Can't Believe I Passed ISCW

Just a few questions in I started having problems with sims, which I think was a resolution issue. They rebooted the computer and the problem remains. At this point I've lost about 5 minutes of the actual exam time. The testing people don't really give me an answer, so I say "screw it" and do the sim even though I can't see what I'm typing, what the entire question is, or much of the output. Then the next one comes up, this time I can't read the question at all, not good. After another 10 minutes of lost time they move me into their training room, where people are actively teaching and I continue. When I get to about 4 minutes left I realize there is no way I'm going to finish in time. So I start briefly scanning the questions and picking the first answer that looks right. I still had 5 questions left when the timer ran out.

At this point I fully expected to fail, and was already going over what I was going to say when I called up Vue to complain. Incredibly, when the score pops up I barely passed with an 804. Needless to say I'm still irritated by the experience, but at least I don't have to go take it again.

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Comments

malcybood

Congratulations, how many left for CCNP now then?

kalebksp

Thanks! Just got ONT left to go, gonna hit that hard this weekend.

mikej412

Congratulations!

Remember to use the Comment button during the exam (if you can see one

) to log issues with the exam. On Graphic resolution issues, look for a 1 pixel high scroll bar on the graphic exhibit -- I had one of those and to this day I still hope it was an ungraded beta SIM.

Do you have any other Vue testing locations within a day's drive?

kalebksp

Thanks Mike. I did comment on one of them, but the problem with doing comments is that the clock is still ticking down. It's too bad the clock can't pause while typing a comment, but that would have obvious potentials for abuse.

The only other testing center in town is an awful place that looks as though it was built with duct tape and faux wood paneling. The next closest place is about 150 miles away. The testing center is usually pretty good, just wasn't going my way today.

miller811

kalebksp wrote: »

Just a few questions in I started having problems with sims, which I think was a resolution issue. They rebooted the computer and the problem remains. At this point I've lost about 5 minutes of the actual exam time. The testing people don't really give me an answer, so I say "screw it" and do the sim even though I can't see what I'm typing, what the entire question is, or much of the output. Then the next one comes up, this time I can't read the question at all, not good. After another 10 minutes of lost time they move me into their training room, where people are actively teaching and I continue. When I get to about 4 minutes left I realize there is no way I'm going to finish in time. So I start briefly scanning the questions and picking the first answer that looks right. I still had 5 questions left when the timer ran out.

At this point I fully expected to fail, and was already going over what I was going to say when I called up Vue to complain. Incredibly, when the score pops up I barely passed with an 804. Needless to say I'm still irritated by the experience, but at least I don't have to go take it again.

I have had the situation happen several times on the NP track at my testing center. The attendant has told me I will not lose time when the workstation is rebooted. One time it had to be rebooted 4 times to get the resolution correct. Later in the exam it happended again on another question. I had her reboot it again. Each time she contacted Cisco to fill out a incident report.

The key is as soon as it happens get the attendant....

Paul Boz

Sounds like my experience with the CCNA Security last month. I had the same exact problem. Blurry and unreadable graphics, SDM problems, you name it. I usually crush Cisco tests and this was my lowest score because I couldn't read the freakin questions.

networker050184

Congrats!

I've only had issues with one test I believe it was the BSCI, but maybe the BCMSN. The computer just rebooted out of no where. I was freaking for a minute, but it came back up and I only lost about three or four minutes. I still had plenty time when I finished, but if I would have failed I would have tried to get a free retake

Met44

Well done kalebksp! Sorry to hear about the testing problems; that's definitely not something we need to have happening to us during an exam. Any thoughts to share on the ISCW?

lildeezul

congratulations.. I just finished up doing some labs on CBAC (ios firewall).. pretty neat..

Hopefully i can get this exam done within the next two weeks, i been studying hard, and reviewing intensively more than i have been moving on.. I got the last chapter to knock out, and then everything all good from there.

mamono

Congrats!

nel

congrats!

mikearama

Very nice Kaleb... even sweeter that you had to work "extra" hard for the pass.

kalebksp

Thanks guys!

Met44 wrote: »

Any thoughts to share on the ISCW?

I used CBT Nuggets and the Cisco Press book, I found Nuggets to be very lacking and would not recommend it for this exam. The book is pretty good. As with all of these exams doing some lab work is very helpful. I wish I had spent more time working with SDM. Lastly, a bit of luck always helps.

jbaello

Congrats Kaleb