CCIE EI LAB Design+Doo is all stable, the entire exam process went smoothly!

I used to be a first-line implementation position at an operator for a manufacturer, where my job was to implement according to the established plan. I basically didn't have contact with the upper-level principles and architectures, nor with equipment from other manufacturers. So I've always wanted to improve myself, switch to enterprise network operations and maintenance, but based on my relatively narrow technical stack, I've only been exposed to routing and switching, SDWAN, and Python, which I had never been exposed to before. I want to systematically learn these new technologies, so I had the idea of taking the CCIE exam.

After a period of investigation and consultation with teachers and friends, I finally chose wolf lab in February. After that, I started learning from theory, and teacher Zhao explained in great detail, covering many practical aspects. The experimental difficulty was extremely difficult for me, who was not solid in theory, usually watching the teacher solve it once, and then solving it myself the next day, occasionally watching the replay. Finally, I passed the written exam in June. After that, I continued to watch teacher Jin's theoretical course (which also includes experiments), and it took about a month and a half to finish it. Teacher Jin still explained in great detail. During the ISE, SDWAN, and SDA sections, there were also real machine environments to practice. I thought the SDA experiment was even more difficult than the CCIE lab exam.

After passing the CCIE theory, in August, I started preparing for the lab. Teacher Yang helped me set up the rack and brought me into the preparation group and my own preparation Q&A group, where I could ask any questions in the preparation group. Unlike the previous experimental environment, the lab rack was completely exam simulation, with all pre-configurations exactly the same as the exam. After each test, there was a configuration comparison script that could show the gap between my configuration and the standard configuration. At first, I worked very slowly, and the first few tests were not finished at all. Later, after carefully reading the test requirements and standard configurations for two days, I was able to finish the CCIE v1 version on time (although there were some minor errors) around mid-August. I then started working on the CCIE v2 version. With the foundation of CCIE v1, I was able to finish the CCIE v2 version on time in about a week. At that time, I was already confident, and I had the teacher help me book the lab exam in Beijing. After booking, I started to memorize the design. The first two days were indeed a bit anxious, feeling that it couldn't be memorized, especially the table questions and drag-and-drop questions. Later, I adjusted my mindset and spent about 5 more days memorizing it. By the end of August, there was about a week left before my lab exam on September 5th. I then started to focus on the lab again, practicing two CCIE lab exams a day, alternating between v1 and v2, and looking at the design in the morning.

I checked into a hotel near the Yintai Center a day in advance, and watched some of the lab's easy-to-miss points in the evening. I went to bed at 10 pm, a bit nervous, and didn't fall asleep until after 11 pm. The hotel's wake-up service called me at 6:30 am, and I got up to eat a mooncake I brought, spending about half an hour reviewing the design one last time and looking over the lab's easy-to-miss points. I left at 7:30 am, and the security guard at the office building lobby swiped my access card and took the elevator. I put my things in the storage cabinet at the exam hall, signed my name, and entered the exam hall at 8 am. The examiners were very good, basically accommodating any requests. The older brother next to me was stuck, and the examiner gave him an extra 15 minutes. I was lucky, as the SDWAN part of the web page was a bit slow, but it never froze. I went out for lunch after 11:50 am and came back smoothly to complete all parts. It was around 3 pm, and I carefully checked several times. Finally, I called the examiner (it was my first time) at around 4 pm to hand in the exam early.

After the exam, I ate and went to the hotel to rest (I didn't sleep well last night), and around 8:30 pm, teacher Yang told me I passed, and the heart that had been hanging in the air finally dropped. The nerves that had been tight for a month suddenly relaxed, and I felt that all the effort I had put in was worth it.

Summary: Preparing for the CCIE lab for a month was indeed very torturous. That month, I was studying full-time, feeling more tired than working. But the whole process went smoothly, and I！