ONT Scheduled (Feb 9th, 2010 1pm)

qplayed

Time to take this one down after that I have 4 months to complete BCMSN and ISCW.

networker050184

Good luck! Four months will be tight for two exams, but with the right motivation I'm sure you can knock them out.

billscott92787

4 months you can do it. I did the BCMSN in 2 months. I'm not sure about ISCW though. How long did it take you to pass the BSCI?

Mrock4

Good luck

qplayed

I'm already in the review/lab phase of BCMSN(self-study), I'm also in the academy, it'll help to keep things fresh. I can stretch BCMSN all the way to May if I don't feel like I can pass in one shot. I will still try to shoot for March though.

I haven't touched ISCW yet, I'll take a serious crack at it after I take ONT this coming tuesday. I've been pounding the books since I finishe BSCI last Dec. It took me a while to do BSCI because of 2 jobs, school and family.

I feel very confident with ONT, I'm also paying the wireless section some good attention. I hear a lot of people get hit with a left hook with it

My complete date is set for June since I originally thought the exams will expire on that month. July will be a buffer in case I hit a road bump.

SysAdmin4066

Knock that ish out, make it tap

Mrock4

SysAdmin4066 wrote: »

Knock that ish out, make it tap

True words of a marine...

Me, personally, I don't buy into that whole hoorah thing......











hooah

aldous

dont panic on ONT i did it yesterday (passed 866 score!) and after two weeks intensive cramming of the book, train signal and nuggets was able to pass (by comparison i'll be doing BSCI next week after 6 months of books vids and labs) its almost like a ccna exam.

cant say much more without breaking the NDA but look at the "key topics" in the official book and it will help alot

qplayed

transcender is kicking my ass on the wireless section...exam is tomorrow..i have only todya to review...any suggestions?

qplayed

wow....am I the only person not using p$s? seems like everyone I know (except here?) is using it as "final review"...is there something wrong with me/us? or are we the last honest group/forum?

chrisone

I do not encourage ****, but, Well there is a lot of people that dont like it here, ive heard and seen many honest and trust worthy engineers use it as well as a final prep. Without getting to that debate and destroying this thread, i believe it all comes down to how you perform at the Job.

In other words, "it doesn't matter how you get to the playoffs, all that matters is that your there and how you perform."

go Lakers! jijiji

mikej412

chrisone wrote: »

ive heard and seen many honest and trust worthy engineers use it as well as a final prep.

Final Prep? Is that what all the "honest" and "trustworthy" engineers call CHEATING now?

chrisone wrote: »

In other words, "it doesn't matter how you get to the playoffs, all that matters is that your there and how you perform."

Sort of like Steroids and Baseball? It's okay as long as you don't get caught -- and keep denying it if caught.

mikem2te

qplayed wrote: »

wow....am I the only person not using p$s? seems like everyone I know (except here?) is using it as "final review"...is there something wrong with me/us? or are we the last honest group/forum?

At the 5 day CCNA Course I went on last year they actually handed out some **** PDFs. I had a quick read just after the course and got around 25%. Goes to show how bad the course was, or my lack of attention span, I can't think which

It did surprise me they would do that but thinking back the course was for a CCNA exam that was retired in 2003, no IPv6, wireless, eigrp etc. The newest hardware in the labs was a 1900 switch. Maybe them handing out **** was the only way the candidates would actually pass. Needless to say I was annoyed with the course providers but I didn't pay for the course so can't complain. After that I spent £2000 on a lab, bought the books and studied hard (the books that is, not the ****).

mikej412

mikem2te wrote: »

Maybe them handing out **** was the only way the candidates would actually pass. Needless to say I was annoyed with the course providers but I didn't pay for the course so can't complain.

It was the only way they could inflate their "certification rate" so that they could keep raking in the training budgets from clueless companies for their worthless training.

gorebrush

Goddamn cheaters p*** me off.

qplayed

mikej412 wrote: »

Final Prep? Is that what all the "honest" and "trustworthy" engineers call CHEATING now?


Sort of like Steroids and Baseball? It's okay as long as you don't get caught -- and keep denying it if caught.

I know right..

It really sucks to study your ass off and then see just **** their way to a cert. Oh well, I'll just have to push for CCIE, at least I know they can't **** their way to a # .

SysAdmin4066

Mrock4 wrote: »

True words of a marine...

Me, personally, I don't buy into that whole hoorah thing......











hooah

Just what i'd expect from a soldier, I think Oohrah sounds much cooler At work we've got all four branches and we have wars every day lol.

SysAdmin4066

Honestly I dont care what anyone else is doing. My concern is what's best for me and my career. The world is dog eat dog, and whatever advantage I can get, I will take. On the same token, if you dont know what you're doing, you wont get past very many technical interviews, let alone probation. The probation period for my current position is 1 year, and people are let go all the time before their time is up.

