Approaching a CCIE lab requires intense preparation, accountability, and perseverance. After passing the lab on August 17th, I decided to crunch some numbers and provide some statistics. Hopefully, this will help guide you in your journey and provide some sort of baseline to measure yourself against; although, I will be the first to tell you that I am not THE perfect CCIE candidate.
From the day I passed my CCIE Voice written exam on Nov 25, 2010, until the day I passed the CCIE Voice lab on Aug 17th, 2010, I logged 933 hours of “study.” To keep myself honest, I had a very rigid definition of studying. “Study” was classified as the following:
- Lab time was typically recorded in eight-hour segments. I used ProctorLabs.com for my CCIE Voice studying needs. In order to get the most “bang for my buck,” I always used the full eight-hour voucher. This was helped me a lot when the real lab came around. I was already used to focusing for lengthy periods of times. This removed the concern about stamina on exam day.
- Theory time was spent either (a) reviewing IPexpert lab solutions and explanations, (b) listening to Amy Ryan’s amazing Audio on Demand series, or (c) reading every Cisco document that I could get my hands on. For those of you preparing for the lab, become extremely familiar with the CUCM 7.0(1) SRND, CUCME 7.0(1) Admin Guide, QoS SRND, and anything pertaining to gateways and gatekeepers. I highly recommend the Troubleshooting IP Telephony book available through Cisco Press. It’s a bit old, but sure to be a faithful reference beyond passing the exam.
- Distraction-free was a keyword for studying. If you’re going to study, don’t leave the TV on in the background. Don’t listen to music. Don’t sip margaritas. You are preparing for a strenuous test unlike any other certification in the IT community.
As you can see from the graphic below, as time progressed, my lab study overtook my theory study. I don’t think I could have done this any other way. Before you can really launch out into full eight-hour mock labs, you must have a very solid understanding of call routing, protocols, QoS, features, etc. The first four months were consumed with SRNDs. I would wake up at 4:30AM and study theory until 7:00AM. I’d go to work, come back home, and study another few hours.
As I reached the end of my journey, my theory focused diminished gradually and was replaced by additional lab time. You should eventually reach a place where you only need to look at documents for clarification. To make an analogy, you have already built the house, now you’re just applying the finishing touches.
Reader Participation: At this time, I want make myself available to answer strategy questions. If you have any questions about study methods, lifestyle modifications, etc. pertaining to lab preparation, post them as comments on this blog. I will compile the questions and answer them as a separate post in the next week.
Hey Matthew
As you wrote I'm asking about preparation tips:
1 – How much is important read SRND to Lab Test?
2 – How did you practice troubleshooting with proctorlabs + ipexpert workbooks?
Thanks
Peterson
Hello Matthew,
Great post. I can see the amount of hardwork you've put not only in preparing for CCIE but also keeping this blog live and helpful for fellow CCIE candidates.
Your practice lab reflections posts are great and very useful and also thanks for sharing CiscoLive2010 pdf. That is also very helpful and going through it during last month.
Just to ask for more advise, can you please suggest some good configs, references, your tips to understand various scenarios related to Inter-Gatekeeper, CUBE call-routing.
Thank you.
Congrats again on that huge accomplishment bro. Did you follow the Vik Malhi “device approach” during the lab or more so the “technology approach”?
I did a device-based approach. When I get some time, I want to record a video of how to do the device-based approach quickly. Thanks, in large part, to our buddy James Key.
HI Mate
I followed your blog with interest, I run my own little blog http://ccierants.blogspot.com.
I stole your idea about the lab reflections hehehehe, I now have a folder that i put my thoughts about the lab in after completing the lab.
I noticed on one of your posts, unless i mis-read it (entirely possible) that you mentioned the description keyword in CUCME controls the number that gets sent out to the PSTN. I wanted to get hold of you as I knew your test was coming up to say no mate that’s not correct!
(although as I said I may have misread it)
I couldn’t find your email anywhere on the site though
Good work on passing though!
Kind Regards
Peter John Revill
CCIE #18371 Routing and Switching (Soon to be CCIE Voice hopefully)
Peter -
You’re right. The description number does NOT control what is sent to the PSTN. I must have had a typo on my blog. Thanks for catching that!
Hi Matthew,
I would like to hear more about your study strategy/lifestyle mods. You have one post early in your study where you outlined your weekly study schedule (light vs heavy days), talked about working out, etc. and I'm curious how closely you stuck to it. How was your energy as time progressed and what kept you motivated (besides the end and passing (~_~) )?
