One To Go

EdTheLad

What a day, woke 6am for review, exam at 10am,arrived at test centre 9am.
Asked if i could start earlier,they said "no problem" until major problem, they cant access the vue server to downlaod the exam.
As the test center girls english wasnt too good i spent the next 30mins on the phone to an aussie guy trying to diagnose the problem.No wonder the thai girl couldnt understand this guy, i could hardly and he was getting all snottie with me until i told him i was the customer.Why he doesnt know phonetics, aussie V sounds exactly like aussie B.
No luck, arrange the exam for test center at 1pm which gives me plenty of time to find it.Arrive next test center 11:30am, ask can i take the test early, they reply " no problem" 5 mins later i'm told of an internal network issue and they dont know how long it will take.
I tell them that i'm an aspiring ccie and it should be no problem for me to fix if they sign a piece of paper granting me the BCMSN, they agree, not really.
Back to reality,so i'm waiting and the manager arrives to tell me the problem will take over 1 hrs, i take to Oz on the phone again to reshedule or pick another test center.Anyway manager says problem will be fixed i just need to wait for the exam to download.About 2 hrs later the its finished i can now take my test, maybe they were using dialup?
Scored 962, i'm surprised by the score as i found the exam difficult and there were afew questions i had to guess.Second question i got was a nighmare, 5 part question with complex diagram and loads of cli output to go through, i'm sure i got it wrong as it required time, time you cant spare
at the start.The sims were ok,strange choice i thaught as they were both fairly similar, but i understand Cisco's choice.
To study i used cisco courseware,which was strangely vague, i also used
Cisco Press which complemented the courseware perfectly.
Anyway next CIT, the supposedly easy one, i'll have to wait and see, hopefully i can finish in 2 or 3 weeks if its so easy.
Advice for the exam!! Learn all the outputs for show and debugs.

wildfire

Wow sounds like you had a hell of a day Ed,

anyway well done on passing it, I wonder if its still the stupid 5 part thing I got way back, haha, anyway CIT 2-3 weeks more than do-able, I simply reviewed all my previous notes and took a stab at it.

Make sure you know your debugs well and you will be fine! also the only thing you get from the CIT exam certification guide is 3 things 1. This book is crap 2. the devide and conquer, top down and bottom up methods 3. Confident you wasted $30 on that think piece of junk!

Good luck


Also hows the CCIE prep going? written atfter CIT? or another plan

EdTheLad

wildfire wrote:

Also hows the CCIE prep going? written atfter CIT? or another plan

Thanks, i was thinking it was a sign not to do the exam.
I would imagine BGP after CIT, but i feel a little rusty on routing since i havent really looked at it for 5 months,maybe i take afew months off exams to harden my foundations.But that being said the cit study might resolve any issues i think i have.I'm just hungry to start on the enjoyable detailed study now i have the basics complete.
My thinking is CCNP/CCIP and then pure CCIE lab work, no written plans for now.But then again i might consider doing the design exams.For sure no security or voice in the short term.

wildfire

My thinking is CCNP/CCIP and then pure CCIE lab work, no written plans for now.But then again i might consider doing the design exams.For sure no security or voice in the short term

Thats pretty much the way Ive decided to go, I crammed for the CCIE written, now doing this DP Ive forgotten it all, so Im starting again, but gonna pickup the QOS and BGP exams towards CCIP on the way and do the MPLS as a fun bonus! :P

mikej412

Congratulations!

I'm glad I missed the Simlets -- they didn't show up until I was doing the CCSP. But I still think they are easier than multiple choice questions with endless exhibits -- like on the BGP exam.

ed_the_lad wrote:

Advice for the exam!! Learn all the outputs for show and debugs.

Hey -- your advice also works for the CIT! There is some new stuff, but any show/debug command from the previous (and maybe current) exam topics is fair game on this one.