From: Scott Morris (swm@xxxxxxxxxx)
Date: Thu Nov 29 2001 - 01:21:04 GMT-3
I've seen this go back and forth a whole lot, and I figured it's time to
share an opinion. If you aren't interested in hearing it, please delete
this message now.
EVERYTHING (ok, just about everything) is fair game on the CCIE lab exam.
Therefore, everything is a potential question/scenario. Therefore, every
question someone may pose in a particular light is an NDA violation.
Non-disclosure talks about not revealing what is on an exam. It doesn't say
you can't ever go back and figure out a technology and what happened with
it, or why things didn't work. It says you can't go 'Hey! I had this on
the exam, and I screwed it up. Can someone help me?'
What do you think happened before we had all of these study materials? Let
me first talk about study materials. The practice labs. Are they CCIE lab
exams? No. (I see feathers ruffling) Plain and simple. But they COULD
be. Everything is fair game.
How do you think practice exams are created? People who think of difficult
and odd-ball scenarios to test themselves.
How do you think CCIE lab exams are created? People who think of difficult
and odd-ball scenarios to test other people.
Gee, could there be similarities there? I would certainly think so. but
that doesn't mean that any question that covers something you may not have
thought about must be a real lab question. It COULD be one. But that
doesn't mean it is. Do you not think that people who create the CCIE labs,
or proctor the CCIE labs don't watch things like this list? Do you not
think that they would say, ' Well, gee... That looks an awful lot like one
of the lab scenarios'. Do you not think that the person asking may get in
trouble? I would say if they asked the question identical to a lab
question, then answer would be yes.
If it's asked more broadly, or in a different light, I'd say no. What about
questions redistributing between FLSM and VLSM? I'm sure that's on the lab.
Shall we not talk about it? What about OSPF NSSA areas? What about OSPF in
a multipoint environment? Those are probably in CCIE lab scenarios. Should
I ask about it?
There is a line between a good question and a bad question to ask. The same
line (different view) covers whether something is viewed as a violation of
NDA or not. Are we here to share in our understanding of technology, or to
breed paranoia about what may be part of a lab scenario.
What about the person who sits the lab three or four times? Presumably they
don't get the same test more than once, which means they've seen damn near
everything in terms of technology. So is every question asked of them a
violation of NDA? Sure. Interpret it a certain way and it is. Or answer
generically about the technology, and it's not.
If you can find an answer to a question on CCO (like the IPX network
FFFFFFFE), then it is NOT going to be an NDA problem. If you say, 'I had a
scenario that said my IPX network was FFFFFFFE', then it'll be an NDA
problem. Relax. Share information. Help each other out. And don't be
paranoid. