got my numbers. i really gave up on it after the exam because i thought i messed up the open questions, but hey i'll take it as it is.
it has been a long 2 years for me and my written was gonna expire. it took 4 attempts, a wedding, a baby in the meantime. oh yeah, i did get very sick physically along the process as well.
i've finished ipexpert, internetwork expert workbooks, internetwork expert mocks. i've been to heinz ulm boot camp and did his mocks. as a cisco partner i was able to get on ASET labs as well, and this was invaluable rack time because i was able to test small issues here and there without buying expensive rack time. if you're cisco partner you should ask your local cisco office about this.
prior to my last attempt i was able to finish ipexpert workbooks in time prescribed by the workbook. on my previous attempts i wasn't able to do this. what i am trying to say i guess, if you cannot finish the practice in proper time, don't expect you can do it in the lab. i was thinking earlier as long as i understand the material, i am game. but the speed factor has to do a lot with it. so, if i were you, i wouldn't waste time and money on the lab before you can do this. as i said ipexpert was my gauge, but others are good as well. if it says finish exercise in 3.5 hrs, then do finish it in that time or before.
i would definitely advise for the boot camp. however, if you don't have the money, your company doesn't pay, but do have the time, i think it is better just to buy workbooks and do the whole thing at your home. it is crisis after all. i hear a lot of things, like these guys are good, these are not good - but at the end of the day it boils down to sitting and working the examples.
one more note about cert vendors. if you take a cert vendor in order to get access to their racks, problems, workbooks etc, from that reason only this is ok. the issue with the most people taking cert verdors is they get the vendor to teach them how to solve the problem and nobody can do that. what happens people just memorize issues, and go through brainless configuration interations. i believe it is ok for the vendor to PRESENT you with a problem or a set of problems, and is up to you to develop the technique to solve it. that is what the engineering is about.
one advise regarding the preparations for the exam i could give you and perhaps the most important one is: start gradually working the easiest problems first, and then gradually advance towards more complex ones. this would not be a new thing, but for a fact that this builds your self-confidence more than anything else. i strongly advice against attacking the difficult issues first, you will eventually get it, but is such a confidence killer when you have to spend 2 hours on a 10 minute task.
do not quit and do not stress. for the latter i used BEER
. this is doable. it is made for the average, but persistent.now to the lab...
out of my attempts, the one attempt that got me the # was the one i took the time to draw out the lab in detail with ip addressing, interfaces, igps, and all in color. i also took my time to draw the l2 topology, wrote out the vlans, physical interfaces both router and switch. the spanning tree, while doable without l2 topology, can be finished in no time with proper l2 picture. also, if you have a picture like i mentioned, at the end of the day when you're dead beat already, it just takes one look to see what interface you have to apply the acl on, or apply qos. it takes one look to check for the ip addresses or where to redistribute. i didn't even look at cisco diagram once i was done with mine. on my previous attempts i drew out parts of topology, and relied on cisco one. again, while this is not a problem, but it was much more time consuming for me.
i did read the most of the lab, but i skipped through some sections at my first reading. i personally think it is a good idea to read the whole r&s sections, security, and bgp sections perhaps. i don't see how other sections would influence the configs in any way, but hey if you feel like it read the whole exam. many vendors tell you read it, and read it again, but with the new section added there may be no time to do it more than once.
all things said, i didn't start configuring till about 70 minutes into the lab. this is including the new section. i didn't have full connectivity before the lunch. again, people will tell you this and that. but, just keep your pace. reload when you want, and when you feel you need to, not because everybody else says lunch is the reload time.
i was able to finish most of the tasks with about 90 minutes left to the end of the exam. then i went checking. everything seemed find, but i tweaked my bgp literally 2 minutes before the end of the exam. i managed to reload several times during the day.
what i've noticed during my preparations is that all the major cert vendors try to beat this certain template, or proper steps of doing the lab, into you; what should and should not be done to pass and so on. while most of this is ok from a certain point, the ccie lab is not a template, and cannot be passed simply by going through brainless device configuration iterations(unless you cheat i guess). that being said by the guy who did 3 major vendors
. but seriously, the moment i took my time to really think what was going on in the lab i passed it. that is it. that goes to show something about the lab (well, about me really )got my mail about 3 in the morning. something kept me from sleeping and i went to check, and there it was.
what is next for me - well - nothing i guess. i don't want to do this to my family again. a long vacation and then we'll see, but judging by how i feel after all this time of stressing, and uncertainty, i feel like buying a big, big truck and getting away from cisco as far as i can.
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