Point of No Return

mikej412

keenon wrote:

so was lab as bad as you thought it could be?

No It was quite nice actually!

And the lab exam itself in it's binder was very unassuming and unpretentious ....

DarbyWeaver wrote:

So now you see what I mean when the brain begins to freeze on things you somehow managed to forget, even though, you thought you knew them so very well....

Oh MY GOSH! I had a mini-stroke during the lab! That's why I "lost the information" -- luckily I got better over lunch!

DarbyWeaver wrote:

CCIE Hearbreak Club...

I think the only heartbreak with the CCIE would be eventually giving up. I knew it was supposed to be hard back when I decided to certify.... so my first lab failure isn't a shock at all. No heartbreak here!

Time for some Soup and Nuts.

Trailerisf

One quick question, how many different lab variations are there? Is it random odds or do they make sure you don't get the same exam next try??

Isnt there a guy that has failed 19 times? He must have gotten the same lab again by now ??

mikej412

Trailerisf wrote:

Isnt there a guy that has failed 19 times? He must have gotten the same lab again by now ??

If you have a different pod number.... then it isn't the same exam! (since you determine the nXX.XX.Z.Y addresses from your pod number, router number, and "any number". Hopefully I won't get to test that theory on the R&S.

Darby said he got the same one on his 2nd attempt, and got a different exam when he told the proctor. I always assumed they do track the different exams and candidates.

On one of the Cisco Certification TV Specials they did talk about exam development. They said they are always working on new exams and retiring old exams -- we just don't know how fast or often. I think they may be doing it to stay ahead of that guy with 19 attempts.

That would be good lunch conversation for the next lab attempt. 19 attempt guy -- truth? or CCIE urban legend?

PCHoldmann

Just be careful how you bring it up, he might be there for #20!

DW [banned]

Thanks

EdTheLad

Another crash and burn on TE, oh well hard luck mike maybe studying 2 ccie's simultaneously is too much for one cat.Next year will be the golden year for TE!
How did you approach the exam? Redraw topology diagram? Reread the exam in full a couple of times looking for obvious pitfalls?How about router reloads,did you do this before lunch? Was time really an issue or does it become an issue due to mistakes made and having to recover? How did the difficulty compare with the practice labs you did on the run up.What was the most important lesson you learned from your first sitting that you will do for the R&S? or you felt comfortable with approach and just had an off day?
Lots of questions i hope you dont mind.

DW [banned]

Questions...

mikej412

DarbyWeaver wrote:

Questions...

Is it better to study 2 hours a night for two year, and possibly still not pass on your first try? (one of the other Security guys -- and I think he was a CCIE first-timer also).

Or to hit hard... and hit it again.... and again... and maybe even again and get the CCIE in multiple tries over 6-9 months?

I'd guess the answer comes down to time vs money.

I think Scott Morris said (on the IPExpert COD) that he has 8 attempts for his 4 CCIEs -- and he got the SP on the first try (since he had been teaching the stuff) with only one day of review. Has he attempted the Voice Lab yet? Or is he 4-9 or 4-10 now?

mikej412

ed_the_lad wrote:

Another crash and burn on TE

What! It was just a recon! Didn't you get the "cough coded" message about the switches? Mission Accomplished

ed_the_lad wrote:

oh well hard luck mike maybe studying 2 ccie's simultaneously is too much for one cat.

Nooooo.... I started studying for the R&S..... and then switched to Security. Never tried to study for both at the exact same time. Well the Security Version 1 lab was 1/3-1/2 R&S.... and I did guess right on what I needed for the R&S side of the exam. I'm gonna blame the loss of CCIE study time during the months studying for the CCVP for this one.

ed_the_lad wrote:

Next year will be the golden year for TE!

HooRah!

If we're doing a forum pool, I want 7 -- the number of people to get CCIEs. If we're counting CCIEs (including multiples by the same people) then I want 10. And since I think you're studying for your lab and will take the written when you feel ready for the lab -- I want 12 days if we have a pool for the number of days between your written and your first lab attempt (the Sydney lab seems to have open dates on a regular basis for R&S when I've checked).

ed_the_lad wrote:

How did you approach the exam? Redraw topology diagram? Reread the exam in full a couple of times looking for obvious pitfalls?

