IPExpert Lab Workbook & Proctor Guide

Having passed the written exam for CCIE R&S, I am about to start preparing for the Lab exam. I was wondering if anyone here can give a nice review of the IPExpert's Workbook & Proctor guide. Are they worth the money? How useful are they? How much do they prepare you for the acutal exam? Are they sufficient by themselves? Are there any other/better products available?
I dont have much money to play around with, so I just want to make sure that I spend it on the right and necessary things. Thanks.

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sumikaja

masadull wrote:

Having passed the written exam for CCIE R&S, I am about to start preparing for the Lab exam. I was wondering if anyone here can give a nice review of the IPExpert's Workbook & Proctor guide. Are they worth the money? How useful are they? How much do they prepare you for the acutal exam? Are they sufficient by themselves? Are there any other/better products available?
I dont have much money to play around with, so I just want to make sure that I spend it on the right and necessary things. Thanks.

Hi... This is kaja from kuwait.. i a mdoing CCIE security already i passed written exam... now i am practising last year IP expert.. so please we will get new ip expert 3.0 it will be good for us..

Thank u
Regards
Bye
Kaja

mikej412

I was going to wait until after my R&S written and some more research to reply.... but I'm now rescheduled for next week (work issues).

All the workbook venders say they are the best -- so that means at least all-of-them except for one is lying......

I've also noticed that some of the vendors "shill" their wares....

And some of the guys from the workbook companies do post on boards -- but their advertising tag lines are longer than their answers and the original questions combined.

The worst thing I've found -- one of the workbook/bootcamp vendors has a public forum (which is a good thing) -- but when I started going through the "I passed the written" threads -- most of the guys either had dumped to pass, or took the written bootcamp to pass (which makes me think the company teaches their bootcamp from ****). There was also a CCIE posting they didn't think **** were bad -- which made me wonder if it was one of the instructors... needless to say they dropped to the bottom of my list. Sleazy!

Anyway -- On the sites that list names and # of happy customers -- I'm going to verify the names & numbers in the CCIE validation tool to make sure they are real. But for now, a site that lists names & # is a good thing.

The sites that have public forums (and maybe private forums for supporting their workbooks) are a good thing. As I mentioned, you can pick up some interesting hints about the company by who is posting there. I'm also going to see if the names & #s posted are from the "I passed the lab" threads.

And possibly the most important thing -- what the heck are these sites selling? I'll be looking for a workbook with the 8 hour practice labs (and answers) to eventually see if I'm ready for the real thing. On some of these sites they are so busy selling their trademarks and bundles that it hard to figure out what they are actually selling. I guess some of these sites also have "technology review guides" or "mini-labs." The e-Senarios on IE are what?!? -- web accessed flash simulations of all the building-block technologies?!?! Samples or screen prints of what they are selling are a plus in my book when I go to buy.

I plan to go through the Cisco Press Practical Studies books and the Doc CD for a while -- then try the Cisco Press Practice lab books. Then I'll figure where to go from there -- probably one of the vendor workbooks
with lots of 8 hour practice labs.... to work on speed and gauge my readiness for the real lab.

I'll probably save the on-line assessor for the final test before I sign up for a lab -- unless I do bad. Now I wonder if there are multiple on-line assessors or just one -- couldn't tell from the assessor web site (but I have the email address to someday send an email and ask them).

IPExpert is currently shipping version 8.0 -- but their web site still says this...... have they or have they not updated their workbook yet?

Our industry-leading workbook will soon be better, and here is how:

    * With over 40 LAB SCENARIOS, (23+ Protocol / Technology Focused and 22 1-Day Mock Labs), re-written to match the current (Jan 1, 2006) CCIE R&S lab blueprint and objectives, you are GUARANTEED to have enough content in this single workbook to prepare for the CCIE Lab exam.

I'm not quite sure how they fit "Access to a Cisco 3825 Integrated Services Router w/ Ethernet, Fast Ethernet and Gigabit Ethernet and 12.3 / 12.4 Mainline IOS AVAILABLE in 8.0!" into a workbook..... but confusing website advertising fluff aside -- somehow these guys are considered good... and are on my short list of workbooks vendors.

The down side -- everyone I know who attempted and failed (multiple times) also used these guys.....

mikej412

DarbyWeaver wrote:

IEMentor

Okay... add those guys to my list..... they weren't on it.....

Oh---- who is "the name" -- another thing to look at about the workbook vendors.

The "Scum Site" had a name -- but if I remember correctly, their last post was in 2003..... Author of "A BOOK"

And there are the "Brads" -- dueling sites?

And since I should some day start worrying about that CCIE Security exam I passed -- the vendor of one CCIE exam workbook, may not be "THE VENDOR" for the other CCIE exam workbook.....

And NMC has moved up...... are the CheckITs the on-line practice labs?

ccie4yingy

DarbyWeaver wrote:

I've see a couple of others like Trinet and IEMentor for either Security or RS and they do not even come close to the first 4 leaders of the pack.

IEMentor does offer free racks it seems.

I've never heard of IEMentor having a Security and R&S workbook! Get your facts straight

They have SP, Voice and Storage.

mikej412

ccie4yingy wrote:

I've never heard of IEMentor having a Security and R&S workbook! Get your facts straight They have SP, Voice and Storage.

The are under development.... they probably realized they are missing the biggest market.

.... and TriNet still wasn't shipping their Jan 6th R&S update when I checked a couple of weeks ago.