From: jsaxe@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Date: Thu Aug 16 2001 - 13:20:43 GMT-3
I don't want to bring everyone down on GroupStudy, so if you want to hit
"delete" right now, feel free. I'm just sharing a few thoughts after my
first lab attempt (Tuesday and yesterday, in RTP).
The test is really challenging -- I have tremendous respect for all the
folks who have passed it, who are studying hours every day for it, etc.
Nothing on my exam was totally surprising or "out of left field" -- it was
an honest exam, honestly testing my abilites, and the proctor (Howard) was
fair, helpful, and even a good buddy in what must daily be a very
stress-filled environment.
I knew from my level of preparation and from the excellent ECP1 course
(thanks very much, Bruce!) that I would be right on the edge, and that's
where I landed -- I made it through day one, but more points down than I
wanted to be, and I made it through morning of day two, but my points safety
margin was down to zero... not a comfortable place to be sitting. I think
I'm fairly good at troubleshooting in general, but I didn't get a perfect
score on that section (Howard wasn't specific, but he said I missed by
"several" points).
Now I know what I need to do: mainly I need practice to get my speed up. I
think my theoretical understanding of the issues and protocols is solid, but
I need some serious face time in front of racks of equipment, with difficult
labs full of all the landmines. Probably with 25% more time allowed, I could
have completed enough tasks to pass, but you have to know everything
(especially the basics of IGP redistribution) and know it cold. You need to
be smooth, fast, accurate, confident, and persistent. You must do things
right the first time, since there may not be much time left over to check
your work or do it differently. I don't believe I'm violating the NDA if I
mention something this vaguely, since I'll bet it comes up in production
networks all the time... I flip-flopped the DLCI numbers on two frame-relay
map statements that I myself typed in, and I banged my head against OSPF
"stuck in EXSTART" for probably 20 minutes. Pings still work, even
large-packet-size pings, but each spoke router is wondering why the hub
router is sending an LSA database packet that's not intended for it. I
didn't lose my cool, and I did eventually fix this, but it cost me time that
I could definitely have used elsewhere!
Well, that's all for now. I'm glad I've made it this far, and it was a good
experience, although of course it would have been a better experience to
come out with a number. Right now I'm going to try to be a proper Dad again
for a while, actually reading stories to my three-year-old instead of always
reading networking books, but I will pass this exam at some point. Good
luck, everyone. Keep it up, practice, and believe in yourself.
-- Jeff Saxe
Charlottesville, Virginia
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