Study Update (Lab attempt #1 is approaching)

With nearly three week until I face off against the lab, I'm travelling to Sydney this weekend to take part in one of Narbik's CIERS-I bootcamps - I've been warned to get plenty of sleep before hand because there's a lot of material to cover and some long days indeed including two mock lab exams.  I'm definitely looking forward to meeting Narbik and the rest of the CCIE candidates, I know at least David will be there too.

I think my preparation is going well but I'm sure it can always be better...

I've nearly completed the IPExpert Volume 3 Workbook - for those unaware of what it is about, it covers 10 simulated lab examinations each with a two hour troubleshooting and six hour configuration section.  Generally I have found these quite challenging, not in depth of technology, since the IPExpert Volume 1 Workbook did a pretty good job drilling into detailed labs focusing on specific technologies, and the IPExpert VoD has helped clarify things a lot (the biggest downside for the VoD is that lectures that cover a topic go for a couple of hours, so if you are wanting to hear about a specific sub topic it can be difficult to get to the exact stage - a recent example for me is going through the QoS material where I felt pretty comfortable with most of it but wanted to jump to the Catalyst QoS - I hope in future versions IPExpert consider breaking things down into more digestable chunks for revisting specifics)

Originally I wasn't actually planning on attending the bootcamp at all, because there is a serious cost associated with it, and also there aren't really that many training vendors that come out to Australia, so I was hoping that the VoD and plenty of self study and hooking into online resources like the fantastic Group Study and IPExperts OnlineStudyList mailing lists and forums like Internetwork Expert's as well as the multitude of great blogs and of course the Cisco documents and in all honesty I think that would be fine on its own; however some good happenstance with the alignment as to when a bootcamp became available, and a rough timeline as to when I thought I might be ready to face the lab (and there's nothing like scheduling a date for an exam to make you pull your finger out and get cracking) and the opportunity to take the time off work as well as scrounging up the finances together for flights/accomodation/meals/bootcamp means that I am hoping that this will increase my understanding of topics, and maybe pass the lab the first time around.  At the end of the day though, pass or not pass it's all down to me (unless there is some force majeure or equipment failure).

Which parts of the lab concern me the most?  I don't think it's the technology so much - I think I have a pretty good handle on most of that, it's more along the lines of reading the question/task and reading the implications of what needs to be done.  The fact that a subsection/ticket that is worth multiple points is an all or nothing affair (partly right is 0 points) can have a significant impact on making it through or not.  Also time management - when I started the practice labs I tended to need an extra two hours, now I seem to need an extra 30 minutes, so I think my process is improving but I think controlling time is going to be a key thing, knowing when to stop and move on.

It will be interesting to hear at the bootcamp what is concerning the other candidates, I'm looking forward to it!