Terence Grose, CCIE #47272

I have been studying for my CCIE and used Cisco Documentation and INE's Bootcamp, Videos, and Workbooks as my only sources of study material. I sat through the V4 Bootcamp twice back when Dave Smith & Brian Dennis each took a week. I also sat through the V5 Bootcamp in Jan 2015. Best investment I made especially with the free retake policy. I took my first class right after I watched the 80 plus hours of videos. (I think I heard Brian McGahan?s voice in my sleep) Thought I understood the material but was way too slow to keep up during my first bootcamp. Over the next 90 plus days I did all the lab books then attended the class a second time right before my 1st scheduled LAB Exam. I understood the material, kept up throughout class and everything was working great. I failed because I was not ready for Troubleshooting (Mentally), and the shock after the first two hours destroyed the rest of my day. If I was to do that again I would have waited a week to let what we had gone through settle in and spend some quality time on some mock troubleshooting labs to get my mind more engaged on that section. My second attempt was 3 months later but in reality I never should of attempted it. I got working on a big project away from home and my study sessions were minimal. I did better all around due to being more relaxed, but still not there. My third attempt was in April of 2014 and I thought I did everything right. I took a couple of weeks off from work and focused solely on the Lab, right before the test. I barely missed this attempt and felt a little like I got robbed but hey this is the CCIE Lab!!! So I immediately tried to get another seat Before V5, but could not get a date before it came out. At this point I put a break on all my studies and was deciding if I was wasting my time or if this was going to finally get done. in October I regained my desire, I Booked the V5 Version of the Class to help me with topics I had not worked a lot with up to this point. Again work was getting in the way, and even paid my cancellation fee for an October class. I finally got back in Class in Jan 2015. Dave Smith the whole two weeks, and the class was great. My favorite part of the class is the way he describe MPLS. The Best Explanation Period. After I finished Class I studied Every night and 8 hours a day on Saturday and Sunday. I Went through all the topics from the workbooks but made sure all the core topics I could do with my eyes closed. The key to my success was when I performed a task I was always thinking about other ways I could perform the same task if that way was taken away from me. That helped big time on test day. My test was March 1st in RTP. I felt like I aced T-shoot and Diag, and had Config done with 1.5 hour to go. So I spent time reviewing the tasks ensuring I didn't miss any steps that could cause me to miss points. Finished that review with 45 minutes to go, and saved my configs and went to the Hotel. Dave Smith, Thanks to you and Entire INE Team for all that you have done to help me with this Journey. This has been a tough 2 years, and I'm glad to have it behind me, but I would do it again.