6 CCIE Strategy Mistakes You Encounter Frequently in the Exam

I passed the CCIE RS written exam version 4.0 and 5.0 and passed the SPOTO workbook and simulation lab to take these two versions of the laboratory exam. I tried the CCIE RS lab exam once in version 4. 0 and three times in version 5. 0. Now, I would like to share with you my experience in the CCIE strategy, especially the mistakes made to avoid the best chance of getting your numbers. There are mistakes we have encountered at Brussels, Sydney, Dubai, and Bangalore.

1 – Underestimate the total cost

Before you begin, you must consider the total cost. CCIE is very expensive; unless you live near the exam center, written exams may cost more than one, as well as travel and accommodation. There are also books, exercise books and optional but recommended training camps.

Soon, a rack with Cisco hardware is no longer required due to the presence of Cisco VIRL, GNS3, or other similar software. In some cases, however, the rental of a remote rack may be useful and at the expense of that.

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 examination is conducted at the Pearson / VUE examination Center with a Pearson / VUE fee. Please check the price of your country on its website and may increase the cost of going to the test center. Since there are many examination centers around the world, I didn’t calculate it.

The lab exam fee is the same worldwide: $ 1600.- including lunch. If you fail the exam, you can always say this is a very expensive meal.

For travel and hotel expenses, this depends on the connection and the travel you should make at the examination center. I have already talked about it in this article. Depending on your connection, you may or may not need to stay at the hotel the night after the test. Don’t forget that in the Cisco exam policy, if the device or system fails or the network is down during the exam, it may be delayed by two hours.

2- Variable costs

Books-no matter how good you are before you start learning CCIE, you have to read a few books! You can find many lists online. This list of Cisco Learning Networks provides you with a good idea.

If you are a CCNP level, Narcbik Kocharians’ new book looks promising: CCIE routing and switching v5.1 base: bridging the gap between CCNP and CCIE (practice studies). The laboratory must be very good after getting to know Narration.

An Important point: Do not read-only Cisco books! Please also read some of the vendor-independent books that focus more on protocols and theories, not IOS commands. Keep in mind that you learn to pass the Cisco exam, but at the same time become an expert in your field.

Go to Amazon, Cisco, and other online stores and list the first list. Read them and add the new book you need according to your self-assessment (I will introduce later). However, please purchase your book or e-book! Do not illegally download them. Think about the great work that the author has to write more than a thousand pages, including experiments and exercises. Respect their work!

Workbooks -Workbooks are very important for studying and practicing by yourself for the lab. Without workbooks, you can create labs to study a technology or behavior, but you will lose a lot of time to create your lab itself. The workbooks give you already the lab topology and you can focus on learning.

For the choice of suppliers, I will not leave only one supplier here. For CCIE v5.0, I made a SPOTO workbook and finally made a SPOTO Cisco expert lab. I have noticed that some issues have been dealt with very quickly at one supplier and more deeply at another, and vice versa.

Bootcamp – I think with today’s CCIE lab exam, it’s impossible to pass it without doing a Bootcamp.

Bundling workbook training camps may also be a good solution. For some suppliers, workbooks are already included in the training camp price, while others are expensive if you buy in bundles rather than separately.

If you want to buy a training camp or tie-in sales: please call and contact other suppliers! You may get more details on the site, and of course, there are better suggestions or other benefits. For a training camp, we are talking about a price of more than $4000. So you can ask a few questions before you buy.

3 – Do not make a realistic study plan

Unless you live alone in a cave, you must find enough time to study for CCIE without completely shelving your work, family, and social life. All right, no, please forget your social life before you pass the lab exam.

You need to read books, watch videos, and have to practice again. You will take part in a five-to ten-day training camp, which may be twice if you take part in one more time. In addition, the lab will take a few days. To this end, you must develop a good and realistic learning plan. This is the key to your CCIE strategy.

For example, study two to three nights a week, first one day on weekends. My suggestion is to schedule a period of four hours: for example, from 8:00 in the evening to midnight on Tuesday nights and four hours on Thursday nights. Then, for eight hours over the weekend, every four blocks are divided into two blocks, depending on you, sometimes on Saturday and Sunday mornings, sometimes all day, and the other day for free. It takes a total of 16 hours a week. The quantity is small, but this is a beginning. If you can, you can do more. However, if you have a family and have a lot of jobs, don’t "burn" yourself prematurely. Remember that CCIE learning is a marathon, not a sprint. Then, as you approach the exam, you can add one night a week and study all weekend.

