R/S written passed! edit

phew, that was an interesting exam.

Lots of short, sweet, 10 second easy questions. Also lots of long winded questions with diagrams, outputs, configs, and long answers.

Anyway, I passed! Enjoying my self a nice dark Belgium beer, and waiting for the wife to get home so we can go out to dinner.

what I used:

-Recently did CCNP. Having this fresh in your mind is a big plus, as almost all of it is covered.
-Internetwork Expert Audio Classes, Vol 1 technology labs, and advanced Class on Demand. I had purchased these for the lab studies, but they helped a lot for the written (especially the tech labs).
-R&S exam guide, BGP design, and routing TCP/IP vol 1. Great coverage of the exam topics, although I probably could have used some more multicast studies.

Nice to be done it so I can focus on the lab more now. Hope to dive into IEWB Vol 2 asap.

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nel

Good luck mate, i hope the hard work pays off!

Turgon

GT-Rob wrote:

Well I have had this booked for a while now (before the raised the prices actually), but now it is only 1 day away.

Kind of looking forward to this one, as I can't wait to see that wonderful back button I have heard about lol

I will post up my study materials tomorrow if I pass

.

Good luck with that. Having endured the written a few times over the years, the only advice I will give you is that unless you have prepared very thoroughly and you get enough questions you are comfortable with you will have severe time pressure in this test.

You get a lot of questions with diagrams, configurations to pour over, wordy questions and possibilities to ponder over. All time consuming stuff and your energy can sap halfway through when you need to be getting a head of steam up.

My advice is to press on through the whole test and take NO MORE than a couple of minutes on any given question. Always answer a question and then advance to the next one quickly. You can mark a question if you are not sure about your answer but put the best answer you can think of down anyway.

But get through the whole test before you go back and look at those marked questions again (if you have time).

Watch your time. You don't want to be left with 40 questions to do and 40 minutes on the clock, so press on!

Try not to get hung up on tough questions as you go along. Each one is only worth one point. Answer it, move on and forget it. Stay sharp for the next question!

Good luck again!

dynamik

Turgon wrote:

You get a lot of questions with diagrams, configurations to pour over, wordy questions and possibilities to ponder over. All time consuming stuff and your energy can sap halfway through when you need to be getting a head of steam up.

Oh, so it's basically just an MS test?

Good luck Rob. My lucky book is now in your possession, so you should be fine

GT-Rob

haha thanks guys.

That was kind of my plan, to just pick the first answer that seems right, and if I am not 100% sure on it to just hit the mark for review option and come back to it at the end.

btowntech

Good luck!

Slowhand

May the Schwartz be with you.

astorrs

Good luck Rob, do let us know how it goes.

gojericho0

Good luck!

mikej412

Good Luck!

I couldn't even bring myself to try the Previous button on my first written exam -- I thought it was screen burn in from Microsoft exams

On my second written exam I did finally try it -- but I was still afraid to try the mark button.

The exhibit questions can be a bit involved -- but remember to jump down to the end of the question first to see what they are looking for (and maybe even read the answers) -- then go back to read the question and pick out the relevant information.

It is strange looking at that screen at the end. I did page through to make sure all the questions were completely answered and see if I had accidentally marked anything -- but I never got up the nerve to try and go back to any question and just looked for the submit button.

The hardest part about the written exams is when you submit -- and the hard drive starts to grind away and you think your test workstation is about to die and take your exam with it

And then it keep grinding. Just about the time you think you should go get a proctor and report that your work station is sick, your congratulations screen should pop up.

ITdude

GT-Rob wrote:

Kind of looking forward to this one, as I can't wait to see that wonderful back button I have heard about lol

I will post up my study materials tomorrow if I pass

Sometimes the back button can be a double edged sword. I used to like that safety net during MS exams but I got used to the Cisco (non IE) exam way of doing things and got used to not obsessing over an answer and just moving on. I am not sure how I will feel when I take the R&S written in the not too distant future.

Good luck tomorrow! Knock em dead...

GT-Rob

Love that review selected button!

nicklauscombs

congrats!

dynamik

Seriously, my biggest pet peeve on this forum is when someone edits their first post in their thread with a pass update. It completely destroys the flow of the thread. No congrats for you

Aww... Who am I kidding? I can't stay mad at you!

Congratulations

So when can we expect a lab pass post? 2-3 months?

mikej412

Congratulations!

We knew you could do it!

GT-Rob

haha I know I hate editing a post too, but I just didn't want to spam a new thread :P

looking at probably closer to January for the lab attempt, depending on how much lab time I can bank in the mean time.

astorrs

Nicely done Rob, and now the real fun begins.

snadam

congrats!!! good luck on the Lab!!!

scheistermeister

Congrats!

shednik

Congrats on the pass and keep us updated on your lab studies!!

nullrouter

GT-Rob wrote:

-Recently did CCNP. Having this fresh in your mind is a big plus, as almost all of it is covered.
-Internetwork Expert Audio Classes, Vol 1 technology labs, and advanced Class on Demand. I had purchased these for the lab studies, but they helped a lot for the written (especially the tech labs).
-R&S exam guide, BGP design, and routing TCP/IP vol 1. Great coverage of the exam topics, although I probably could have used some more multicast studies.

TCP/IP Vol 2 for multicast

GT-Rob

^ I know but for some reason amazon.ca doesn't carry vol 2. Even vol 1 took forever to get in stock.

I may end up getting another book for multicast, I'll see how I feel about it after some more labs/cod on it.

nullrouter

ciscopress.com? for myself after shipping fees and member discounts i find them much cheaper than amazon, however that maybe different for yourself.

liquid6

congrats on the pass and good luck on your lab prep!! let us know how you are getting along...

I second that nullrouter, ciscopress is cheap compared to amazon and I get my books delivered in about 3 days...and I live in Ireland.

Thanks,
mark

gojericho0

Congratulations Rob! We will be looking forward to seeing your new CCIE lab thread soon

gojericho0

Also, what is your networking background? Do you work with that stuff a good bit or was most of it self-study?

How many hours of prep do you think you put in before sitting the exam?

GT-Rob

I have looked at cisco press, but in canada amazon.ca has free shipping and I get free gift certificates through my credit card (points). I may have to check out cisco press though for a couple books I want.

I work full time with Cisco, so that helps. Its more break/fix troubleshooting than actual design/configuration, but I am on the IOS all day still.

There was about 3 months of prep just after CCNP for this exam, however doing CCNP is a big prep.

If I had to guess, I would say around 50hrs of lab time, maybe 100hrs reading, and another 100hrs between CBT nuggets and CoD. I do a lot of studying at work though

gojericho0

GT-Rob wrote:

I work full time with Cisco, so that helps. Its more break/fix troubleshooting than actual design/configuration, but I am on the IOS all day still.

I think that's the best kind of experience because you can always learn if break was caused by a mistake and find alternative solutions. Are you working as a TAC engineer?

GT-Rob

Well I am not directly with Cisco, I just work exclusively with Cisco products.

Between all of the accounts though we probably open up like 5 TAC cases a day though lol

ITdude

Congrats man! Great going....It sounds like you were right in the groove.

GT-Rob

Well I went ahead and booked the exam for late January. Hopefully by christmas I will know if it is a realistic date.