From: Kinton Connelly (kinton@xxxxxxxxxxxx)
Date: Tue May 02 2000 - 23:00:35 GMT-3
Hi John, here's how it went for me:
>I've been wondering lately about the time AFTER the failed attempt. What
>do most folks do? Do they get right back up? Couple days? Weeks? Months?
For my first attempt, I pressed hard for 6 months - three months for the
written, then three months for the lab. The last month before the lab was
the worst - 12 hours a day for 4 weeks - and I completely blew off almost
everything else (two hours for a movie? nope, can't spare it. thank
goodness it's winter, don't need to cut the grass. i'll do the garage after
the test, i promise. groceries? the family needs food? oh ok, if I _have_ to.)
After I blew the exam, I was devastated. I had blown it. I had it there in
my grubby little hands but I let it go. And it was all my fault.
Fortunately, I had plenty of stuff piled up that needed doing and so I
occupied my time with chores. In a sense, those chores were a relief - they
got my mind off the test and eventually (two-three weeks), I came to grips
with the failure and tried to learn from my mistakes.
I knew I would have to take the test again - I wasn't giving up. So I
called to schedule the test and the soonest I could get in was 3 months. I
figured no problem, I'll take it easy for two months and then start
pressing hard for two weeks and then really press hard for the last two
weeks. But at the same time I made the new lab reservation, I also asked to
be put on a wait-list for an earlier opening. And sure enough, a couple
weeks later, I received an email that said they had opened up a new rack at
RTP and I could schedule a new date as early as one week from then. Yikes!
That was a little too early - so I set it for one month away and just
kicked back into my study habits.
The family (who were extremely understanding during my first attempt)
weren't exactly looking forward to another 2-3 weeks of me not doing
anything but studying - but they understood and they figured it'd be best
to get it out of the way as soon as possible (providing, of course, that I
don't have to go back for a 3rd or 4th or ?? time). I scheduled my first
two weeks of study like this: one day doing house/yard stuff, one day for
study, one day for the house, one day for study. The I moved into full-time
study for the remaining time.
So that's where I am now - two study days and one day of travel left before
the next attempt.
>Do most find the support structure (SO's kids, etc.) starved for
>attention? Is motivation a struggle? What's it like?
For me, it isn't as difficult as for those with little kids - it's mainly
just my wife. Yes, I hear comments like "movie? what's a movie? i haven't
seen one of those in years" - but she says it in good humor.
I'm still in the middle of this CCIE thing. I might happen this weekend or
it might happen sometime this year. But either way, I'm committed to it
happening. My family is behind me and my workplace is behind me - everyone
has gone out of their way to help accomodate my efforts.
Have you seen Derek Small's recent email about passing his lab? That's by
far the best-documented tale of one person's quest for the CCIE that I've
seen so far. If you want to read about motivation and struggle and
sacrifice, go into the archives and read Derek's message (from last week or
so).
Good luck in your studies,
Kinton
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