I now have 132 study days left before my first attempt at the CCIE Lab exam in Routing and Switching v4.
I have started a complete study guide mapping out exactly what I am going to be doing between now and the big day.
This consists of ensuring I do every Vol II lab again, I also have a plan for mock labs starting in January and I also have a couple Cisco 360 assessment labs booked for next year.
I have ramped up my nightly study schedule and am aiming for 3 hours a night, and am also starting a full lab every Saturday morning. Then subject to family time I will either finish this in the afternoon or Sunday morning. I have all the Christmas period off so will be doing a lot more labs then and am also trying to plan how much time I can take off before the lab to do more back to back labs.
I will be posting daily as a way to put my notes from the day somewhere I can reference them, rather than on a scrap of paper that I will not look at again.
132 days left study notes
This afternoon I did INE VolII troubleshooting Lab 1. This hit on one of my weak areas which is Frame Relay.
I need to put some time in this evening on Frame Relay troubleshooting.
It also highlighted another issue with MPLS route leaking which I will be working on more this weekend and will probably do a blog post about that as it is something I need to get solid in my head.
Roger
Hi,
Ive just passed my written so my journy is just beginning – I think I may start a blog like this, I bet it helps keep you organised on what youve done / need to do and a good reference when looking back. I havent found that many from the UK with sites ike this, its really good. I think my biggest struggle with finding study time will be explaining to my wife that study sessions will last 8 hours! Have you booked a lab exam in Brussels?
Hi Chris,
Not every study session is going to be 8 hours! That is what you are aiming for to be able to go into your study area and sit down and focus on your lab for 8 hours without checking facebook, doing emails, falling asleep etc etc. Most of your study sessions from now on will be focussed study sessions on a specific topic, don’t through yourself in the deep end and try an 8 hour lab or study session as you will only want to give up before you’ve started. Build it up gently. The trick with your wife is explain to her what you are doing, that it will take a lot of time, and work out a routine, i.e Study M-T Friday off – longer session Saturday Sunday off. She needs to be with you on this otherwise it will make it very tough going and you will either give up or lose your marriage. The CCIE is not worth losing your wife over so talk it over and explain the benefits at the end.
My lab is booked for the 26th April
Regards
Roger