You know how we mention time management for the CCNA candidates.... I should have written down the start time (we started late) and the lunch time. I thought I had spent an hour on my exam reading through - which I hadn't, but would have been fine if I did. I'd done all the stuff before, and I got a question I had decided not to spend a lot of study time on -- I'd just grab the big hairy config from the docs if I got it. And I think I picked up most of the gotchas. So I decided not to draw the diagram since I "had wasted a bunch of time" and could take the diagrams out of the test binder (but not the plastic sheets). That was THE tactical error I mentioned above -- and it bit me in the a** when I realized there was a problem, and eventually found the typo I'd made on the PIX. Having to stop and do the pod-subnet-router# IP address calculations during troubleshooting killed me.

ed_the_lad wrote:

How about router reloads,did you do this before lunch?

That I did do -- accidentally. With my brain freeze on a simple thing (simple on a router and already done -- it was the PIX side that got me). I thought I'd do a reload while I pondered my inability to remember something so simple (and obvious from the blueprint) and in all the practice labs I did.... and then the proctor came by for "lunch call." I might have also thought to do it since the proctor came by with our lunch coupons a few minutes earlier. And that reload was worth 3 points on another simple question that I spent too much time on verifying.

ed_the_lad wrote:

Was time really an issue or does it become an issue due to mistakes made and having to recover?

I guess this a good place to spit out one of the other obvious things to do, to go along with redrawing the topology diagram and reading through the exam a couple of times first -- don't overthink the question. I killed time on easy 2 and 3 point R&S type questions.

And then the other obvious thing to do -- when in doubt, ask the proctor. I had a couple ways of doing something on the PIX and was flipping and flopping on the solution.... And I kept flipping and flopping on what I thought it wanted me to do.... I should have asked the procter "if there was a preferred method" and gotten a clarification on "the scope." Tactical Error #2.

So yeah -- I think time is only an issue due to mistakes and recovery -- and failure to use the proctors when necessary. If you're careful, and check your work as you go along, and accurately scoped out "the big picture" during your initial read through(s) -- then there should be plenty of time.

ed_the_lad wrote:

How did the difficulty compare with the practice labs you did on the run up.

equal... maybe a tad easier.

ed_the_lad wrote:

What was the most important lesson you learned from your first sitting that you will do for the R&S? or you felt comfortable with approach and just had an off day?

Biggest lesson -- stick with the study plan, and reschedule the lab if you can't stick to your plan. I think I only got about 1/3 of my planned study time in once I switched to studying for the Security Lab.

For the R&S exam -- since the options are available -- I'm going to do a CheckIT or IE Mock lab AND one of the Assessor Labs (or maybe both) and use that to make the decision to go with Feb 12th date or reschedule (dates in San Jose are already booked out to early April). My Lab pay date is Jan 15th

For the next lab attempt (and thereafter) definitely the topology diagram -- right after the quick read through to get the highlights of the topics. Then with Topology diagram in hand -- mark it up with the gotchas and anything else that would help (like arrows showing some of the BB routes coming in and where they need to go) during the 2nd slower read through of the lab.

For R&S -- I'm NOT doing every 8 hour lab under the sun..... gotta save some for any other possible future attempts.

I've done the InternetworkExpert Advanced Technologies Labs and Core Labs. I've been through the Cisco Press Practical Studies books. I got the IPExpert 15 hour Scott Morris Class on Demand and the IE Audios (which are much shorter than the 80 hour COD).

I'm going to do the Soups to Nuts, and then the IPExpert Workbook. Then some of the InternetworkExpert Labs.

If I do well on the Mock Lab/CheckIT/Assessor Lab(s) before my "pay date" -- then I'd finish the rest of the IE Labs and the NMC DoIT (horizontally across the technologies, and not vertically as 8 hour labs).


I guess I should mention a couple of other things....

Lab tunnel vision -- it wasn't until 3pm-ish that I noticed my work station IP address on a sticker on the front top edge of my workstation monitor

One guy brought his own colored pencils.... but my pencil holder had lots of pencils and some colored ones... and there might have been pens.

I used ear plugs... but the noise wasn't bad. The Voice candidates were very polite and turned down (or off) the ringers on their phones!

And the biggie -- beverages allowed at the desks! You could bring back food from lunch, but no eating by your workstation -- you had to go to the break room (only one person out at a time with the "guest badge"). Restroom was right across the hallway from the lab door... for all us guys.

For San Jose -- if the flights to/from San Jose Airport aren't convenient, remember San Francisco and Oakland Airports are also possibilities. I returned via commuter flight to LAX, then to O'Hare. For R&S, since my neighbor didn't lose any of the barn cats (and the 2 regular feral cats are accounted for also) -- I may go back to my original plan and fly out of San Jose after the exam and wait in Las Vegas for the exam results.

