Just a reminder but always keep an eye on the CCIE blueprint and checklist. I think a good example of why is RIPng on the current 4.0 R&S track. If you look at current blueprint its not mentioned at all. In fact one of the comments from Maurilio Gorito on Oct 31 2009, the R&S program manager at the time, he says “RIPng is not part of the exam. It has been removed.” So this lead people to not study it and several instructors to not teach it at all but maybe just mention it in passing.
Fast forward to March 5th 2010 and a new expanded checklist comes out for the R&S (and other) tracks. This new list says it is provided as supplement to the blueprint but other topics may appear. People looked at this listed and again noted no mention of RIPng but a few topics where missing, most no notably OER/PfR. Jump a month ahead to April 1 2010 and the list is updated to fix typo’s and add OER/PfR and RIPng! Wait Maurilio said no RIPng, what gives? Well what I see has happening is the R&S program went though a number of changes of the last few months and as the labs are updated they added RIPng as it technically is covered on the original blueprint because it mentioned RIP and IPv6 so from that you could have assumed RIPng. Plus they have the nice catch all “and other advanced features” so that pretty much means they can do anything they want.
What does this mean for you? Remember to always keep an eye on the blueprint AND the checklist. Don’t just assume its always the same just because its still v4.0 of the lab. And if your unsure if you think you should study a topic just study it.