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Blog: 68 Days to Go….
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Okay Crunch Time….68 days to go for my lab.
After reading through the fantastic (and inspirational!) CCIE in 3 months blog I’ve decided I need to get more organised. His post on his dynamips environment contained something that literally caused me to sit up and say “now why the heck haven’t I been doing that!”. In the post is a picture of a pdf file, that he fills out after each and every lab that he completes to grade himself.
I’ve created my own version of this sheet that you can download here.
I have been doing labs all this time and I don’t think I have ever “formally” graded myself like that. In that I mean that when I check the IE solutions guide I usually just go, “yeah thats pretty close to what I got” or “oh cool my solution matches perfectly except i used a prefix-list”. I have a diary that I have been keeping, which is getting filled with notes that I take when I am completing a lab. I like Tassos’s grading sheet because it formalizes the self grading process. His advice: “Try to be organized! It’ll make your preparation much easier”. This is something I’ve been telling my students since I started teaching so I think it is probably time I take my own advice! :)
I’ve got to work next week, but after that I’m on study leave from the 10th of March till the 5th of March. That’s 8 weeks. I’m not sure if I will be able to attend Narbik’s bootcamp. Still waiting on approval from work. In the meantime, here’s my plan:
First Two Weeks (Ramp Up!)
Week 1: Monday 10th March
Week 2: Monday 17th March
- Go through labs 1, 7,8,9,10, and 11 as many times as I can again. If I have time try one of the highest ratest lab. Review at least 1 Internetwork Expert CoD video a day.
- I have to get my “mental stamina” up. I still find it hard to sit for 8 hours straight working on a lab.
Next 5 weeks (Mock Lab Mania!)
Week 3: Monday 24th March - Mock Lab 5 Booked
Week 4: Monday 1st April - Mock Lab 6 Booked
Week 5: Monday 7th April - CCIE Assessor Labs
Week 6: Monday 14th April - Mock Lab 4 Booked
Week 7: Monday 21st April - Mock Lab 7 Booked
Week 8: Monday 28th April (Final Count Down)
- Review Mock Labs, Go through CoD videos once again. Work on Lab Strategy. Try and Relax. :)
CCIE LAB: Monday 5th May!
I’ve decided to make Sundays my day off. I think I will go insane otherwise. I’ve promised my wife I will not touch a router, switch or dynamips on Sundays!
I will take the Mock Labs as close to the start of the week as possible and then spend the week going through them to make sure I have everything covered off and I understand what was covered. I’m not sure if I should start the mocks earlier or skip the CCIE assessor labs. Tassos, Ethan, Carl, CCIEPursuit, or anyone for that matter…if you are reading this any advice?
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“I have to get my “mental stamina” up. I still find it hard to sit for 8 hours straight working on a lab.”
Doing a timed 8 hour lab (self-administered “mock lab”) was a real eye-opener for me. I’ve “labbed” for 8 hours or more before this, but that time was interspersed with periods of configuration experimentation, talking to my wife and kids, surfing for non-CCIE related things (damn you Internet!!!), writing notes, feeding the cats, getting food….all at a leisurely pace. When I timed myself and only allowed myself access to the DOCCD, it was a completely different experience. Time management, mood, physical comfort, anxiety, etc will all be at a different level. I think that it’s analogous to the difference between jogging 5km a few times a week and running an actual race.
You’re in a good position by being able to devote 8 weeks to your studies. I think that you have the right idea in that you’ve planned out your studies. I am currently reviewing the CODs yet again and I am still finding nuggets that I overlooked/forgot so I definitely agree with your idea of reviewing at least one a day.
Tassos can answer this authoritatively, but I would definitely do the assessor labs. I can’t recall anyone who took those labs who didn’t find them very helpful. I would also suggest that you find a room/area that is relatively devoid of temptations like vegemite, cricket matches, dingos, Redback beer…whatever it is you folks on the other side of the planet get up to. :-)
Anyhoo…best of luck and I hope to see a number after your name soon!
You guys are all way ahead of me in this game so not sure what I can add lol.
I honestly think you have your plan down cold. The closer I get to the lab the more I want to work on my core topics. I want to be able to handle any core stuff on IE’s mock labs within four hours.
I would keep the assessor lab, just to get a different feel for a lab. It can’t hurt to get a feel of a “cisco” lab.
Also make sure to keep that break day a real break day :). No sense going into the lab hating everything about routers!
Also good luck man!
Thanks guys. I think I will do the assessor lab just to get a feel for how Cisco asks the questions. I think half my battle is going to be question interpretation. I expect the first few Mock Labs will be a real challenge working for 8 hours straight. My motivation is still pretty high so thats a good thing.
I’ll also have to somehow keep my those baby eating dingoes and our pet kangaroo out of the study. :)
I would say you HAVE to try the assessor lab for just one reason: You get the idea behind cisco’s grading!
You’ll probably make silly mistakes (as i did and failed in both of them) but you’ll learn that cisco expects specific answers.
Also, you’ll be stress-tested in terms of time pressure, which is very good.
Maybe you have read my 2 posts about them:
http://ccie-in-3-months.blogspot.com/2007/12/ccie-assessor-lab-v20-78.html
http://ccie-in-3-months.blogspot.com/2007/12/ccie-assessor-lab-v16-58.html
Thanks Tassos, I will definitely be doing the assessor labs now. Im probably going to change my strategy around after reading your two posts, maybe intersperse the Assessor labs with the Mock labs. What order did you do them in? (Mock Labs, and Assessors). I have 8 weeks of study leave so I want to make the most out of it.
I think that learning how to interperet the exam questions is probably going to be my biggest challenge and the Cisco CCIE assessor will help with that.
Hey Arden,
Do I understand correctly that you have both Cisco Assessors scheduled for the same day?? If not, ignore me. If so, this is surely folly. I’ll comment as to why I think so if this actually turns out to be your plan…
Cheers,
Scott
Hey Scott,
Haven’t booked them yet, but I was planning on doing one on Monday of that week, and the other on Thursday. Give me time to digest the stuff i learn during the labs. Did you do the Assessors before you did your lab?
Hi Arden,
OK, was hoping I somehow read that wrong, which clearly I did! Whew!
Yeah, I did them both. They have value, no doubt. Thay are by _no_ means perfect. No proctor, obviously (no online format that I’m aware of offers one). Some technical difficulties with the inteface that seem to be pretty common. The grading scripts are, er, uh, less than perfect. Assessor B actually appears (to me) to be much more reasonable in terms of the script than A.
The greatest value that I see is gaining some insight. Although the grading scripts belong to a commercial vendor, the lab scenarios, as I understand the situation, were furnished by the Cisco CCIE program office. So in spite of their rather hefty price and shortcomings, they are invaluable IMHO.
I think your spacing is exactly correct, BTW. You’ll have had the opportunity to recover and adapt/adjust/overcome between “attempts.”
Best wishes on all fronts Arden!!
Cheers,
Scott
Hi Arden,
I would say you should try them after you’re sure of your knowledge. Do some mock labs before, in order to get the feeling and if you feel confident enough, go for the assessor labs.
I did mine 20,27 days before the lab (i did them on Fridays, so i could repractice them -using dynamips- during the weekend), after i had done 2 mock labs and i had decided that i would go for the lab.
[...] The lil things. July 17, 2008, 4:52 am Filed under: 1 I was reading over ardenpackeers blog about mental stamina. Thats something i know i need to work on. I eluded to this in previous [...]