For anyone thinking of taking the CCIE written

I came across this very-experienced engineer's blog, and here is his feedback on recently taking the CCIE written. He's a very bright guy and has been a senior engineer for a long time. If his feedback isn't encouraging, at least it's sobering.

CCIE R&S Written — Epic Fail (Again Again) | Aaron's Worthless Words

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Comments

networker050184

I'd say his problem is pretty obvious. "I actually studied 2 or 3 hours per night for a few weeks before the attempt." He needs to study more.

QHalo

Seems like he's winging it. He barely passed it, so he wasn't as ready as he could have been. Brute forcing the CCIE is not a tactic I would take with it. I'd be willing to bet that that mentality will carry over to his lab. I wouldn't take the Written until I was very close to ready to take the lab. Not sure why people do that and then suffer the pressure of an 18 month time frame to get ready. Seems like a great way to waste money. Do yourself a favor.

Dieg0M

"I actually studied 2 or 3 hours per night for a few weeks before the attempt." Seriously? What did he expect? There is no way he covered all the topics with 2-3 hours per night for a few weeks; "I had one or two questions that were talking about whole topics that were new to me".

Becoming a CCIE is not about how smart you are, it's about how bad you want it and how much you're willing to invest in yourself. It's a life commitment and it will have a major impact on how you define yourself as a person.

reaper81

People underestimate the written. Sure, it's nothing compared to the lab but you still need to study a lot for it. You need to have a broad knowledge but still know a lot of details. It is an expert level exam after all. I studied close to 250h for the written which would be almost 3 months of study at his pace but that is assuming 3h every day which is not realistic unless you have a lot of spare time. So for me it took about 6 months to go through it all and then I had no problems passing the written.

People think they know OSPF, EIGRP because "I configure that everyday at my work". Maybe you configure some IP addresses and enable OSPF but that does not make you an expert at OSPF. For most people it is enough but to become an expert you need to know all the LSAs, how is the DB synchronized. How is SPF run, and so on.

Some people aren't as well suited as others for taking tests either but mostly that's just a bad excuse. Just study harder and smarter and you will get there eventually.

Somnipotent

He's an expert alright... at blowing away money. It's not called expert without due cause. I've known senior engineers with 20+ years experience failing the CCNA so unless you're dedicated fully to the cause, the CCIE is going to be a monumental challenge beyond the likes you've ever met. I take his experience with a grain of salt. 2-3 hours a night, and 6-8 hours on the weekends should be more like it. Life takes a backseat for the moment.

down77

Many of us spend months or years studying for the CCIE Written exam and Lab. You will pass not when you deserve it, but when you earn it. I'm going through the process now for the SP track and I am still months out from my written exam attempt, even after passing the R&S track.

gorebrush

Is it wrong that I didn't find the Written exam very difficult?

QHalo

If you're properly prepared, I don't see how its wrong.

gorebrush

Well 180+ hours of study and 5 years with some experience, 12 months of that in a 100% Telecoms Support role certainly helps

gregorio323

gorebrush wrote: »

Well 180+ hours of study and 5 years with some experience, 12 months of that in a 100% Telecoms Support role certainly helps

I find it absolutely completely WRONG! I think you will need to provide all your notes to techexams.net for further review

you can e-mail them to me if you like to add to my notes.

Somnipotent

@gorebush... show off

. I'm with you, I work in managed network services for an ISP. Material isn't so hard, just lots of extra details to dig into. Plan on taking the written by December or January at this rate.

down77

gorebrush wrote: »

Is it wrong that I didn't find the Written exam very difficult?

I can totally understand. I scored ok on the written exam, but like you I had plenty of study time AND hands on experience to help. I think you may agree that if you didn't have the experience and dedication to training that you have, the exam probably would have been a bit more difficult.

amb1s1

I think that is going to be my tactic. I will be taking the test just when I fell ready for the lab.

amb1s1

down77 wrote: »

I can totally understand. I scored ok on the written exam, but like you I had plenty of study time AND hands on experience to help. I think you may agree that if you didn't have the experience and dedication to training that you have, the exam probably would have been a bit more difficult.

Thats why I always say that the hardest test for me was the CCNA, because I was clueless about network and I was not working on that field. Test are always hard when you are either have no knowledge or not prepare for it.

gorebrush

For sure- taking exams when you have a boatload of experience is a different world to when you don't.

I managed to pass enough exams to become an MCSA before I came a Systems Administrator, and that was a difficult period

Luckily it landed me the job I needed to progress so it paid off ultimately - that was 7 years ago now!

shodown

Written was tough for me. I got it on the 1st try, but I completely did a hail Mary strategy. I completely didn't study QOS, and only focused on what I knew best. I barley passed after 5-6 months of study. I"m not sure what that guy is expecting.

nerdydad

In my experience, if you are a solid NP and labbed everything during your NP studies, the written is fairly easy, there aren't many questions that are more in depth than NP. The lab prep though, oh good god, I knew nothing.