My CCNP Route thread

phoeneous

You should put a gns3 lab together, break it, then post it here to see who can figure it out first. I did a couple a few months ago.

gorebrush

Cisco 2511 Access Server ftw!

Iristheangel

Yep. I've downloaded those lab manuals before. Good stuff

Iristheangel

After 2 weeks of traveling and working until almost midnight every night, I'm finally back into my study schedule. Completely 5 labs yesterday and shooting for 5 more while at work today. I'm definitely not going to make the test by the end of this month with all the starting and stopping but things should get easier after the 8th of November...

Hammer80

I gotta ask, where do you find the time to study? Between work duties, house duties, and spending a little bit of time with my wife I can barely squeeze in 1-2 hours a day to study and I don't even have children. Could you post your study schedule and post some ideas on how to study effectively?

Iristheangel

Sure thing. I get up REALLY early to make sure I have time to study. Schedule goes like this:
4:30 - Wakeup
5:15 - Out the door
5:45 - Pick up my friend for carpool
6:10 - At work
6:40 - Done with makeup and hair (I'm a girl. I like looking clean and crisp for work)
6:41 - 8 AM - Certification Studies
8-8:30 - If there is nothing pressing, keep studying
12-1PM - Lunch Time == Study time
5PM - Leave work and pick up carpool buddy
6:30PM - Get home after dropping off the carpool buddy
6:30 - 7:30/8 - Slack off, eat, hang out with the lady, whatever
8 - 10PM - Study time between distractions

Rinse, repeat, etc.

As far as optimizing study time, I have earplugs, take lots of notes, and try to incorporate what I learn into my work as often as I can combined with labbing Once you get into a good schedule and habit of studying, it gets a LOT easier to crack open the book every day. It's disruptions to the routines that hurt you

Hammer80

That's awesome! I seriously need to look at my schedule, obviously I am wasting a lot of precious time.

gorebrush

Finding a schedule and sticking to it is half the battle.

I work 12 hour shifts, and 4 of them, so my typical 8 day routine: -

Day 1 - Up at 6am, at work for 7am-7pm, eat then spend time with the wife
Day 2 - Up at 6am, at work for 7am-7pm, eat then spend time with the wife, stay up very late gaming/studying (I mean until 5-6am)
Day 3 - Sleep until 3pm, at work for 7pm-7am. If quiet, study.
Day 4 - Sleep until 3pm, at work for 7pm-7am. If quiet, study.
Day 5 - Up at 12pm - Don't study today, generally relax
Day 6 - Up at 7am - Study all day until 7pm, then spend time with the wife
Day 7 - Up at 7am - Study all day until 7pm, then spend time with the wife
Day 8 - Up at 7am - Study all day until 7pm, then spend time with the wife

Rinse repeat. I am lucky that with this kind of schedule I can hit 50-60 hours of study a week but that's on a best case scenario. Usually if work is busy at night or I have to go do things on the 3 days off then this cuts into my study time but I do my best to follow this schedule and it's that schedule that has let me pass CCNA Security, Firewall, and the CCIE Written this year with only a few months really spent on each.

EDIT: Also, having a very understanding Wife is important and I am very lucky she lets me get on with it. She provides good moral support and fully understands that my IT career will mean more exams in the future. Yep, I'm glad I married her

Danielh22185

gorebrush wrote: »

Finding a schedule and sticking to it is half the battle.

I work 12 hour shifts, and 4 of them, so my typical 8 day routine: -

Day 1 - Up at 6am, at work for 7am-7pm, eat then spend time with the wife
Day 2 - Up at 6am, at work for 7am-7pm, eat then spend time with the wife, stay up very late gaming/studying (I mean until 5-6am)
Day 3 - Sleep until 3pm, at work for 7pm-7am. If quiet, study.
Day 4 - Sleep until 3pm, at work for 7pm-7am. If quiet, study.
Day 5 - Up at 12pm - Don't study today, generally relax
Day 6 - Up at 7am - Study all day until 7pm, then spend time with the wife
Day 7 - Up at 7am - Study all day until 7pm, then spend time with the wife
Day 8 - Up at 7am - Study all day until 7pm, then spend time with the wife

Rinse repeat. I am lucky that with this kind of schedule I can hit 50-60 hours of study a week but that's on a best case scenario. Usually if work is busy at night or I have to go do things on the 3 days off then this cuts into my study time but I do my best to follow this schedule and it's that schedule that has let me pass CCNA Security, Firewall, and the CCIE Written this year with only a few months really spent on each.

EDIT: Also, having a very understanding Wife is important and I am very lucky she lets me get on with it. She provides good moral support and fully understands that my IT career will mean more exams in the future. Yep, I'm glad I married her

Oh the dreaded 12 hour shifts. Looks like your schedule is similar to mine. I hardly have any time / energy to study on days I work. Usually an hour a day is about all I can fathom. 2 hrs is really really stretching it for me. I do also have extended amounts of days off like it seems you do as well which helps make up that time lost.

