CCIE Written passed

Well, I'm happy to report that I can finally say that I am done with the written test. Was happy overall with my score. Now I'll take about 1 day off, then start in on my IE training products.

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Webmaster

Congratulations!

romain

Congrats Kid !

How many did you score ?

Slowhand

Very nice. Any idea on how long you have before you think you're ready for the big lab?

kiddsupreme

romain wrote:

Congrats Kid !

How many did you score ?

Thanks. Its funny you should ask that. Let me give you a little breakdown of how my test went.

So I'm sitting in the testing area. While I sat there, I noticed their is a big window in the room where the front desk receptionist can keep an eye on you if you have any questions or problems. Problem is though... its near the front desk, and a lot of foot traffic goes through. People talking, conversating, etc. And this room isn't really known for being soundproof. You'd think people would see someone taking a test and shut up. You'd think the receptionist/proctor would tell me to be quiet, but alas nothing. But I figured, "I just spent 300 on this test, and I didn't do all this studying for some talking in the background get me off my game."

So the test starts. I know it has been said in the past, but I was still surprised when I got to go back and mark questions to answer later. I'd wish they'd implement that in all Cisco tests, but I'm sure they won't. So the first 30 questions, I'm like, "I got this." Next 30 questions I'm like, "Wow, some of these things I haven't heard about in detail." Next 30 questions I'm like, "Dear God, please don't tell me I'm not prepared for this." Last 10 questions, I'm starting to get nauseous, convincing myself I just blown my money.

You know at the end of every Cisco test, the computer takes a couple of seconds before it spits out the next screen, and lets you know if you passed or not? Well the CCIE Written takes like 15 of those seconds to do the computations. Talk about sweating it out. Clicked Next, and it said, "Congratulations you passed. Passing score is 70% and you scored 84%."
Gave out a sigh of relief, laughed a bit, sent a prayer up to the Almighty, then left the testing area. Got the print out from the receptionist, and I was out.

When I got in the car, I examined the percentage breakdown more closely. As I thought, my weak spots were Wireless Mobility and Security. Two areas I really need to work on. Everything else was 90% and up on the other stuff, so I was happy.

Of course, my wife was happy, but she asked me why I wasn't as enthusiastic as I was when I got my CCNP. I just let her know that passing the test just gave me an invitation to a big dance. I still need to learn how to dance well to take 1st place at the dance. Still, she was very proud of me, and I appreciated it. So yeah, that's where I currently stand now.

kiddsupreme

Slowhand wrote:

Very nice. Any idea on how long you have before you think you're ready for the big lab?

In a perfect world, it would take 6 months of hardcore studying, and I'd be ready sometime in June/July. That remains to be seen on a few factors.

1) How quickly I can progress through the study material.
2) How quickly I can understand and process the study material.
3) How comfortable I feel doing the labs

I think I remember hearing from other previous candidates that maybe you never know when you are truly ready, but you have to make an attempt eventually. So we'll see.

kiddsupreme

Webmaster wrote:

Congratulations!

Thank you for your kind words.

rossonieri#1

CONGRATS KIDD:P

romain

Thanks for your success story Kid !

Nice job man!

Congrats!!!

nice job congrats!!

congrats!

time to kick the labs arse!

mikej412

Congratulations!

PCHoldmann

Congrats! Plan to be taking it soon myself.

Good job

Congrats!

Congrats chief!

Congratulations.

Congrats. Interesting to hear that you can go back and re-visit questions on this one. Weird considering you can't do that on any of the other Cisco tests (at least CCNP + CCNA since thats what I have taken).

Once again congrats and well done!

What did you use to study with, and more importantly what materials did you like and what materials were a waste of time? I ask because I think I am changing my plans and am going to hit R&S track instead of SP track due to the fact that I do work for a service provider, but at my location we do not get into very much of the SP type work and I figured the R&S is more marketable should I ever have to find another job.

kiddsupreme

mtbcyclist wrote:

Congrats. Interesting to hear that you can go back and re-visit questions on this one. Weird considering you can't do that on any of the other Cisco tests (at least CCNP + CCNA since thats what I have taken.

Once again congrats and well done!

What did you use to study with, and more importantly what did materials did you like and what materials were a waste of time? I ask because I think I am changing my plans and am going to hit R&S track instead of SP track due to the fact that I do work for a service provider, but at my location we do not get into very much of the SP type work and I figured the R&S is more marketable should I ever have to find another job.

Thanks. Well as far as what I used to study, I read the following books:

TCP/IP Vol I & II --- Very Important
Cisco LAN Switching --- Dated, but good to skim through
Cisco QOS Exam Certification Guide, Second Edition --- Very Important

I would also suggest going over your CCNP books as a lot of foundational stuff can be found there.

As far as testing questions, I utilized two things: NMC's CCIE Written Prep, and their Tech Library. I must say that although their Tech Library is very impressive, I didn't use it as much as I thought I would. With that said, their online written prep questions were very helpful, and I would recommend it. It makes you think about what they are asking, instead of memorizing the question and answer.

Hope this helps.