Nice work - well done! Hard work always pays off. :-)
-- Marko Milivojevic - CCIE #18427 (SP R&S) Senior CCIE Instructor - IPexpert On Tue, May 8, 2012 at 8:02 AM, Terry Vinson <wantmydigits_at_gmail.com> wrote: > *Hello Everyone,* > > *I passed the CCIE R&S lab on May 1, 2012 at RTP, NC.* > > *I ve tried to write my success story about a hundred times since I got my > pass notification for the Routing and Switching track. Each attempt, > however, has sounded more angry than happy, which is odd because I am > ecstatic to have passed. Not having to study anymore and having decided to > take a week off from everything but family has given me a lot of time to > reflect on why I get so upset when I think about the last five years. I > made the realization last night that my anger stems from feeling like I > wasted a lot of time, and went up a lot of blind alleys during my > preparation. I need to put things in perspective before I explain that any > further. I am 45 years old. I have four sons ranging in ages from 5 to 22, > I am a self-employed consultant, and in the current economy we have been > struggling just to get by. So in a nutshell my preparation came out of my > own pocket and I spent way more than I should have to get where I am. I > bought materials, in the last three years, from virtually every major > vendor I can think of, to include Cisco 360.* > > *I found out about Narbik Kocharians on GroupStudy.com and contacted him > and let him know that I was very dissatisfied with the first CCIE vendor I > chose to use due a B customers helping customers B approach for guidance and > support with the package. Narbik was very understanding and explained to me > that he thought I had large gaps in my foundational theory. He told me that > we could fix that together. I bought his workbook and set out to fix the > problem. I was livid at how much I didn t know after a year and a half of > using the first vendor. I flooded Narbik with my frustration and again he > just let me vent and then said we can fix that too. He told me that he was > going to have a bootcamp in Columbia, Maryland starting on Monday; this was > Sunday and he said I could come if I wanted to. I did want to, but we > didn t have the money to pay for a hotel. So I slept in my truck for a week > in an arctic sleeping bag because it was winter. That sucked, but honestly > I had slept in way worse conditions when I was a soldier. It was worth > every second of it. I learned more in 5 days than I had in the previous > year. The sad part was that my lab was scheduled for 15 days after the > bootcamp and Narbik told me straight up I wasn t ready for it. That was a > tough pill to swallow, but he was right. I didn t even come close to > passing, but like Narbik said, B you know what to expect now! * > > *So the next year was all about filling gaps in my knowledge, reading books > and labs using Narbik s workbooks. In the next two years, I took Narbik s > bootcamp again twice (at no cost and received updates for all the workbooks > B again at no cost). At the end of the last bootcamp, Narbik told me that > he thought I was borderline ready, but I needed more lab work (I was too > slow). I didn t know how to answer that because I had done every lab he had > to offer half a dozen times. So ignoring his advice I again scheduled a > lab. I failed again but I was so much closer. But I found another weakness > that I hadn t really considered. My test taking strategy was virtually > nonexistent; I was working and thinking too linear. That was when I met > Anthony Sequiera.* > > *Anthony was not what I was expecting from a CCIE instructor, he was > frequently talking about other things than just technology. He was bringing > up things that affected my performance on the lab that I had honestly never > even considered. We exchanged emails and he made me a promise. B I ll help > you get your CCIE no matter what the circumstances are or who I m working > for. Anthony was able to open a lot of opportunities for me to learn and > practice and was constantly offering support and advice. But at this point > I was B gun shy B of the exam. I was so afraid of failing again I wasn t > willing to test. It took a long time for Anthony to help me break down > those barriers. But eventually we did and I scheduled the exam, this time > it was the Version 4 exam. Anthony and I where both focused on the TS > section, because frankly it seemed to be what most people were failing, and > the fact that there were no real tools available to students to help them > deal with this new lab requirement was adding to my apprehension. So rather > than just take a wild swing we got together with the great minds over at > IPexpert, who I should point out Narbik had recommended I use for my B mock > lab practice. Anthony and I created a tool that made sense and held up to > the troubleshooting labs I had from all vendors B the Quick Fire > Troubleshooting Strategy. We spent countless hours discussing it, tearing > it apart, and testing it against whatever mock troubleshooting materials we > could find.