The CCIE R&S Written Exam

Can anyone give me some horror stories on the CCIE routing and switching written exam? Any pointers that one could give would be appreciated.

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mikej412

rgeorge wrote:

Can anyone give me some horror stories on the CCIE routing and switching written exam?

Nope -- no real horror story from me.

I practiced on the CCIE Security exam (and passed first try). The only excitement on the CCIE Written exams is the shock of being able to "Mark" questions and a "Previous" button. And then there is the "Review" screen at the end.

The only scary part is the long pause after the submit (and the thrashing sound of the harddrive) that made me wonder if the computer ate my exam.

Oh -- and there wasn't a demo. I was starting to jot down power of 2s on my marker board when I noticed I was sitting on question 1 and the timer was ticking.

rgeorge wrote:

Any pointers that one could give would be appreciated.

The CCNP prepares you about 75-80% for the CCIE R&S written, so if you did great on the CCNP exams (and learned everything in all the Cisco Press CCNP books) you might stand a change of passing without much additional study.

The BGP and QOS exams from the CCIP are also very useful -- for both the written and Lab exam.

After my successful Security Practice exam, and the CCIP, the CCIE R&S written was a "walk in the park." I think I finally worked up the nerve to try the "Previous" button once on the R&S exam -- but I never bothered to try the "Mark" and "Review" options.

bighornsheep

mikej412 wrote:

After my successful Security Practice exam, and the CCIP, the CCIE R&S written was a "walk in the park." I think I finally worked up the nerve to try the "Previous" button once on the R&S exam -- but I never bothered to try the "Mark" and "Review" options.

I never really understood most of your abbreviations in your profile. So you have CCIE R&S written, and you're working on the lab exam, and it appears you have all of the Associate & Professional level of Cisco Certs + many of the Specialist certs, is this correct?

mikej412

bighornsheep wrote:

So you have CCIE R&S written, and you're working on the lab exam, and it appears you have all of the Associate & Professional level of Cisco Certs + many of the Specialist certs, is this correct?

Yep, both the Associate level, all 5 of the Professional level, and a bunch of Cisco Qualified Specialist certificates (and those silly NSA things).

I've also passed both the CCIE Security written exam and the CCIE R&S written exam.

I'm trying to prepare for both labs right now. But since the current Security Lab changes Jan 2, that one may eventually become my "primary target" for this year. Right now I'm still "leading" with an R&S attempt first (since the current Security exam is still 1/2 R&S related). But if I'm not ready for the labs by the time I have to pay for them -- I'll reschedule.

Cisco Professional Level Certifications:
CCNP - Cisco Certified Network Professional
CCIP - Cisco Certified Internetwork Professional
CCSP - Cisco Certified Security Professional
CCVP - Cisco Certified Voice Professional
CCDP - Cisco Certified Design Professional

Cisco Associate Level Certifications:
CCDA - Cisco Certified Design Associate
CCNA - Cisco Certified Network Associate

Cisco Qualified Specialist:
CQS-CFWS - Cisco Firewall Specialist
CQS-CIPSS - Cisco IPS Specialist
CQS-CVPNS - Cisco VPN Specialist
CQS-CIPTDS - Cisco IP Telephony Design Specialist
CQS-CIPCSS - Cisco IP Communications Support Specialist
CQS-CIPTOS - Cisco IP Telephony Operations Specialist

ISSP - Information Systems Security (INFOSEC) Professional
4013 - CNSS 4013 Recognition

Passed CCIE Security written exam
Passed CCIE Routing and Switching written exam

If I passed the 642-104 UCSE exam and got an MCSE:Messaging, I could get the Cisco Unity Support Specialist CQS too.

MrD

Dear Moses That's Unreal

RussS

mikej412 wrote:

If I passed the 642-104 UCSE exam and got an MCSE:Messaging, I could get the Cisco Unity Support Specialist CQS too.

Mike - if you are going to be doing a bit more study I think a certain webmaster would love some input from you in this area

RandyCCIE#TBD

Mike - do you work for cisco or a cisco partner?

mikej412

rgeorge wrote:

Mike - do you work for cisco or a cisco partner?

Nope. I've been contracting for over 10 years now. Before that I was at a couple of VARs (and the Military before that).

I'm not sure if I'd want to work for Cisco (I did a 4.5 year contract at a Mega-Corp)..... but I'd consider a Cisco Business Partner someday (but not one of the Mega-Partners).

wildfire

No horror story on CCIE RS written hear either, it was actually easier than I had anticipated, while "P" level exams target a specific objective at a certainl level this exam covered the whole range. So for every hard question there was a very easy one, I didnt feel passing this was a big achievement just it opens the gate for you to book the dreaded lab! which Im now aiming for attempt 1 in April!

