Passed the Written Exam

Well, I can officially announce that I passed the CCIE R/S written exam today.  I actually scored pretty well, but it was a tough test (I thought that I had failed when I clicked the final next).  So, I am pretty happy; full-steam ahead on lab prep now.

Sunday

Well I cant even express or gauge how much time I have put into studying for the CCIE thus far.  I have my written scheduled, and just know that it is VERY soon.  I am, as always, a bit nervous going into the test...mostly because of the monetary costs, and it being the holidays and all.  Luckily my family and I are blessed enough to have the cash to put forward towards such a goal (some are not as fortunate).  Knowing this, when I do finally acheive my goal, I will aim to help others do the same.  I dont know how I will do this yet, maybe something like Stretch has done with a community lab or something.  Anywho, I feel pretty ready for the written, and am just reviewing my 80+ pages of typed notes, and refining them a bit as I go.  So, here is what I have used to study this far:

• Routing TCP/IP volumes I and II
• CCIE v4 Official Exam Certification Guide
• ALL of my CCNP books
• CCIE Routing and Switching Flash Cards (got these directly from Kevin Wallace's website for 25 bucks! He signed it and everything)
• Boson Test Engine ($99 bucks, pretty good)
• Cisco.com 
• Internetwork Experts CoD and lab books ( I bought the entire CCIE self-study package)

We will see...I just need to hit up my weak areas some more, and I have an idea for a pretty cool poster/diagram.  For instance...going into today I couldnt really deliniate between a PIM DR, and the winner of the ASSERT process...after a bit of research I finally cracked open my Rtg TCP/IP volume II and just got the answer...(the little things like this are really helping).

Progress towards the CCIE

Well I HAVE been chugging along for those of you following.  I came across this article by Petr Lapukhov over at INE, http://blog.ine.com/2010/10/09/how-to-pass-the-ccie-rs-with-ines-4-0-training-program/.  Since I purchased the program, I figured it couldn't hurt to follow how they think we should use it :)  So I am coming up on my written day pretty quick...to date I have read the CCIE R/S official cert guide, and Routing TCP/IP volumes 1 and 2 (dont forget I did the CCIP., so I have most the QoS, BGP, and MPLS stuff under my belt already).  I am going back through these books now, and refining my notes and knowledge in prep. for the written exam.  It is mind-boggling how much stuff there is to cover.  I have been labbing frequently as well.  In the last week I have done these labs in INE's volume 1 Workbook:
1.1-1.15
2.1-2.8
3.1-3.11
4.1-4.11
5.1-5.12
The labs have been good, some simple, some harder. I have for sure covered all of them in previous years studying for other exams, but the technology or technique has left me over time (use it or lose it!).  So I am going to keep going along, revisiting BGP next probably, then back over to QoS one last time.  Hunting trip next weekend, but I will be reading at night.

Later.