SP Lab Preparation Materials – My View.

A lot of candidates have been in contact regarding SP Lab Preparation Materials or lack thereof! – I have to agree – There are currently…..

 

[1] No SP Blended Learning Materials

[2] No SP Audio Lectures

[3] No SP Mock Labs such as IPExpert Graded Lab Assessments, Assessor Labs from Cisco, etc. This point is a big beef for me as their value in appraising a candidate’s situation in a Lab Environment is great!

[4] Sub-standard Workbooks – okay this is an unfair point but comparing, for example, the IEWB-SP Vol 2 V1 with the corresponding IEWB-RS Vol 5 – well, even the Brian’s will admit there are a number of quality differences.

[5] Success Stories/Feedback – Walk through the vendors feedback & success stories – Look at Groupstudy – Very few SP Passes – Okay the number going for RS are about 5/6 times the SP therefore we should see between 10%-20% of SP passes for every RS Pass – we do not!

 

However I am here to provide solutions not problems – here are my recommended steps to working around the above.

 

Steve’s Answer for [1] Combine answers 2, 3 & 4 below.

Steve’s Answer for [2] Okay, three possible solutions [i] Buy the RS material and supplement it with your own voice reading the additional SP material from notes or books.[ii] Obtain a copy of the very old audio RS lectures from the web somewhere which will include topics such as ATM, ISIS which are now off the RS exam and supplement it with your own voice reading the additional SP material from notes or books. [iii] Purchase the DVD class on demands and using specialist software, rip the audio and burn to your MP3 player or to CD.

Steve’s Answer for [3] Be strict – take a lab from a workbook you own, preferably one you have not done and time yourself to 8 hours and compare your configurations to the provided solutions and grade yourself being 100% honest – that’s the best I can do on that one!

Steve’s Answer for [4] Maybe a positive point – cross reference every solution with the DocCD, books, etc. Maybe it will make us better engineers for it rather than having the solutions/explanations handed up on a plate. If you are not happy with this then purchase the corresponding RS material and supplement the SP material with cross-referencing and research.

Steve’s Answer for [5] Lets increase this by passing this beast and upping the numbers accordingly – there are a lot of RS CCIE’s watching the current SP candidates going, hmmm, maybe this is of interest!