Sunday, November 3, 2013

my CCIE Service Provider Lab Exam v3.0 Checklist

After having a look at the topics that are included in the CCIE Service Provider Lab Exam v3.0 Checklist, i decided to make my own version of a checklist, from which you can find a sample below.


Next to each topic, i have rated my current perceived knowledge/experience about the specific topic, so i can easily keep track of my weaknesses and my progress. I only rate the sub-topics (x.y.z); everything else (x.y and x, as you can see in the 2nd sample below) is computed automatically as a weighted average of the included sub-topics.


Some explanations about the rating i have used:

Rate Explanation (move from 90% to 10% when checking your progress)
10% You have heard of this feature and you know where it applies to
20% You know the theory behind this feature and you are able to explain it
30% You know enough details about this feature in order to start experimenting with it
40% You have done some basic experimentation with this feature
50% You have used this feature in the past, but you need to freshen it up
60% You have used this feature recently, with some external help (friend/docs/etc.)
70% You use frequently this feature, sometimes with external help (friend/docs/etc.)
80% You are able to use this feature without any external help (friend/docs/etc.)
90% You are an expert on this feature

Generally, if something is rated above 50%, then i feel confident enough due to having both good theoretical knowledge & practical experience; i just need a recap. If something is below 50%, then i need to focus on that and definitely test it on a lab. Anything below 30% means no practical experience at all. Although the written exam might include some different topics, i don't think you should try the written exam without having at least 20% on half of these topics and above 40% on most of the others. You'll be cheating yourself otherwise.

I haven't used 0% and 100% for the following reasons: 0% means you haven't heard of that feature, so don't even bother taking the exam (especially if it's a critical topic). 100% means you know everything about this feature, so you're probably lying to yourself (unless you wrote the code yourself).

I consider achieving something around 75%-80% in all topics is more than enough to help me pass the CCIE SP lab. Actually some topics (the ones that aren't used as a base for others) do not need such a high percentage, but from a general knowledge perspective it will be good to reach that number in every topic.

You can watch my progress by clicking the "Progress" tab on the header of the home page. Once i start my lab preparation, i am planning to make updates once per week, most probably every Monday. At the same time i will also try to make some posts about various interesting things i am encountering while preparing for the exam.

1 comment:

  1. Hi Tasos,

    Nice post, do you mind to share this excel worksheet?

    Thanks
    Felipe Mahatma

    ReplyDelete