Iristheangel

Set the date of the test! I'm taking it on 11/23/13! Woohoo! Feeling pretty good actually

aaron0011

Iristheangel wrote: »

Set the date of the test! I'm taking it on 11/23/13! Woohoo! Feeling pretty good actually

You'll kill it I am sure. I haven't been studying as hard as I should be. I took a break on ROUTE and read the CCDA Cert Guide. Need to schedule the test to cross that off the list and get back to ROUTE.

phoeneous

Iristheangel wrote: »

Set the date of the test! I'm taking it on 11/23/13! Woohoo! Feeling pretty good actually

Mine is on the 15th. Good luck!

Iristheangel

Labbing BGP this week. I'm really starting to feel solid in my knowledge of the core subjects. I've also been jumping into RouterGod's meetups. They've been amazing to watch and configure along with when I want to get outside a book. Though it isn't part of some test or anything, the one on MPLS yesterday was awesome. Configuring my test network as an MPLS network with an IGP and BGP was pretty fun and verifying it was fun. I suggest everyone check Routergods out on Meetup or you can look at the video from yesterday:
RouterGods - Beginner MPLS - YouTube

They do CCIE, CCNP, and other specific non-certification subjects if you want to get your feet wet in something else network related. It's free and they pretty much give you the GNS3 topologies they are going to use for the meetup.

I'm only a few weeks away from my test. Feeling great. I probably won't be studying as much as I would like in the next few days. My company has me driving about 3 routers, 3 L3 switches, and 48 switches up to SF in a cargo van to do a huge buildout for one of our largest sites in the US (the picture says it all). I'm pretty sure I'll be busy as hell the entire time but if I get a free moment, I'll be whipping out GNS3 and labbing away!

Legacy User

Geez why don't they have it all shipped to the customer site?

Iristheangel

Because I have to go up there anyways and its cheaper to rent a van, pay mileage and gas. Shipping it overnight would have Bern $100-150 per box times 60 boxes or so. I work for a rather large international company but they don't mind saving money when can

Danielh22185

Good Luck I am thinking I will probably schedule my 2nd attempt around that time too.

Legacy User

Makes sense and good luck on your exam. I'm sure it'll be a walk in the park for you.

Mike_46

I also think the FLG is better than OCG. I got the CBT Nugget CCNP, Christ Bryant new CCNP vids, and Trainsignal, which is now called Pluralsight. I like Jeremy for CBT, but his videos are to long. I like Chris Bryant's and Joe Rhinehart's of Plurasight teaching style, they get to the point!

Iristheangel

Alright, I'm 6 days away from my Route exam. Feeling good but labbing heavily just in case. I'm feeling pretty good and that I'm going to pass Route on Saturday!

Danielh22185

Iristheangel wrote: »

Alright, I'm 6 days away from my Route exam. Feeling good but labbing heavily just in case. I'm feeling pretty good and that I'm going to pass Route on Saturday!

I have no doubt you will!

Dieg0M

Good luck. Remember like in every cisco exam to read every word. I'm sure you won't have any trouble with the labs.

Iristheangel

Thanks all! Mentally, I'm just tired of reading the same Route material and have had to move on mentally to other things to keep learning new and keep things fun for me.

snadam

Good luck on the 23rd!

fredrikjj

Good luck!

Master Of Puppets

I think you won't have much trouble with this one taking into account how well you prepared. Good luck!

Iristheangel

Less than 24 hours from the big exam. Crazy thing is that I'm working super late today (2 AM) and have to be at work tomorrow at 7AM. We'll see if I can pass this thing while dead tired!

I've been studying for this one test for about 8 months now so if I can't pass it at this point, I'm in the wrong field of work

Legacy User

Its not fair to put that type of pressure on yourself. You said it yourself you have work that may leave you worn out before the test. Once its go time for the test try a 5 hour energy 30 minutes before to keep you up and focused during the test.

Good luck even though you we all know you don't need it.

Iristheangel

Well... Test day is here and its been insane so far. Apparently i picked the wrong testing center and had to rush from West Los Angeles to El Monte just to find the testing center closed. Im literally sitting outside the testing center waiting for any human being to show up and my test was suppose to start 15 minutes ago! Lets hope someone shows up and ive expelled all my bad luck for the morning. It would suck to have to reschedule and keep the test anxiety going for another week

Iristheangel

After waiting 30 minutes for someone to show up and the testing center guy forgetting his password to login to the machine, I finally took the test. It was a pretty difficult but fair test. I totally failed one of the sims. I had a brainfart and completely had the answer on the edge of my brain but after 10 minutes of staring at the screen and testing various commands, I moved on. I ended up passing with a 906 which isn't bad considered I full on skipped one of the sims!

Nice to see some resolution to 8 months of studying. One more exam and I'm a CCNP...

Legacy User

Congrats! From what i here the tshoot should be a breeze.