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I passed the CCIE R&S Written Tests Versions 4.0 and 5.0 and studied the two versions of the laboratory tests, including workbooks and simulation laboratories from many vendors from SPOTO, Narbik Kocharians/Micronics Training, and Cisco expert-level training. I tried a CCIER&S laboratory test on version 4.0 and three times on version 5.0. Now, I would like to share my experience with you about CCIE strategy, especially to avoid the mistake of losing the greatest opportunity to get your data.
1 – Underestimate the total cost
You must consider the total cost before you begin. CCIE is very expensive; Unless you live near the test center, there is a price for a written exam that may be more than one, plus travel and hotel. There are also books, exercise workbooks and optional but recommended training camps.
Not long ago, because of Cisco VIRL, GNS3 or other similar software, there was no need for a rack full of Cisco hardware. But renting remote racks can be useful in some cases and comes at a price.
Fixed costs (per attempt)
CCIE written exam fee: $ 495.- *
CCIE lab exam fee: $ 1600.-
Travel costs to the Cisco test center: from $ 200.- to $ 1000.- *
Check here for the Cisco official lab exam locations list.
Hotel near the test center for one or two nights: from $ 80.- to $ 400.- *
* This price may change depending on the location
The written test is completed at the Pearson/ VUE test center with the Pearson/ VUE charge, and the price of your country is queried on their website, and the cost of the test center can also be increased. I have not calculated this because there are many test centers in the world.
The lab exam fee is the same worldwide: $ 1600.- including the lunch. If you fail the exam, you can always say this is a very expensive meal.
For travel and hotel costs, this will depend on the connection and travel that you should do at the center of the exam. I’ve talked about it in this article. Depending on your connection, you may-or not-you need to stay at the hotel at the end of the test. Don’t forget that, in the Cisco exam policy, you can delay up to two hours if the device or system fails or the network is broken during the exam.
Variable costs
Books-no matter how good you are before you start learning CCIE, you must read several books! You can find many lists online. This list in the Cisco Learning Network can provide you with a good idea.
If you’re a new book on CCNP-level, Narbik Kocharians, it looks promising: CCIE routing and switching V5.1 basics: closing the gap between CCNP and CCIE (practical research). To know Narbik, the lab must be very good.
An important point: don’t read only Cisco books! Also, read vendor-independent books that focus more on protocols and theories than on IOS commands. Keep in mind that you learn to pass the Cisco exam, but also become an expert in your field.
Go to Amazon, Cisco Press, and other online stores and make the first list. Read them and add the new books you need based on your self-assessment (I’ll look back later). However, please buy your books or e-books! Don’t download them illegally. Think of the author writing a book of more than 1000 pages, including laboratories and exercises, which is a very necessary task. Have some respect for their work!
Workbook-workbook is very important for yourself to study and practice in the laboratory. If you don’t have a workbook, you can create a lab to study technology or behavior, but you will waste a lot of time creating your own lab. The workbook already provides you with a lab topology that you can focus on.
Note: if you want to take the CCIE RS certification exam, and get some helpful books. you can contact us now and we guarantee you can pass the exam in the first try.
For the choice of suppliers, I will not only work with one supplier. For CCIE v5.0, I made IP-Expert workbooks, then some SPOTO workbooks, then Narbik Kocharians / Micronics Training workbooks and Bootcamp, finally made some Cisco expert laboratories. I noticed that some suppliers handle it very quickly at one supplier, deeper at another, and vice versa.
Training camp-I don’t think it’s possible to pass today CCIE lab exam without training. Bundling workbook training camps may also be a very good solution. For some suppliers, workbooks are included in the training camp price, and if you tie it separately instead of everything, others will have a high price. If you want to buy a training camp or bundling: take your phone and call different suppliers! You may get more details on the site, and of course, there are better proposals or other benefits. For the training camp, we talked about the price of more than $4000. So you can ask a few questions before you buy them.
2 – Do not make a realistic study plan
Unless you live alone in a cave, you must find enough time to learn your CCIE without having to give up your work, family and social life completely. Well, no, please forget your social life until you pass the test.
You have read books, videos to watch, and you have to practice practice and practice. You’re going to leave a five-day or ten-day training camp, and if you take a second training camp, you maybe twice. In addition, the lab will take a few days. To this end, you must build a good and realistic learning plan. This is the key to your CCIE strategy.
This is an example: study two to three nights a week, initially on a weekend. My advice is to make four-hour building blocks: for example, 4 hours Tuesday night, 4 hours Thursday night, 8 p.m. to midnight. Then, eight hours on the weekend, four in two blocks. Arrive at you, sometimes Saturday and Sunday morning, sometimes all day, make the day before free. This brings a total of 16 hours a week. It’s not a lot, but it’s a start. If you can, you can do more. But if you have a family and a lot of work, don’t "burn" yourself prematurely. Remember that CCIE learning is a marathon, not a sprint. Then, when you are closer to the exam, you can add one night in a week and study all weekend.
Get the Excel file and write down the scheduled study time and what you will learn every day. For example, if you have four hours a day, you can plan 2 hours of reading, or you can select a video on a specific topic and then practice for 2 hours.
