David's CCIE: R+S Thread

Turgon

gorebrush wrote: »

The job itself.

I can't see myself being here long term - so screw doing the intermediate exams.

Let's get back on the real wagon.

Time to light up the CCIE study hour counter again then. I think it was 40 hours? Do so.

We have a couple of boys on TE going well on CCIE studies at the moment. Hook up with them!

gorebrush

It was indeed. Added.

I'll make my face seen again in a few threads and get on with it

Turgon

Check out threads by reaper81 and Chipsch

http://www.techexams.net/forums/ccie/53794-when-going-gets-tough.html

http://www.techexams.net/forums/ccie/60154-new-guy-going-ccie.html

As for mine, its mostly a log of how busy I am at work these days as opposed to study hours, but there ain't a whole lot I can do about that at this time..oops gotta go on another VC..

gorebrush

It appears that Mrs gorebrush is definitely on side - she's making me study.

So, tonight, I'm going to restart.

reaper81

Nice, go for it! It's a long race so just keep going at it at a reasonable pace.

Turgon

gorebrush wrote: »

It appears that Mrs gorebrush is definitely on side - she's making me study.

So, tonight, I'm going to restart.

She is onside at the moment, but the time requirements to prepare for this exam are enormous. I wouldn't expect much quality time at work to study. You are going to have to spend between 1 - 3 hours each evening and 6 - 8 hours spread across the weekend, almost every weekend until you are ready to pass the test. Explain to her you are looking at 18 months of that and see if it flies.

Love your wife, like your lab.

gorebrush

Yes, she is fully aware of the time requirements for this exam... but we'll see what happens when this is translated into "actual" study...

gorebrush

Anyone know how to get Odom 4th edition as a PDF?

gorebrush

Slow progress this week as I have been unwell. However, am over it now and seriously getting the itch for some reading. Wife in work all weekend so perfect opportunity to start with some peace. Stuff happening tomorrow evening but work is busy too so unlikely to get much done tomorrow but who knows.

PsychoFin

gorebrush wrote: »

Anyone know how to get Odom 4th edition as a PDF?

I guess the easiest way is to buy it from Safari Books Online - Home. Or if you have a subscription with them, you can use their tokens to buy it.

Cheers,
Fin

mikej412

gorebrush wrote: »

Anyone know how to get Odom 4th edition as a PDF?

I pulled the copy off the CDRom that came with the book.

gorebrush

mikej412 wrote: »

I pulled the copy off the CDRom that came with the book.

Now I'd thought of that one, but on this book, on my CD, there is no full PDF.

PsychoFin

mikej412 wrote: »

I pulled the copy off the CDRom that came with the book.

Yeah they used to do that in the past but now they just give you a measly Safaribooks Online 7 day trial

That goes for most of the Cisco books I've purchased recently.

Cheers,
Fin

gorebrush

Checking in for session 1 today.

Time to restart.

Got until about 2PM today, then have a few hours this evening as the wife is out with her friends.

mikej412

gorebrush wrote: »

Now I'd thought of that one, but on this book, on my CD, there is no full PDF.

I thought I found it on my hard drive after I installed the practice test engine. I think I followed one of the additional information or question explanation links.... and wondered where it was getting the text from if the CD had only had just some of the content in PDFs.

I guess it is possible I'm still thinking of the 3rd edition since I can't remember if I did the v3 or v4 Written exam -- and I have both the 3rd and 4th editions sitting next to each other within arms reach.

gorebrush

It probably is on the 3rd edition, but definitely not the 4th.

Doesn't matter now anyway, I have found a solution

Anyway, session 2 commence!

gorebrush

4 hours and all of chapter 1 of Odom read and have taken notes. A welcome return.

reaper81

Good start!

Keep that counter ticking, doesn't matter if its 4 hours at a time or 20 minutes, just stay active in your reading.

