I focussed my attention on INE Vol 1 and
> made sure I knew the technologies inside out. This reinforced the
> notes that I had taken in my first 6 months of
> studying and taught me loads. It also helped me fill in a lot of gaps
> I had. I still kept my focus around the DOC CD and at no point did I
> ever do a full 8 hour lab at home.
> I focussed my attention on mini scenarios making sure I understood the
> technologies and command inside out.
> 
> During my last couple of attempts I came to understand one important
> thing and it was a post that Narbik made on GS that nailed this down
> for me.
> Cisco don't want you to do ninja tasks! There were a few questions
> that cropped up on my attempts that I still do not know the answer to,
> to this day. However I know that if you know
> the fundamentals, these cannot stop you from passing.
> From my failed attempts I learned that I didn't understand the basics
> well enough, and I could not implement them at speed.
> So in the last couple of months I trimmed my study down to doing very
> simple labs and making sure I could do all the "simple" things fast.
> This year was like torture for me. I had to spend loads of time away
> from my wife, son and new born baby. My wife has endured endless
> nights looking after them both whilst I locked myself away to study.
> 
> Thank you Darling!!
> 
> There were times where I seriously just wanted to pack it all in and
> call it a day and just accept that it wasn't meant to be but I have
> amazing friends and and amazing family (wife!!) who kept me going!
> 
> I arrived in Brussels (from UK) the night before my exam and stayed at
> the NH Hotel. Didn't sleep very well due to feeling a little ill and
> got up feeling a bit crap! The lab started on time and to my shock I
> spent 20 minutes
> on the 2nd trouble ticket. I could not for the life of me figure it
> out! But as soon as it clicked I was well on my way. I still managed
> to finish with 15 minutes to spare after having checked everything. I
> solved all tickets.
> I moved on to config which generally went well. There were a few tasks
> where I just did not know the answer to but I knew that I could get
> the majority of points elsewhere so I went after them at speed.
> I read the questions down to the "word" to make sure I was doing them
> correctly. I ended up using the full 8 hours because one of my routers
> played up during the middle of the exam. Had to reload a couple of
> times
> but it sorted itself out eventually! (was a bit of a nightmare but I
> guess it can happen). Went home feeling less than confident because I
> didn't get as much time as I would have wanted to check everything
> over because of
> the router problem. I was driving home from airport and convinced
> myself that I had failed! Got home 11pm and results weren't posted,
> checked at 4am today and there it was, a PASS!
> I couldn't believe it and kept refreshing and closing down browser and
> restarting until I was finally sure and I woke my family and told
> them!
> 
> I just want to say a special thank you to all the following, some of
> who dont even know me but unknowingly have helped me through a reply
> to my postings, past posting, blog or God knows what:
> 
> Marko, Scott M, Narbik, Carlos Mendioroz, Tyson S, Brian M, Brian D,
> Kambiz, Bob Sinclair, Paul Negron, Anthony Sequeira, Gary Baker, and
> just a general thank you to everyone on the list!
> 
> Thank you
> 
> Muzammil Malick
> 
> 
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