Thanks,
Kim
Hi Matthew,
Just curious, The below CCIE Voice Written date should be on Nov 25,2009?
||From the day I passed my CCIE Voice written exam on Nov 25, 2010, until the day I passed the CCIE Voice lab on Aug 17th, 2010, I logged 933 hours of “study.”||
Cheer!
Andrew
Hi ,
Congrats for your achivement.
Could please provide some tips to resharp & revise the things.
Thanks
Congratulation Matthew,
Great study approach I had ever seen. Thanks for sharing us such a useful study guide.
I would like to ask about career & certification.
1)I'm currently just CCNA Voice and confused which way to go.
Should I pursue for CCVP or CCNP? Most ppls said I should study and get CCNP first b4 I go for Voice.The reason is because of Jobs Market.
2)When I study my CCNA Voice, I stared with Jeremy's CVoice Video. And then read Cisco Press book.
Do you have any advice with the study methods and plans?
3)You spent about 8 months for CCIE Voice according to your post. What make you keep on studying during these 8 months?
I'd like to get some motivation idea for pursuing CCIE. Do you read other books(other than Cisco Books)that can give you inspired to be CCIE.
I do like your blog and Thanks again Matthew.
Cheer!
Andrew
Congratulation Matthew,
Great study approach I had ever seen. Thanks for sharing us such a useful study guide.
I would like to ask about career & certification.
1)I'm currently just CCNA Voice and confused which way to go.
Should I pursue for CCVP or CCNP? Most ppls said I should study and get CCNP first b4 I go for Voice.The reason is because of Jobs Market.
2)When I study my CCNA Voice, I stared with Jeremy's CVoice Video. And then read Cisco Press book.
Do you have any advice with the study methods and plans?
3)You spent about 8 months for CCIE Voice according to your post. What make you keep on studying during these 8 months?
I'd like to get some motivation idea for pursuing CCIE. Do you read other books(other than Cisco Books)that can give you inspired to be CCIE.
I do like your blog and Thanks again Matthew.
Cheer!
Andrew
Hello Matthew, Please share your strategy and time management in your lab. In lab you encounter IP Phone can't register with CUCM? and Gatekeeper troubleshoot in notepad? Can you share experience in lab?
Thank
Hello Matthew,
Congratulations for your journey. Please share your strategy and time management plan in lab.
In lab you encountered IP Phone can't register? or Gatekeeper troubleshoot in notepad?
Thank
Matthew, could you also give advise on how you interpret the questions. Questions take time to read. When many people are saying everyone word is important and do reading the question 2-3 times, I just don't think it is possible. It is crucial to meet the requirements with the least steps/commands while there may be traps for not adding some commands not being mentioned in questions to meet a requirement.
Please advise
Thanks
Congratulations! Some past CCIE's have said they knew they were ready when they were completing the IPExpert Vol 2 labs in 5 to 6 hours. Is that a good estimate? What troubleshooting tools would you recomend for a CCIE candidate to know inside and out before taking the lab.
Hi Matthew,
Congratulations on your CCIE! Thank you for the post as well. I have quick question about your approach with Proctorlabs (excuse my ignorance, I am still in the infant stages of my Voice studies): I used IPExpert/Proctor Labs for my R&S studies, and found it to be an enjoyable experience. With the voice track, it seems like not having physical phones during lab sessions through Proctorlabs may put you at a disadvantage when you are sitting the real exam. From what I read, and I could be wrong, you can register phones over VPN to the Proctorlabs CallManagers if you choose to do so. Did you use physical phones, or did you find using soft clients was good enough?
Thanks!
Hi Matt!
Big congrats on this!
and btw very nice post! very useful!
I am sure you are enjoying now full time
i was wondering if you could give me a reply back on my email address?
many thanks in advance!
Matt,
congrats for this great accomplishment. I was wondering how you spent your lab practice time. Did you just do the IP expert workbooks 1 and 2 ? or did you also do some freestyle labing on your own? Did you go over each IPexpert lab several time?
Thanks!
Great blog, congrats on your CCIE. I was not able to post a comment on the related post, or find your e-mail, but I have been working a bit with presence and found this post: http://ciscovoiceguru.com/290/cups-part-1/ useful although it seemed to be missing the other two parts. Do you happen to have these available?