PsychoFin

Awesome! Get that reading done although it must get boring after the first hour or two hehe. I can't wait to get busy with it myself though!

gorebrush

The first chapter of any book I always find a bit dry and tedious.

Especially in the CCIE 4th Ed book. Ethernet basics.

However, no matter how tedious I perceive it to be, Ethernet is the building block of everything else, so cannot be ignored.

And besides, it's not like it's difficult, so does make for easy reading.

Hopefully will get an hour or two in on Chapter 2: VLAN's tonight.

gorebrush

Another two hours last night, did most of Chapter 2: VLAN's

Just need some more days like this and I shall be motoring through.

Turgon

gorebrush wrote: »

Another two hours last night, did most of Chapter 2: VLAN's

Just need some more days like this and I shall be motoring through.

The reading of this book is important. I suggest you cover one chapter each day and study every single day. You will want to do the end of chapter questions that are on Odoms CD and record your score. If you study like that you could be through Odom by the end of the months. Then do Odom's CD exam, first open book and then closed book. The questions you keep getting wrong, print out the solutions and study them. Then do the test again until you have topped out.

Then its the Boson test, then sit the exam end of May. If you get obliterated go back to the test engine in odom and boson and work it again, also read up on the questions that gave your trouble in the exam. Its almost impossible to just walk into a testing centre and pass this exam without serious preparation which is why it's one of the most dumped tests.

I think you can get up for the written exam by the end of May if you study every single day.

gorebrush

Very good, thanks for the heads up.

I think May will be ambitious given that I am on honeymoon (official honeymoon) from May 9-24th.

However, if you think May is attainable at my current pace, then I think I can settle for June given my own estimates were not quite as optimistic.

May consider booking it today in fact, that always helps with motivation.

PsychoFin

Yeeah!

Book it now! Go go go!

Cheers,
Fin

Turgon

gorebrush wrote: »

Very good, thanks for the heads up.

I think May will be ambitious given that I am on honeymoon (official honeymoon) from May 9-24th.

However, if you think May is attainable at my current pace, then I think I can settle for June given my own estimates were not quite as optimistic.

May consider booking it today in fact, that always helps with motivation.

Do it in June then. I have passed the written on three occasions in my life but also come up short more times than I care to remember on this test. You have to beast the preparation to pass the written, or simply cop out and buy the ****. I advise the former which is why you need to read flat out everyday for two months or it's not passable.

If you get stuffed when you take the exam dont worry, it's not an easy test to prepare for and sometimes you will require a few goes to get it done. Odom and Boson combined are not a magic bullet, sometimes you require the actual test experience to understand precisely what sort of things you need to understand well. There are a lot of things in the Odom book that are not tested in the way the book presents the information. You must understand protocol mechanics so you can look at a diagram or config and predict an outcome or behavior of traffic flow. Concentrate on understanding how things actual work and behave and study some configuration examples.

Take guards as an example, you will not be asked to regurgitate how they work as that is easily memorised. Instead you could be shown debug output and asked to declare what guard is in use. Alternatively to achieve a certain spanning tree or resilience objective you may be required on a diagram to select which guard to use and where. Fun. This is where you will learn how little you actually truely understand of these mechanisms.

gorebrush

Life happened last night, so no studies done.

However, me and my wife went out and met my old co-worker from my last place of work. Interesting how now they want to "bring IT back", where they had centralised due to me leaving.

If the price was right, I said...

Anyway, the wife is working this afternoon until 9:45, so I can get a good 3/4 hour session in tonight, and that sirs, is my plan.

gorebrush

June 20th = CCIE: R&S Written day.

PsychoFin

gorebrush wrote: »

June 20th = CCIE: R&S Written day.

Woot! I'm sure you'll crush it if you keep on studying at the same pace

Cheers,
Fin

gorebrush

I find booking it helps set a solid target date, and helps to keep motivation up.

How well it will work now remains to be seen

reaper81

Good luck! We have a good amount of people going for the prize now, some of us should make it.