Pointers for the exam,

As Mike said if you CCNP and its still fresh then its a matter of supplement QOS and BGP and learn sime wireless. The wireless stuff was very basic and not CWNA level as I thought it would be, so know the basics. No sims, no drag and drops, just 100 pure vote for joe's.

One Exam tip I picked up, unlike others it says select all that apply (as opposed to telling you select 3) if you select none and click next, it says select 2 more answers etc, now some would consider this cheating, but I dont know, if so they would have plugged the hole in the program.

computerguy9355

Damn! How old are you Mike? just curious..

mikej412

wildfire wrote:

One Exam tip I picked up, unlike others it says select all that apply (as opposed to telling you select 3) if you select none and click next, it says select 2 more answers etc, now some would consider this cheating, but I dont know, if so they would have plugged the hole in the program.

Right -- the other difference from all the other lower level exam -- it doesn't tell you how many answers when they are looking for multiple answers.

I think it still had the radio button for the single answer questions and the check box for multiple answer questions. I think on one question I couldn't decided between 2 or 3 answers, so I hit next with 2 boxes checked and it told me I needed one more. I'm not sure if I ever "over-picked" -- but it probably would tell you you picked too many answers too.

I never thought about just hitting next to get the number of answers they were looking for

-- but uh, it would have slowed me down with the extra clicks.... yeah, that's my story, and I'm sticking with it.

wildfire

Its ok, I only knew as someone told me it was a good tip, I would do it straight off and then know how many answer to pick out, I think without it I would have still passed but with a lower score. Time wasnt to bad in that exam, I try to be in the test centre as little time as poss!!

have you got a date for your lab(s) yet Mike?

NetworkGod

speaking of CCIE written exam, how long does it last?

mikej412

computerguy9355 wrote:

Damn! How old are you Mike? just curious..

x ^ 2 - 1
where x = 7 in December (after my next birthday)

wildfire wrote:

have you got a date for your lab(s) yet Mike?

No -- I'm probably going to go stag (by myself).

Yep.... I decided not to schedule a Monday/Wednesday Combo and save a trip. I figure the "post tramatic lab stress syndrome" from the first lab would have me wiped out for the 2nd lab. The waiting -- the not knowing on that in between day would be a killer. Lets face it -- after the lab, the entire world comes to a screaching halt until you get the results (except for the drinking and sleeping to kill the waiting time).

I'm scheduled a week apart -- and questioning my sanity (and whether I'll be ready for either). I'm also watching my lab pay dates

I'm taking today off from studying for a reality check. I haven't ordered the DoITs yet. I'm contemplating if I'll be ready for a CheckIT next week like I had planned/hoped. I'm debating quiting my current contract since work has been cutting into my planned study time....

I've have the InternetworkExpert Security Lab Workbook and I was looking at (shopping online) the IPExpert Security Lab Workbook, but I'm not sure if I'd have time for it. The InternetworkExpert Lab Workbook seems to be just the 8 hour labs, so I'm thinking I might do that since the Advance Labs didn't give me any problems.

I've been throught the Cisco Press Practical Studies books. I've been through the InternetworkExpert Advanced Technologies Labs. I've been through the NLI CCIE Core Worbooks (eBooks) and the NLI CCIE IPv6 Lab Guide -- so that covered both R&S and Security. I did the Cisco Press Practice Labs (as a learning experience using the Doc CD and taking lots of extra time -- and I did the ISDN & ATM since I have the equipment. Security seemed "lite" and outdated compared to the V1 blueprint ).

I'm worried that I'm still reading and re-reading a lot and not living on the equipment.

I'm still on "Plan A" -- do both labs this year. And I have a couple of weeks still before I have to consider Plan B or commit to Plan A.

Plan B is flip-flopping between taking the one shot at the Version 1 Security Lab and letting R&S slip to next year -- or sticking to my original plan to do the R&S Lab first and going for the Version 2 Security Lab next year. Part of the reason for taking the Version 1 Security Exam is that it seems to be 1/2 R&S (and easier after preparing for the R&S Lab). The Security V2 Lab looks almost 100% Security and covers stuff from the "new" CCSP exams (so it would be harder since I did the "old" exams -- except for IPS exam).

Plan C would be to take the rest of the year off, relax after all those certification exams, drink heavily, and let both labs slip to next year. The good thing is I'm still a year out from the required first lab attempt within 18 months requirement.

n3tw0rkg0d wrote:

speaking of CCIE written exam, how long does it last?

The CCIE R&S Written exam is 100 multiple-choice questions and is two hours in duration. I remember doing the Security Exam in under an hour.... and I don't remember what I took on the R&S (probably around there, maybe a little more because of the more involved exhibit questions). Plenty of time for the exam if you're well prepared.

-- oh, if I had it all to do over again -- I'd save the CCVP until after a CCIE or two

The CCVP ran over a month extra I'd like to have back.

endless power

can anyone tell me any CCIE written test centre near steels/ Brimley? i need to take the R&S CCIE exam ASAP, thanks!