CCIE Quick Reference Sheets

Paul#4 · June 2007

What do you think of this product by Cisco Press?

It seems like a good study tool to help evaluate and fill any potential holes...

dtlokee · June 2007

I would start with the Cisco LAN Switching (even though it is old it is still full of good information)then Routing TCP/IP vol 1 + 2 before moving on to a product to evaulate if you have any holes, you'll find plenty of holes just by reading those books. If you don't want to spend a bunch of cash on books you can get all the information you could want on the doc CD, and it's a good idea to become familiar with the layout of the doc CD for the lab. There is a danger in jumping to a product that is intended as a final review before taking the written to study core topics.

Good luck

Paul#4 · June 2007

I plan on attacking the CCIE a little different then most people, but definitely well thought out and prepared.

Thanks for the advice!

I'm approaching the written and Lab as two seperate entities, which is really what they are.
There is overlap, but the written usually has topics which are covered on the lab and vice versa.

I think reading 2000 pages of Doyle books along with 1000 pages of LAN switching is overkill for the CCIE written and also deviates from the other important topics.
I don't think reading those 3 books is going to help you for the CCIE written necessarily if you already have an understanding of routing and switching. The areas I need to focus on are areas like QOS, Multicast, and MPLS.
On the other hand, those 3 books are great tools for the LAB portion. They are great tools for written as well, but they might be overkill for the written.

Take for example Doyle vol. 1

I already have decent understanding of
EIGRP
OSPF
ACL
RIPv2

That is most of the book that pertains to the current CCIE lab and written

Doyle Vol 2

BGP
Multicast
NAT

I could definitely use some reading on this book.

I think a lot of people don't know how to study properly and this causes them to fail the CCIE.
Preparation is the most important key to success and not to overkill yourself with topics which aren't relevent.

Thanks!

dtlokee · June 2007

I plan on attacking the CCIE a little different then most people, but definitely well thought out and prepared.

Yeah because if it something works it's a good idea to change it.

Seriously, don't take this the wrong way but there is no shortcut to getting the CCIE certification. There is quite a bit of overlap between the lab and the written. I passed the CCIE written and I didn't study for it at all, I am a CCNP and I train people in CCNP courses all the time and even though I passed the written I found I was no where near ready to take the lab. I bought some practice labs from one of the vendors and began using them. I started to find that even though I had passed the written I could only complete about 30% of the tasks without looking at the solution guide. Sure I learned a few tricks and how to do them, but I was missing the fundamentals. I used the practice labs for about 6 months and attempted the lab, scored in the low 70's (didn't complete all the tasks because I had to look too much things up). Put away the practice labs, hit the books for a couple months and now I as I do the practice labs there are few things I can't complete. Keep in mind the labs are very good at giving you tasks to complete where you may be able to do 2 out of 3 in a section, guess what that equals? Zero points.

For example:

- Enable ospf area 0 on R1, R2, R3, R4 following the diagram.
- Advertise the loopback 0 interfaces of R1 and R2 into ospf
- Ensure routers R3 and R4 see these loopbacks with a /24 mask in the routing table
- Do not use the network command or the ip ospf network command on the loopback 0 interface to accomplish this.

3 points.

You miss one part of the question and you get nothing. IMHO you should not treat your written studies and your lab studies so differently, this may result in you passing the written and then spending 18 months trying studying for the lab, maybe even needing to take the written a second time because you've waited too long to attempt the lab and so on.

I am seriously only trying to give you the best advice I can based on my own experience and the information given to me by others. Everyone has their own way to attack something, I am not saying its wrong just in the long run it may not be the most effective way.

Paul#4 · June 2007

I hope the CCIE never becomes "fast trak" because then IT certs will become even more watered down.

Turgon · June 2007

Paul#4 wrote:

I plan on attacking the CCIE a little different then most people, but definitely well thought out and prepared.

Thanks for the advice!

I'm approaching the written and Lab as two seperate entities, which is really what they are.
There is overlap, but the written usually has topics which are covered on the lab and vice versa.

I think reading 2000 pages of Doyle books along with 1000 pages of LAN switching is overkill for the CCIE written and also deviates from the other important topics.
I don't think reading those 3 books is going to help you for the CCIE written necessarily if you already have an understanding of routing and switching. The areas I need to focus on are areas like QOS, Multicast, and MPLS.
On the other hand, those 3 books are great tools for the LAB portion. They are great tools for written as well, but they might be overkill for the written.

Take for example Doyle vol. 1

I already have decent understanding of
EIGRP
OSPF
ACL
RIPv2

That is most of the book that pertains to the current CCIE lab and written

Doyle Vol 2

BGP
Multicast
NAT

I could definitely use some reading on this book.

I think a lot of people don't know how to study properly and this causes them to fail the CCIE.
Preparation is the most important key to success and not to overkill yourself with topics which aren't relevent.

Thanks!

Paul, decent understanding of IGP's won't cut it for the CCIE I'm afraid. You are going to have to work through those big bad books the same as the rest of us! Do that and then you will realise what your level really is and what you have let yourself in for!

Over the years I have seen a lot of people marginalise important reading because they felt they knew more of less enough theory and before long, blam, they were lost in vendor practice labs.

They just didn't have enough understanding to begin with. So a lot of candidates try to compensate by memorising the solutions given with the vendor. They don't understand the how or the why, and often times what the problem *actually* is. They also obsess about speed and race through practice labs.

'I did 100 practice labs in 6 weeks. Why did I fail?' Because you don't understand stupid.

Read the Doyle books, read Caslow, read Halibi. You will find that the CCIE will require you to understand how all the protocols behave and misbehave when they are put together. This will be revealed to you in practice labs, but unless you have put the time in with books like these I'm afraid you will miss the point of the exercise entirely.

Good luck!

mikej412 · June 2007

Paul#4 wrote:

What do you think of this product by Cisco Press?

I like the Reference Sheet PDF files that come on the CD with the Cisco Press Flash Cards and Practice Exams, so if these are those, or similair, I think they're great for the final review before the exam. But if you're lucky they will highlight the topics you need to cover for the exam, but they won't teach you what you need to know and understand.

I'd go with using the Cisco Press Cert Guide (along with the Written exam Blueprint) to outline your study for the Written Exam. And I'd suggest you read Doyle, Hamilton/Clark, and Halabi. And I had the Caslow book (and thought it was great) even when I thought Cisco couldn't switch a packet to save their life.

InternetworkExpert also has their suggested Cisco Documentation links in their Lab Prep Resources section.

Paul#4 · June 2007

I really like InternetworkExpert for CCIE prep.
The fact that they use Dynamips puts me over the top with them!
I will definitely check those links out.

Thanks again

CCIE Quick Reference Sheets

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