Hi Nicholas,
This is my take on this. First of all, you seem to have enough equipment. Don't worry about the 3560. At least not for now. 3550's are enough to get you going. You won't be able to do all of the tasks, but you Switching is only a fraction of the exam. You you'll have enough things to worry about ... for now. Regarding the exam itself, this is my recommendation: 1. Forget about the Written Test! Dive into the Labs and the Written will be so natural for you, that later you'll be able to pass it in a breeze! By doing so, you don't impose yourself the silly "18 months" limit to take the Lab Exam. So don't worry about it! 2. Go straight to Volume II Although BLS Volume I is an "excellent reference", believe me, you'll "waste" too much time trying to digest Volume I Labs. But the time you are done with the last focus Labs of Vol I, probably you would have forgotten the first ones! So why bother. Go ahead and dive into Vol 2! And if you don't know something, then use Vol I as a reference, although as you know, Google is your BEST FRIEND when you don't know something. If somebody had given me this same advice a while ago, I think I would have my CCIE number by now. But most people (and even Cisco) tell you to pass the Written Test first. That's definitely the wrong approach! I guess Cisco is just interested in collecting $400 for the Written Test. They don't really care whether you get your CCIE or not. That's my honest feedback. Take care! --- On Mon, 9/14/09, nicholas golden <[email protected]> wrote: From: nicholas golden <[email protected]> Subject: [OSL | CCIE_RS] Ye Old Timeless Question - The beginning. Where to start? To: [email protected] Date: Monday, September 14, 2009, 2:15 PM So here's the scoop and the timeless question where to begin? I've sifted through posts and this question is somewhat common but maybe I need a fresh view on it. What I mean is I went from the CCNA in March 09, to the CCNP just last week. I got laid off right when I finished my CCNA and said "Screw this, I'll show you and go for my CCIE" so I went the path of the CCNP to learn things along the way going towards the CCIE. I have not passed the written *yet* but that's coming. Now, I am sitting here with a ton of material and feel frozen on what to do next. I just passed the CCNP on Sept 2 2009 and took some time off, enjoyed labor day went wake boarding caught some air had fun etc. Now I am back and paralyzed on how and where to start. For the CCNP I have a close to CCIE level lab,(Lots of 3640's, one 3550 and 2522's, 2511 etc but missing the 3560s = $$$) but not enough really so I am renting rack time. Before I dive into the rack time I want to know opinions on what to do before that point. I have the following materials as of now: CCIE R&S guide 3rd edition (Pre ordered 4th edition which comes out this oct) Jeff Doyle Volume 1 and 2 (The bible I hear) IPExpert BLS (Of course!!) Some other material I am eyeballing, Qos Exam guide, some mpls books etc. At the moment, Im just identifying weak areas for me like BGP and Multicast and *some* QoS etc(I found QoS not that hard in comparison to BGP, maybe im crazy) so I know I need to work on those along with other areas to find out where I will get bit in the ass on. So the question is, assume I ID the weak areas and move on and I have NOT passed the written *yet* but at same time keeping skills sharp on my rack for my next job (crosses fingers, market is craptastic right now) how should I approach the written? Should I just read, practice what I read on the rack and re read to confirm move on and revisit it later for light review and to keep it fresh? I know when I passed the CCNP it was I would read something, go find a config for it set it up and see how it worked then re read it again and see if I could remember to set it up on my own and then break it to see what happens. Maybe it's just the allure and scariness of the CCIE but I need to know what others are doing and maybe adapt to it as I know I am embarking on truckloads of information about to descend on my brain to issue deep psychological abuse of memory cells. So, how does everyone do it? Longer post than I expected, but been contemplating it for a while and need some direction. Thanks, Nick -----Inline Attachment Follows----- _______________________________________________ For more information regarding industry leading CCIE Lab training, please visit www.ipexpert.com
_______________________________________________ For more information regarding industry leading CCIE Lab training, please visit www.ipexpert.com
