Well I finally passed the written exam for voice. Compared to any of the CCNP or CCVP exams, although there were no simulations or drag and drop questions, it was by far the most detailed and exhausting test yet. Most of my professional level tests I finished with 15 to 20 minutes remaining, but this one took me two attempts and on the first one I had 2 minutes to go with about 8 questions left… Now on to the fun part, study for the lab. The first available date for me to schedule was in October and I chose to take it in RTP. I have read many different success stories and all say that to have a realistic shot to pass you need to have from 400 to 900 hours of practice / study under your belt. So going by that theory I will have to study 4 hours a day until October… Also mentioned in the stories was that the average candidate will take three times to pass the voice lab. Enough talking, I have to get 4 hours in today…

It has been awhile since my last update and as of today I have only officially studied about 10 hours, not quite where I expected I would be by now. I say officially because I don’t count the time I spend reading before I go to bed (usually GWGK or QoS book) because I find the retention rate to be pretty low when I read half asleep… I also don’t count hours per week I spend at work working with the technology.

I still plan to take the written test in mid February. If I had to estimate where I think my study hours will need to be by then, I would say somewhere in the 30 hour range. I haven’t posted many of the notes that I have taken from studying for the written because it has mostly been notes on theory, but I will post in detail soon.

I recently bought an ATA-186 from Ebay for about 30 bucks. They seem to be fairly simple to configure, but with not much hands on with them in the past, money well spent in my book. I also have VMware images of IPCC, CCM and Unity. I’m trying to convince myself to let go of some cheddar for a CME / CUE, probably a 2801. I don’t see a CAT6 finding its way to my house, so I think if I get the 2801 I will have a pretty good setup at home to run through scenarios.

Well I have started studying for the written portion of the certification. I think that for the most part I plan to stay away from the hands on stuff. I have two Audio bootcamps, one from IPexperts, which I plan to listen to in their entirety and take light notes. From what I have listened to so far they are more geared towards, as advertised, the lab portion but defiantly pertinent to the written as well. I will revisit them again after the written exam and take detailed notes to aid me with hands on preparation. After I listen to the bootcamps I will post what I think of them.