I successfully passed the CCIE R&S written exams versions 4.0 and 5.0. I prepared for the lab exams for both versions using workbooks and mock labs from vendors such as INE, IPexpert, Narbik Kocharians (Micronics Training), and Cisco expert-level training. And I attempted the CCIE R&S lab exam once on version 4.0 and three times on version 5.0. In this post, I would like to share my experience with the CCIE strategy and particularly the mistakes to avoid to maximise your chances of passing.

6 CCIE strategy mistakes

 

1 – Underestimate the total cost

Before you start, you must think about the total cost. The CCIE is very expensive; there is the price of the written exam, the lab exam, maybe more than one, plus the travel and hotel, unless you live near a test center. There are also books, practice workbooks, and maybe an optional but recommended bootcamp.
>Now, having a rack full of Cisco hardware is no longer necessary, thanks to Cisco VIRL, GNS3, or other similar software. But renting a remote rack can be useful in some situations, and there is also a cost for 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 exam is done at a Pearson/VUE test center; there is a Pearson/VUE fee, check on their website for the price for your country, and include the cost to travel to the test center. As there are many test centers around the world, I did not calculate this.
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 the travel and hotel costs, it depends on the connections and the travel you need to take to be at the test center. I already talked about it in this post. Depending on your connection, you may or may not need to stay at the hotel the night after the test. Do not forget that in the Cisco exam policy, in case of equipment or system malfunction or network outage during the exam, you can have a delay of up to two hours.

 

Variable costs

Books

Whatever your level, before starting to study for the CCIE, there are several books you must have read! You can find many lists on the web. This list from Cisco learning network can give you a good idea.

If you are CCNP level, a new book from Narbik Kocharians looks very promising: CCIE Routing and Switching v5.1 Foundations: Bridging the Gap Between CCNP and CCIE (Practical Studies). Knowing Narbik, the labs must be really good.

An important point: do not read only Cisco books! Read also some vendor-independent books that focus more on the protocols and theory rather than on the IOS commands. Remember, you study to pass a Cisco exam, but also to become an expert in your field.

Go to Amazon, Cisco Press, and other online shops and make a first list. Read them, then later add the new books you need based on your self-assessment (I will come back to this later). But please, buy your books or eBooks! Do not download them illegally. Think of the huge amount of necessary work for the authors to write a book of more than 1000 pages, including labs and exercises. Have some respect for 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 already give you the lab topology, and you can focus on learning.

For the choice of a vendor, I would also not stay with only one vendor. For CCIE v5.0, I made the IP-Expert workbooks, then some INE workbooks, then the Narbik Kocharians / Micronics Training workbooks and bootcamp, and finally made some Cisco Expert-Level labs. And I noticed that some subjects are treated very quickly at one vendor and much more in depth at another, and vice versa.

 

Bootcamp

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

A bundle of workbooks + bootcamp could also be a very good solution. With some vendors, the workbooks are included in the bootcamp price; others are offering a good price if you take a bundle rather than everything separately.

If you want to buy a bootcamp or bundle, take your phone and call the different vendors! You will probably get more details than on the website and certainly a better proposal or other benefits. For a bootcamp, we talk about more than $ 4000, so you can ask a few questions before buying.

 

2 – Do not make a realistic study plan

Unless you live alone in a cave, you must find enough time to study for your CCIE without putting aside your work, your family, and your social life. Well, no, please forget your social life until you pass the lab exam.

You have books to read, videos to watch, and you must practice, practice, and practice again. You will be away for a five or ten-day bootcamp, maybe twice if you take a second one. Plus, a couple of days for the lab. For this, you must build a good and realistic study plan. It is the key of your CCIE strategy.

Here is an example: study for two or three nights a week, plus one day on the weekend initially. My advice is to make blocks of 4 hours: for example, schedule 4 hours Tuesday evening and 4 hours Thursday evening, from 8.00 PM to midnight. And then, 8 hours on the weekend in two blocks of 4. Up to you, sometimes Saturday and Sunday mornings, sometimes one entire day to have the other day free. That makes a total of 16 hours per 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, do not “burn” yourself too early; remember, CCIE study is a marathon, not a sprint. Then later, when you are closer to the exam, you can add maybe one night during the week and study the entire weekend.