It's pretty simple, either you are a proficient IT pro or you arent. Proficient doesnt mean you know everything, I consider a good IT pro to have a solid base skillset, and to be able to figure out the rest as needed. Just my .02. So qplayed, have a great exam, i'm sure you'll do fine, regardless of what anyone else is doing. And most importantly, you have learned something from this experience. Good luck, i'll be right there with you in a few.

sides14

A 1 year probationary period is a long time. It would be hard to bite your tongue for that long before upsetting someone.

mikem2te

SysAdmin4066 wrote: »

It's pretty simple, either you are a proficient IT pro or you arent. Proficient doesnt mean you know everything, I consider a good IT pro to have a solid base skillset, and to be able to figure out the rest as needed.

So true. The most important skill in IT is not being able to build servers or configure routers, it is the ability to find out how to do it and then apply that knowledge. It amuses me to see the certs some people have on these forums, I know some people have loads of Cisco certs but atleast they are all related to one subject, its the guys who have MCSE, CCNP, MCAD, MCSD & MCITP certs. There is no way an average person can take all that on, remember it all and be effective.

SysAdmin4066 wrote: »

Honestly I dont care what anyone else is doing. My concern is what's best for me and my career. The world is dog eat dog, and whatever advantage I can get, I will take.

IMO it depends on how **** are being used, if you are the sort of person who does all the studying then has a quick look at some **** and gets 95% of the answers right then thats not so bad, it may just mean you would get 98% in the exam rather than 95%. Its the people who would get 50% before looking at the **** then 81% after I find annoying.

Looking at some of the "other" forums on the internet the number of posts of people looking for the latest **** is pretty shocking. You get the impression their world is going to cave in if they don't get the latest 423 question rather than the older 402 question ****. Completely absurd.

Needless to say I only use this forum nowadays, much better quality. We should congratulate ourselves on being able to ask intelligent questions and getting good quality answers in the forums. Unlike in the "other" forums where a typical question goes something like "I have ccent tomoorow,what vtp does" comlete with the bad grammar.

Sorry for ranting, I'm suffering from CWS (Cisco widthdrawl symptoms) while I'm studying a Microsoft cert

qplayed

few hours left...i'm gonna go hit up ebay to calm the nerves
need to find good prices for R&S lab upgrade

DevilWAH

Good luck..... enjoy it

I tell you what i did get from cisco for my CCNA Security (As we are talking about ****)

The "Digital editions CCNA security quick reference" it was the only study material I purchased and really used.

90 page overview of the different topics, its great, no way could you pass from reading it, but I found once i had studied a topic it was a great way to see if i knew the topic.

I think flashcards and these kinds of things are great, just becasue (for me at least) they give a more througher overview of the topices than the blue prints. but not enough infor taht you can really learn from them. So I read a few, bit, then hit google, and play around with it a bit. Not read a single CISCO certification guide or studybook yet.

Any way sorry to digress. good luck in the exam and let us know how it goes.

qplayed

no cigar boys....I got ***** slapped by AutoQos
777

For the record...I hate GUI...i'll take the CLI any day anywhere@!

DevilWAH

aww man sorry to here that... sure you get it on the retake. And no reason not to have the cigar anyway.

I not used QOS in anger yet, its one area that really interests me but just not been in a position with network to use it.

Mrock4

qplayed wrote: »

no cigar boys....I got ***** slapped by AutoQos
777

For the record...I hate GUI...i'll take the CLI any day anywhere@!

Nice try. At least we know your studying techniques are "on the level" ..best of luck next time. You're not that far.

Mrock4

SysAdmin4066 wrote: »

Just what i'd expect from a soldier, I think Oohrah sounds much cooler At work we've got all four branches and we have wars every day lol.

Same here. I've grown pretty proficient at dishing it out between the services..it's always one of those "just kidding..but not really" kind of things. Each service has it's quirks..I know the Army surely does.

qplayed

Mrock4 wrote: »

Nice try. At least we know your studying techniques are "on the level" ..best of luck next time. You're not that far.

yea talk about a left hook

mikej412

qplayed wrote: »

no cigar boys

One beer -- and then back to the books (and lab).

Good Luck on the rematch.

Okay, take the night off, drink lots of beers and get back to study tomorrow.

qplayed

your crazy....there's no night off...777? that **** pisses me off and back ot books it is a quesadilla and coffee tonight and a few QoS labs

mikej412

It looks like you've already shaken it off.... so full study ahead!!!

chrisone

mikej412 wrote: »

Final Prep? Is that what all the "honest" and "trustworthy" engineers call CHEATING now?


Sort of like Steroids and Baseball? It's okay as long as you don't get caught -- and keep denying it if caught.

I totally understand and agree with you, im just pointing out that i have met and worked with reliable very trustworthy and dependable engineers that said they used a **** for final review. I have worked with a CCIE security who said he did that for the written part and then studied for the Lab part. The guy is beyond my knowledge of expertise and hes pursueing his CCIE in voice now. I dont work with the guy anymore but the guy knew his stuff and worked on very huge and big major projects.

I am in no way saying using **** are ok or fine, just pointing out the fact ive met people who have but also were very good engineers. Also my poor sports reference was meant to be like "regular season = job interview, Playoffs = Job performance" I just mean that you will get caught in the playoffs (job) if you dont perform to your resume qualities. Eh i know bad example...


Also , sorry about the failed exam. It happens , just continue to climb that mountain and you will eventually get over it.