At the end of 4 hours, please write down the unclear content and the content that needs to be reviewed. And review these views in a few weeks. Do this for all points of the blueprint, plan in advance for the next few months and keep some blank days to create more laboratory or review topics.
I would add two important points:
2b – Don’t reach this timetable with your wife /husband/boyfriend/ girlfriend. You must have the support of your family. This is essential! Explain to them what CCIE learning means, talking about the necessary study time, exercises, training camps, exams. If you do not have their support, you will divorce before trying the written exam.
2c – Don’t explain, if you don’t pass the lab exam, one of the main problems with more learning CCIE is that the time it takes to pass the exam is not determined in advance. It may take you a year, two years, three years, or more. When you study for a degree or master degree, you know it takes you two years. It’s a lot of work, too, but you know when it’s going to end. Unlike CCIE, you must work hard. Maybe you fail the exam. Then you have to work again, and it’s harder because you didn’t pass. Explain it to your family in advance to get their support.
-underestimate some of the estimates seen online about lab practice time-I think it’s good-talk about 1000 hours of practice through the lab. Here we only discuss the lab part of the practice time, not reading and video time to understand the theory of written exams.
I made this mistake in the 2013 lab to try the v.4.0 exam: I finished the entire SPOTO workbook lab, and almost every lab I had a faster time than the SPOTO. Everything is right, except for some small errors. I think: "Yes, that’s it. I’m ready!", it’s a mistake! My troubleshooting section is likely to have only one ticket (73%), but I totally screwed up the configuration section. Why? Because I’m not ready!
The practice is the key and 1000 hours of labs are not exaggerated!
4- Do not make a self-assessment
I talked about the self-assessment above. This is very important。 Get the Excel worksheet, copy and paste the blueprint topic into it, all details. Then, for each point, your skills are estimated to be between zero and three:
Zero means you’ve never seen this topic (protocol, configuration, whatever it is), no practice, no troubleshooting experience.
1: you know, but you’re not sure how to configure it. You have no shooting experience.
2: you know, you know the process of configuring it, but you don’t have deep experience.
3: you know, you know the process of configuring it, and you know how to debug it in detail. Once you do this, address your weaknesses. And reassess it once a month and continue over and over again. Blueprints are huge; this is the only way to understand your location and topics that need to be used again. But don’t skip the theme with "3" completely. You also need to practice this, or you will rust some commands.
5- Do everything by yourself
As I wrote before, CCIE learning is a marathon, and sometimes you may get lost on the road. Become a member of some research groups and, if possible, study with colleagues or friends. It is also important to communicate with people on the same test track
There are also very good discussion forums for this, my favorites are:
The Cisco Learning Network forum, it is fantastic!
Narbik has also a Facebook group.
The IEOC from INE is also a good forum, more focused on INE workbooks.
6 – Think you had an easy exam
I made this mistake: I worked hard for about two years. I know every theme of the blueprint. So, I’m full of confidence in the lab test in Brussels. I know that the T-SHOT part is good at the beginning of the exam, taking into account the number of tickets and the number of correct answers. On the other hand, I have to borrow about 20 minutes on the configuration section to provide a sufficient score for troubleshooting. Then the DIAG started, and I’m not sure the answer, the time flies very fast. I’m starting to be less in confidence in the CONFIG. I’m starting to make a stupid mistake, so I don’t have time to fix my mistakes. But overall, the task is not too difficult. In the end, I could not finish. I felt I needed one hour more to finish everything. In the evening, I received the result: pass – pass – failed.
And here I did the mistake: I said to myself: “the exam is not so difficult, I just need a little bit more practice for the configuration part, to be able to go faster and that’s it!”
I signed up for the first possible lab seat 30 days later, and I began to practice the configuration section every day: I did the INE simulation lab and the CCIE expert lab over and over again. Did I practice troubleshooting? No! Have I practiced DIAG? No! Have I conducted a self-assessment to see if there are any blueprints that I do not know about 120%? No! Guess, 30 days later, the result of the exam is: failure-failure!
Why? Well, first of all, I’m not ready to pass the lab, so I’ve only practiced about 400 hours. In the month between the exams, I only made a configuration exercise and didn’t learn anything! My goal is to speed up, not to learn and to raise my weakest point. Don’t make that mistake because, at the end of the second test, first you are completely demoralized and disappointed. Then your family, friends, and colleagues may not be able to understand how it is possible. You’ve lost a month of work, about $2,000. - If you fail in the exam, take a moment to analyze why, where and how to improve yourself.
Good Luck!
About SPOTO:
SPOTO focus on online IT Certification training for 16 years. SPOTO offers 100% real and valid Cisco CCNA, CCNP, CCIE, ISC, Amazon AWS, Microsoft, and other IT exam practice tests. And we have many free online training courses of Cisco exam on YouTube. You can find many useful and helpful tips and suggestions. If you’re still worried about to prepare and pass the Cisco exam, try SPOTO now. SPOTO tutors will help you get the CCIE number at the first try.
