Guilherme loch Waltrick Góes, CCIE #43725

I started my journey on May 2011, after one whole year studying using INE video classes and the official Cisco Press book I passed the written exam on May 2012. This is when I bought the four INE workbooks, because of some personal issues I only started labbing on January 2013. I became afraid on losing the written exam and scheduled my first lab attempt for October 2013. Even though I red all the workbooks I still didn't fully understand all the little interactions between the technologies, but that's really my fault on rushing things. When the day for my first attempt came I knew I wasn't 100% ready, but I should give it a shot. As was expect, I didn't pass on my first try, but this experience was invaluable, because now I knew what I was dealing with.
After the v5 announce came on December 2013 I decided to schedule my second shot at v4 for May 2016. I gave workbook 1 and 2 another shot and teamed up with a friend of mine. When the day finally came for my second attempt I felt ready and pretty confident that this time I could make it. The first two hours for the TS section flew by, I completed all the tickets and used the verification techniques I found on the INE's workbooks and everything looked fine. Then came the dread configuration section, I skimmed the lab guide I didn't feel like I didn't know any topic. I completed the config section with 1,5 hour to spare and started the verification phase. After completing the verification phase I almost knew I passed the lab. I handed over the lab to the proctor and went back to my hotel. After a short while I received an email from Cisco saying that my lab results are ready, when I opened the email and logged on to the CCIE portal I saw those pretty numbers with a pass label for my last lab attempt, I couldn't feel more happy.
I have to thank INE for such comprehensive and easy to understand lab material, without I couldn't have accomplished this life goal of mine.