Get an Excel file, write down the learning time scheduled for each day, and what you want to learn. For example, if you have 4 hours a day, plan a 2-hour reading time, and may schedule a video on a specific topic, and then take a 2-hour exercise.

At the end of 4 hours, make a note of the areas that are not clear and need to be reviewed. Check these points in a few weeks. Perform this operation for all the points of the blueprint, schedule the next month, and leave a few days for more experiments or to view the subject.

I would add two important points:

1-Do not agree to this schedule with your wife/husband/boyfriend/girlfriend. You must have the support of your family, which is crucial! Explain to them what learning CCIE means, discuss the necessary study time, exercises, training camps, and exams. Without their support, you will divorce before trying the written exam.

2-"Don’t explain that, if you don’t pass the lab test, there are more opportunities to learn." One of the main problems with CCIE is that the time required for the test is not defined in advance. You may need one year, two years, three years or more. When you get a degree or a master’s degree, you’ll know it will take two years, that’s all. It’s a lot of work, but you know when it’s over. Using CCIE is not the same, you must work hard, or the exam may fail. You must then try to work again because it is not passed. Explain to your family in advance to get their support.

3- Underestimate exercise time Some of the estimates (I think good) read on the Internet talk about 1000 hours of practice through the lab. Here, we only discuss the practice time of the practice part, not the video time of reading and learning wrote written test theory.

I made a mistake trying to take the v.4.0 exam in 2013: I did the entire SPOTO workbook experiment. Everything is right, except for a few minor mistakes. I thought, "Yes, I’m ready!" Oh, what a mistake! I couldn’t get a ticket through the troubleshooting section (73%), but I completely messed up the configuration. 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’m talking about my self-assessment. This is important. With an Excel table, copy and paste all the detailed points into the blueprint topic. Then, for each point, it is estimated that your skill is between zero and three:

Zero indicates that you have not seen this subject (protocol, configuration, etc.), no practice or troubleshooting experience.

1: You know it, but you are not sure how to configure it and not-shoot experience.

2: You know it, you know the process to configure it, but no deep experience.

3: You know it, you know the process to configure it, and you know how to debug it in detail.

Once you do this, you can solve your weaknesses. Reassess once a month, and then continue over and over again. The blueprint is huge; this is the only way to understand where you are and which subject you need to deal with again. But don’t skip the theme "3" completely. You also need to practice, or you will be unfamiliar with certain commands.

5- Do everything by yourself

As I wrote before, CCIE learning is a marathon, and sometimes you get lost. Become part of some study groups and, if possible, study with colleagues or friends. It is also important to interact with people with the same test scores.

There are also very good discussion forums for this, my favorites are:

The Cisco Learning Network forum, it is fantastic!

SPOTO has also a Facebook group.

The IEOC from SPOTO is also a good forum, more focused on INE workbooks.

6 – Think you had an easy exam

I made a mistake: in about two years, I worked very hard. I know every theme of the blueprint. Therefore, I am full of confidence in the laboratory exam in Brussels. At first, taking into account the number of votes and the number of correct answers, the exam went well, I know the T-SHOOT part is good. On the other hand, I had to spend nearly 20 minutes on the configuration section to set aside enough time for troubleshooting. Then the DIAG section begins, and I’m not sure what the answer is. Time flies. I began to be less confident about the CONFIG part. I began to make stupid mistakes, so I wasted my time correcting my mistakes. But overall, the task is not very 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.

I made a mistake here: I said to myself, "the exam is not that difficult. I just need to practice a little more in the configuration section to finish the task faster!"

After 30 days, I registered my first potential lab seat and began to practice the configuration part a day: I conducted the INE simulation lab and the CCIE expert-level lab at a time. Did I practice the trouble? No! Did I practice DIAG? No! Do I have a self-assessment to see if there are 120% of the blueprint topics that you don’t know? No! Guess what, the 30-day test result is a failure, a failure, and a failure!

Why? Well, first of all, because I’m not ready to pass the lab, I have only about 400 hours of practice. In a month between the two exams, I only had the configuration exercise, and I didn’t learn anything! My goal is to be faster, not to learn and to improve my weaknesses.

Don’t make this mistake, because, at the end of the second exam, you will be completely depressed and disappointed first. Then your family, friends, and colleagues may not understand how this is possible. As a result, you lost a month’s work and nearly $2000.10-

If you fail the exam, take your time to analyze why, where are your weakest points and how you can improve yourself.