* > > *Quick Fire centers around a common issues methodology combined with > intense time management. In our opinion, the biggest problem in the > training space at that time was that everyone talked about troubleshooting > and even discussed how to approach troubleshooting, but nothing dealt with > the biggest issue, which is the two-hour time limit. After getting > comfortable using the Quick Fire Troubleshooting Strategy, we decided that > I should schedule a lab. The good news was that the troubleshooting plan > worked AWESOME! I knew I had 8 out of 10 tickets and was unsure about one, > the other I did not have a clue if I solved it B correctly B or not. The > outcome was not what I was hoping for, because I did not pass the > configuration section, but Quick Fire held up perfectly. What would have > been another blow to my ego, was actually an opportunity to retest the > troubleshooting strategy Anthony and I developed. So I scheduled another > lab; what would be my second attempt at the Version 4 with troubleshooting.* > > *During the next 30 days I didn t even really focus on the lab, but every > so often I would do an IPexpert Volume 3 lab just to keep my speed from > deteriorating. Come test time I was way more relaxed, had more even more > faith in Quick Fire. I even adapted some of the methodology from the > troubleshooting process to the configuration section of the test. In the > end it all culminated in passing the lab and getting my digits. That s the > long and short of it.* > > *In my opinion it all boils down to the fact that the CCIE exam has > changed, it s no longer, B answer all the core questions and pick up a few > of the services and management tasks and you are golden . In my opinion, > that test doesn t exist anymore. The new test is a broad range of topics > that all have relatively the same weight, the concept of the core and > fundamental reachability is there but it s no longer 70 to 75 percent of > passing. Cisco has upped the ante in terms of the significance of these > B miscellaneous B topics, and to tell students that they are not going to > expect you to be an expert on them is an out-and-out travesty.* > > *It was a long expensive journey to get to the point where I had all the > tools I needed to pass and honestly, we had to invent a few along the way > as a result of the exam changing and maturing. Technological proficiency > was pivotal, but having a well-considered and practiced strategy was just > as important. That concept of strategy extends not just to the actual lab > but also to the act of preparing for the lab. I came late in my preparation > to IPexpert on the advice of both Narbik and Anthony, and I found just what > I needed there. They had an honest, structured approach that addressed all > phases of the CCIE learning process to include tools like Marko s wonderful > audio bootcamp that was one of best knowledge sustainment tools I ve had > the pleasure to use. But for me, the workbooks were the most impressive > offering because by the time I found IPexpert, that was what I was looking > for. I wanted, no I needed, multiprotocol labs that where reflective of > what I d had come to expect to see on the exam after my failed attempts. > Their workbooks were concise, well planned and the closest I ve seen to the > actual exam with regard to the wording and structure of the individual > tasks. The integration between workbooks was seamless. It wasn t a series > of workbooks created, in a handful of weeks, by different developers with > no clear transition. As I worked through these books I could feel my > confidence and general understanding growing, and that process continued > until the CCIE was just a fundamental part of that transition.* > > *It is important to understand that everyone learns differently and at > different rates. But the one constant is that learning needs to be > deliberate, and that is so much easier when the actual course instruction > is deliberate by design. Furthermore, you need to find vendors like > IPexpert and Micronics Training that are willing to devote themselves to > your success.* > > *I am very proud to say that I am now employed writing elegant, yet > practical and accessible texts and classes for IPexpert in the area of CCIE > R&S. I hope I have the opportunity to provide assistance to some of you > reading this, just as I received the assistance that I so desperately > needed.* > > *For those thinking about giving up. Don't do it! The elation of success > will completely erase the grief you felt when you didn't pass. It felt bad > to fail but absolutely incredible to pass!* > > > Blogs and organic groups at http://www.ccie.net > > _______________________________________________________________________ > Subscription information may be found at: > http://www.groupstudy.com/list/CCIELab.html Blogs and organic groups at http://www.ccie.netReceived on Tue May 08 2012 - 09:48:27 ART
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