CCIE Advise

[Jay Greenberg]

A lot of people have been asking me about my CCIE and test-taking strategies, so I am posting my standard response here:

1st attempt in RTP, Jan 29 2003. CCIE #11021

(9997th certified - since the 1st certification was awarded #1024), I'm
happy I made it before #11024. The whole process, CCNA - CCIE took me
about 3 years.

Here is my philosophy on the whole matter, for what it's worth to those
still playing the game:

1) Nothing can replace honest hard work. I didn't buy any practice
labs, or any bootcamp sessions. I made my own practice labs, adapted
from the Solie book. i.e., I removed IPX and token ring and inserted
more current content. And then practice practice practice - there are
no shortcuts or cheat sheets.

2) Don't just practice with mini-labs, do multi-protocol labs and
fine-tune your test-taking strategy. Don't forget to develop a strategy
- ***mine was developed using peoples suggestions from GroupStudy***.

3) The Doc CD is your friend. I read and took notes on every *relevant*
document. You'll know you're ready when you're intimate with the docs,
and you know how to find anything without even thinking about it.
Memorize the locations of tables that you could use in the lab. The
docs store much that your brain doesn't have to; this way, you can make
room for learning dynamic content e.g. protocol mechanics.

4) Be honest with yourself - if you are scared of something, master it,
and every related command/feature.

5) When doing practice labs, get in the habit of drawing diagrams with
interfaces, ip addresses, ASNs, and use highlighters to mark protocol
locations. Having the "Big Picture" is important at test time.

6) If you are prepared, you'll pass. I was only truly prepared about 1
year after I initially thought I might have a shot - I just didn't think
I could take the rejection of failure - so I left no room for it.

7) If you're reading GroupStudy and someone starts talking about a fair-game protocol that you've never heard of, you're not ready.

8 ) The most important one, I almost forgot. Force yourself to RELAX. I
know it's not easy, but I had to convince myself that it was no big
deal, just so I could stop shaking and get some sleep the night before.
On that note, get sleep and eat well - I went to bed at 8:00 pm and woke
up at 5:00 am every night that I was in RTP, just to get in the habit.

9) Use GroupStudy.com - it's invaluable. There is no substitute for the level of support with protocol intricacies and idiosyncrasies that can be received there for FREE.

[Headhunter]

Thanks for sharing that with us Jay

Another very valuable advisory !

[linkteo]

It looks amazing to me that you got CCIE on first attempt without purchasing those commercial lab for practice! You are indeed a genius!

Do you rent online racktime to practice? or solely based on your home lab? You have a complete home lab? Is it really possible for a normal person to pass the lab without doing commercial lab like ccbootcamp/ipexpert.......?

Do you read a lot of CCIE books? extensive reading and hands on, which one is more important?

[Jay Greenberg]

For 3 years i studied 10-20 hours per week, reading 15-20 books, plus most of Cisco's technical documentation. I used the practice labs from the Solie Practical Studies books, and adapted them to the changes, i.e., +3500, -IPX - Token Ring, etc...

I used my home lab (2500s) for the whole time. Only the week before my lab attempt i rented 6 x 12 hour sessions from a pay lab and did my solie simulations.

[Jana1824]

Jay,

I have CCNP and passed CCIE Written recently just with 730/1000. I would like to start preparing for the lab. Right now I have following routers.

2 x 2503
1 x 2511
1x 2521
1x 1900 switch

I am certainly not sure if this equipment is sufficient for all the lab scenarios. Certainly, I cannot do ISDN and Voice with this. Do you know if I need additional equipment for all the lab cases in Solie Vol1.

Thanks
Jana Achladi.

[Jay Greenberg]

I had similar equipment when I did the majority of my CCIE study. This type of thing is good for learning the protocols and studying their behavior. However, the solie labs require a more complete setup. Something appropriate will be available on http@//www.expert-labs.com when we launch it sometime this year.

Jay