I stayed at the Embassy Suites Hotel Milptias. I had booked online, but they gave me the "Cisco Rate" when I asked about a ride to Cisco for the next morning. You get free Internet as part of the "Cisco Plan" if you bring a laptop. Its one of those with the big open atrium with all the rooms looking out over it. Kind of noisey with a couple of events booked, but my noise canceling headphones took care of it -- and its a 2 room suite, and it was fine back in the bedroom laying on the bed watching TV. The only downside -- just a pool there. You can get a pass to a fitness place about a mile away. Maybe in the summer I'd consider walking there, but I'm sure they would have "shuttled" me there if I had wanted.

PCHoldmann

mikej214 wrote:

If we're doing a forum pool

I'll take 5 & 7

mikej214 wrote:

And the biggie -- beverages allowed at the desks!

Let me guess: Guiness?

Sounds like a case of have a plan and stick to it. That is one of the things I want to focus on with my practice labs, a method to my madness!
And then the brain freeze takes over

EdTheLad

Nice informative response as alway Mike, 12 days we'll have to wait and see,at the moment im more focused on interviews than the ccie but the end goal is still the same.Still in Bangkok,moved out of my apartment today so its basically a week of partying before i head home for xmas and then on to Oz.
Oh, for anyone interested the ccie written exam rumor has it its being updated, check the cisco site i havent had a chance but i here mpls is added which is a good thing for me!
The beers are calling, laters............

MrD

Nice info. Mike! Hmm...about MPLS on the written

Guess I need to buy another book.

MrD

I'm still not seeing MPLS on the blueprint...so, when is this change supposed to be taking place?

PCHoldmann

http://www.cisco.com/web/learning/le3/ccie/rs/wr_exam_blueprint_v3.html

MrD

Cool, thanks. Didn't see it there.

mikej412

PCHoldmann wrote:

http://www.cisco.com/web/learning/le3/ccie/rs/wr_exam_blueprint_v3.html

I think that is the $50 beta exam -- 351-001.

The regular 350-001 should still be available for a while (at full price).

But that is a hint that the winds of Lab change may be blowing sometime in the future.

MrD

Yep your right. 50 bucks thru December it looks like.

DW [banned]

Thanks

DW [banned]

Thanks

mikej412

DarbyWeaver wrote:

Are you still with us?

I have entered the quiet period before the lab

sprkymrk

All that snow makes it quiet too I guess...

DW [banned]

Thanks

mikej412

DarbyWeaver wrote:

When is your next date?

May 7th.... but that may change depending on when the updated workbooks come out. I just got the IPExpert Upgrade and am waiting for the NLI Upgrade (which now says it will ship in April, rather than February). I had volunteered for the InternetworkExpert beta.... but have since "un-volunteered." I'm still leaning towards using rack rental... but have been thinking about buying the new hardware....

But enough about my next Security Lab date.... what about those InternetworkExpert R&S Core Labs & Updated Workbook labs? They've missed a few promised date there! All the core labs and diagrams are now posted.... but the solutions still aren't -- but will hopefully be posted this week. 14 of the workbook labs are posted.... but wasn't it supposed to be one a day until all 20 were posted -- from early January? I did get the IPExpert R&S Workbook update along with the Security update.

I'm thinking I may do an April 1st posting about the R&S lab..... and see if anyone believes me.

DW [banned]

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mikej412

So much for my planned April Fools Day post of my CCIE R&S Lab Exam result.....

I'm taking the live InternetworkExpert Class on Demand for the CCIE Security v2 stuff.... and they rescheduled from next week to the end of March (26-30).

I guess I've been to busy studying for the R&S Lab and checking for the updated IE Core Labs (still waiting on the solutions for labs 2-10) and Workbook labs 15-20 to notice they hadn't finished the Security V2 workbook.

Luckily I was able to cancel and reschedule my March 30 R&S lab before they processed my payment information. Good thing I checked my "suspect email folder" when I noticed I hadn't received the class login information for Monday.

DW [banned]

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mikej412

DarbyWeaver wrote:

How many labs are you going for? At the same time?

Four. But hopefully no more than 2 at a time

I'm definitely looking to reschedule the Security Lab now -- I don't want to overlap or alternate R&S and Security attempts. I'm focused on the R&S Lab now. Security is just a study break.

DW [banned]

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mikej412

DarbyWeaver wrote:

And people think I am too wrapped up in this stuff...

Okay... maybe I am guilty too.

It's after 3am and I wakeup at 6:30am....

Darby -- quick question. Watching the IE SP COD and getting the IE SP Workbook doesn't count as "at the same time" if I haven't done the SP Written exam yet, right?

DW [banned]

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