From: Gregory W. Posey Jr. (gposey@xxxxxxxxxxx)
Date: Sun Aug 12 2001 - 06:52:13 GMT-3
Well, group. Thank GOD that it's my turn to write this email. I took the
lab in RTP on the 9th & 10th. Going in, I felt pretty confident about going
in, and at the same time with an underlying sense of panic - having no real
idea of what to "really" expect (1st time).
Five of us started day one. I thought I had been pretty meticulous with
making notes about "gotchas" with the day one lab, and had everything
reasonably well planned out and started by lunch. After lunch,
unfortunately I wasted most of the time trying to get something to work for
minimal points that I don't think I ever really got working. With about an
hour and a half left there were still a significant number of points that I
hadn't even addressed yet (DEFINITELY NOT THE STRATEGY I WOULD SUGGEST!!!).
At the end of the day I was too rushed to test whether or not the
"workarounds" I had come up with really worked (given that of course the
test restricted me from solving the problems in the "standard" way).
Well, come day two it turns out that those last second workarounds did in
fact work (lots of little things I noticed at the last moment and
configured - like I said above NOT THE RECOMMENDED WAY!!!). The sad part
was that the parts I thought I'd nailed had minor mistakes or missing things
(including the DISASTER of using an access list to address one section of
the test, then using THE SAME ACCESS LIST NUMBER to address another
section - which of course made that access list USELESS for the first
application - what a BONEHEAD move). Yet and still, I was the only one of
the five to make it to day two (but with the foolish mistakes I made I just
BARELY made it... GOD was definitely smiling on me).
At the start of day two, I started working on the scenario when I noticed it
spoke of a link between two routers that I didn't have. I mentioned it to
the proctor and it turned out that I had the wrong Day 2 exam. Only lost
about 30 minutes on that though, and he gave me all of that time back. The
"right" Day 2 scenario went pretty well (though I made a couple more
bonehead oversights). Waiting during lunch was the most nerve wracking
thing I'd been through in life up until that point. When the time came to
review my configs, something I was docked points for actually turned out to
be correctly configured - and that (1 or 2 points I think) is what allowed
me to go on to troubleshooting (with no point to spare, and the advice from
the proctor that "It'll be tough, but it's been done before").
At the beginning of troubleshooting, I was spent. One third of the way
through (timewise), I was less than one tenth of the way through the
problems!! I was almost ready to just throw up my hands and throw in the
towel as I couldn't believe I'd made it this far only to choke on TS.
That's when the divine intervention occurred. After fixing the current
problem - the rest of them just started coming to me. Not to start another
"holy war" on this group list - but I'm convinced that MY own merits can't
account for the way that I started blazing through the troubleshooting
section, doing JUST the right debugs, and trying JUST the right fixes to get
everything working (and little else in terms of barking up the wrong tree) -
GOD was (and hopefully is) definitely on my side.
Notwithstanding, I still couldn't take the wait while my troubleshooting was
being checked. Now THIS was the most nerve wracking thing I'd been through
in life. The new Proctor (my original proctor had to leave and start his
anniversary celebration for the weekend) brought me back out to my pod and
asked about how I fixed a particular problem, then sent me back into the
lunch/conference room to wait. I couldn't take it. Then he comes in and
says "Well, I've got good news and bad news. Which one do you want first?".
I was crest-fallen. My thought was that the good news would be "For a 1st
try, you did pretty good to get this far". So I asked fo the bad news 1st.
The bad news was "You're going to be a lot busier at work now and can't use
the excuse of studying anymore". Needless to say, I didn't even ask what
the good news was and almost did a back flip when he pulled out the Post-It
note with my number and a smiley face on it!!!!!
OK, after that long discourse - the only suggestions I have are nothing new.
I definitely would NOT suggest using my strategy for taking the test (try to
maximize your points rather than banging your head against the wall for one
or two points). Make sure you've addressed EVRERYTHING in a given section
rather than doing just parts of everything (OBVIOUS, since there's no
partial credit for each section - no matter how cleverly you may have solved
a part of the problem in a section) - it would have surely given me much
more cushion and not a "by the skin of your teeth" CCIE like I did (not that
I'm complaining).
As for preparation - also nothing new - KNOW multiple ways to do everything
(as the easiest, most common methos will be prohibited). Really KNOW and
UNDERSTAND the technology/protocols (goes with the preceding sentence, helps
to come up with the "non-standard" solutions).
Don't panic, don't give up - and whether you're a man/woman of faith or
not... I KNOW THAT WITHOUT GOD's DIRECT INTERVENTION, I would be looking for
the next possible opening to test again. Like someone else on this list (I
saw an apology email) I also lost my job a couple of weeks back - so I
really felt like I NEEDED to pass (hmm, maybe if I had mentioned that to the
proctors, then they would have "given" me some points - nah, not likely). I
know that I had a lot of people praying for me and I'm convinced that made a
real difference (and not just a matter of "personal affirmation" or
psychological effect - I'm talking tangible results). Like I said, I'm not
trying to start a "great debate" about spirituality and its place in a forum
like this, but I've got enough sense to know to give credit where credit is
due, and to give HIM all of the praise and the glory rather than going on an
ego trip about how bright and masterful I am.
Same prep materials as most: CCBootcamp labs, ECP1, Doyle I, Halabi,
Williamson, Caslow, All-in-One, Advanced IP Routing, and a special thanks to
the local Cisco office in Southfield, MI (thanks Guy) for the VLab credits
that I wouldn't have been able to stockpile like I did otherwise (Premier
partner membership has its privileges).
They can't test everything (obviously), but they can test anything. There
won't be a TON of stuff to configure (if my lab is any indication), but it
will take significant thought and ATTENTION TO DETAIL.
Last but not least, the proctors were great. I had Howard (still haven't
met the infamous Alan). He was very encouraging and open to discussing how
I chose to solve problems that weren't the exact thing he was looking for
(if it genuinely worked, and didn't violate the conditions, he gave me the
points). To paraphrase Rick Burts from ECP1 - Rule # 1 is "Don't piss off
the proctor", and with Howard's good nature that wasn't a difficult rule to
adhere to. I'm sure that a proctor with a bad attitude could have made the
difference in my success (not the most assuring thing in the world, but we
do need to realize that the human element does enter into the process). All
in all, each of the proctors did a great job in reducing the stress even
though the answers to most questions were "Sorry, I can't say anything about
that" (at least they said it with a smile, sometimes a chuckle).
Much good fortune and success is wished to everyone on this list.
I guess it's time to study for the Security CCIE (but I think I'll take a
week or two off 1st).
Be Blessed.
Thank you,
Greg Posey Jr.
CONECTS Network Analyst
CCIE #7981
CCDA/CCNP - Security Specialist
Cisco Voice Access Specialist
313-875-2088 ext. 347
www.conects.com
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