RE: R&S #28459

Congratulations Gavin!

-----Original Message-----
From: nobody_at_groupstudy.com [mailto:nobody_at_groupstudy.com] On Behalf Of
Gavin Schokman
Sent: Wednesday, March 23, 2011 6:53 AM
To: 'Cisco certification'
Subject: R&S #28459

Hi GS'ers,
 
Sat the R&S lab yesterday and results this morning came up aces - I've
got
my digits!
It's been a long, long road to get this far and boy it feels good :-)
 
I thought I'd share some quick notes on my preparation in case anyone
else
on the hunt finds it useful:
- Completed written in Aug 08
- Started studying for lab properly in Feb 09 (realised later on that I
was
only pretending to be studying between Aug-08 and Feb-09)
- Study materials were (reading each end-to-end at least twice, usually
more):
  + DocCD - every book that touches on topics within the R&S blueprint
  + Routing TCP/IP Volume I and II (Doyle)
  + Cisco LAN Switching (Clark/Hamilton)
  + MPLS Fundamentals (Ghein)
  + MPLS Configuration on Cisco IOS Software (Lobo/Lakshman)
  + CCIE R&S Exam Certification Guide 3rd ed (Odom/Healy)
  + Various Cisco validated design documents e.g. Transport Diversity:
Performance Routing
  + Cisco ASET practise labs
  + Internetwork Expert workbooks (Vol 1, 2 + some of Vol 3 and 4)
  + Various other books/blogs/technical-notes/etc for specific bits and
pieces I had trouble with
  + GroupStudy - of course
  + Attended the IPExpert R&S bootcamp in London, Feb-11 (I thought this
was
very helpful in terms of getting a different perspective on it)
 - Countless hours of constant reading/re-reading and labbing/re-labbing
(5
hours each night after work, all weekends, etc, etc)
 
In terms of attempts:
- First attempt was in Nov-09 (v4.0)
- Second attempt was in Mar-10 - this one hurt.. a lot!
- I've been lucky and had sabbatical leave available, so I have been
solely
studying since first week of Feb-11 until yesterday. Other than the
bootcamp
I did, no work, no going out, not really seeing girlfriend/friends/etc -
just studying.
- My last & final attempt was yesterday
 
Finally, thanks to everyone who has posted questions or replies here on
groupstudy. This is a brilliant training resource and I've learnt a load
of
different things just by reading responses to questions I wouldn't have
thought to ask. I'll definitely be keeping an eye on the list because I
know
there's still a load I don't know... and to post replies on the few bits
that I do :-)
 
Time to go outside!
 
Cheers,
Gavin
 
CCIE #28459 (R&S) :-)

Blogs and organic groups at http://www.ccie.net
Received on Wed Mar 23 2011 - 08:30:56 ART