Take an Excel file, write the scheduled study hours each day, and what you will study. For example, if you have 4 hours one day, plan 2 hours of reading and maybe a video on a specific subject, followed by 2 hours of practice on this.
At the end of the 4 hours, keep a note on what is not clear, what you need to review. And review these points some weeks later. Do this for all the points of the blueprint, plan the next months, and keep some empty days to make more labs or to review a topic.

I would add two important points:

 2b – Agree to this schedule with the person you share your life with.

You must have the support of your family; it is essential! Explain to them what it means to study for a CCIE, talk about the necessary study hours, the practice, the bootcamp, and the exams. If you do not have their support, you will get divorced before attempting the written exam.

2c – Explain that if you fail the lab exam, there is more studying coming.

One of the main problems with CCIE is that the time required to pass the exam is not defined in advance. It can take you one year, two, three, maybe more. When you do, for example, a degree, you know it will take you two or three years, and that’s it. It is also a lot of work, but you know when the end will be. With the CCIE, it is not the same; you must work hard, and maybe you fail the exam. And then, you must work again, and harder, because you didn’t pass. Explain this in advance to your family to have their support.

 

3 -Underestimate the practice hours for the lab

Some estimations read on the web – which I find good – talk about 1000 hours of practice to pass the lab. Here we only talk about the practice time for the lab part, not the hours of reading and video to know the theory for the written exam.

I made that mistake in 2013, on my lab attempt for the v.4.0 exam: I made the entire INE workbook labs, and for almost every lab, I was quicker than the INE estimation time for it. Everything was correct except for some small mistakes. I thought: “Yeah, that’s it, I’m ready!” Oh, what a mistake! I failed the troubleshooting part for probably one single ticket (73%), but I totally screwed up the configuration part. Why? Because I was not ready!

Practice is the key, and 1000 hours of labs is not exaggerated!

 

4- Do not make a self-assessment

I talk about the self-assessment above. This is important. Take an Excel sheet, copy and paste the blueprint topics into it, and all the detailed points. And then, for each point, estimate your skills between zero and three:

• Zero means you have never seen this topic (protocol, configuration, whatever it is), no practice, no troubleshooting experience.
• 1: You know it, but you are not sure how to configure it, and no t-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 have made this, work on your weak points. And redo this assessment once a month, and continue, again and again. The blueprint is huge; this is the only way to know where you are and what topic you need to work on again. But do not totally skip the topics with a “3”, you also need to practice this, otherwise you will get rusty with some commands.

 

5- Do everything by yourself

As I wrote before, CCIE studying is a marathon, and sometimes you can get lost on the road. Be part of some study groups, study with a colleague or a friend if possible. Interacting with people studying for the same exam track is also important.

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

• The Cisco Learning Network forum, it is fantastic!
• Narbik have 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 that mistake. I went confidently to the lab exam. The exam went quite well, given the number of tickets and the number answered correctly, I knew that the T-SHOOT part was good. Then, I started the CONFIG part. Over time, I started to make some stupid mistakes, so I lost time to fix my own errors. But overall, the tasks were not too difficult. At the end, I could not finish everything. In the evening, I received the result: pass – pass – fail.

And here, 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!”

Do not register for the first possible date – take time to assess yourself and study again!

I registered myself for the first possible lab seat 30 days later. Then, I started to practice for the configuration part every day. I did INE mock labs and CCIE expert-level labs again and again. Did I practice troubleshooting? No! Did I practice DIAG? No! Did I make a self-assessment to see if there is any blueprint topic I do not know at 120%? No! And guess what, the result of the exam 30 days later was: fail – fail – fail!

Why? Because during the month between the two exams, I only did configuration practice without learning anything! My goal was to be faster, not to learn and improve my weakest points. Don’t make that mistake!

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

 

Good Luck!

 

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