From: Eric Fairfield (ericfair@xxxxxxxxxx)
Date: Wed Jan 10 2001 - 20:23:27 GMT-3
I would say the biggest difference for me in taking my second attempt and
passing was taking my wife with me. We left a few days early due to cheaper
airfare. We did numerous things in Halifax and it managed to keep my mind
off the test and out of the books doing last minute studying.
Just my .02!
----- Original Message -----
From: Chuck Larrieu <chuck@cl.cncdsl.com>
To: Kevin Baumgartner <kbaumgar@cisco.com>; jeffkesemeyer
<jeffkesemeyer@email.msn.com>; Michelle T <mtruman@mn.mediaone.net>;
<ccielab@groupstudy.com>
Sent: Wednesday, January 10, 2001 1:44 PM
Subject: RE: Second Attempts
> Not that I can speak from experience in the Lab itself, but I make a point
> of asking everyone who has been through the lab, successful or not, for
> their advice on preparation. The same themes keep recurring. I am
beginning
> to group these into "mindset".
>
> Of late I am finding out how little I really know about frame relay
> behaviour, as an example. A couple of test labs I have worked on in the
last
> couple of weeks have totally blown me away. Now the thing is I design
> customer networks for a living, and have installed several quite
successful
> frame relay based networks. So it's not that I don't have experience with
> frame. But the fact is, I design networks that are straightforward and
work.
> I don't design bizarre networks where one side of the link is multipoint
and
> the others are point-to-point or straight interface with no subinterface
> using OSPF in one part of the network and IGRP in the other and
> redistributing the two without using a default network on the IGRP side
and
> no static routes allowed on router A and no route maps on router b.
>
> I believe there are plenty of good preparation tools for the lab,
including
> fatkid, ccbootcamp, and Mentor Vlab. So one cannot make the excuse that
one
> did not know what to expect going in. Fact is there are plenty of folks on
> this list in the last couple of months who have passed first time through.
> Where I believe people make their mistake is in thinking that the Lab is
> about configuring routers. They memorize configurations, and practice
those,
> and totally ignore the advice of the many Lab experienced people who post
> here and else about the deep understanding required.
>
> To me, based on my conversations with CCIE's and other wannabe's like
> myself, the lab is about THINKING and UNDERSTANDING. It is about PLANNING
> and only then, after these things, is it about configuring.
>
> JMHO
>
> Chuck
> Living in sheer terror these days, knowing what I don't know!
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: nobody@groupstudy.com [mailto:nobody@groupstudy.com] On Behalf Of
> Kevin Baumgartner
> Sent: Wednesday, January 10, 2001 11:22 AM
> To: jeffkesemeyer; Michelle T; ccielab@groupstudy.com
> Subject: RE: Second Attempts
>
> At 01:59 PM 1/10/01 -0500, jeffkesemeyer wrote:
> >You make an interesting point on attempts.
> >
> >I am getting ready to make my first attempt and I really an not sure as
> what
> >to expect on the difficulty of the lab. I am practicing and reading and
> >hopefully I will make it to the second day. My only thoughts can be that
> the
> >first time will have to be a practice run so I can learn what I am weak
at.
> >Seems everyone makes second attempts so the level required must be more
> than
> >anyone can estimate.
>
> For most people I think the first attempt is really a chance to see what
> the
> lab is all about. I think I saw someone post that there is only a 14% pass
> rate for
> the first attempt. Don't know if it's that they are not prepared enough or
> it's more
> difficult than they though.
>
>
> >I would be interested in here about the personal weak spots others had on
> >their first attempt.
> >Giving others a way to test their abilities before the lab. Someone once
> >mentioned that they could configure six routers in 20 minutes with
3-IGP's,
> >FR, and ISDN. They passed the lab so that is a goal that I must be able
to
> >do as well. This does not guarantee I will pass, but I will certainly
limit
> >myself if I can't do it.
> >
> >I think if everyone knew the difficulty in the beginning that there would
> be
> >more passing on the first attempts and less of a lab back log. I been
> >wanting to take the test since the beginning but my only books on Cisco
> were
> >the 9.12 IOS manuals, now there are only three Cisco Press books that I
> >don't have.
>
> Might help but also might reduce the level of the certification. After
> the first attempt
> you will certainly find out the level of the difficulty. I know I did and
> it wasn't that I
> didn't think it was difficult going in, but I guess until you actually sit
> in the lab you
> really don't find out what you don't know.
>
> Kevin
>
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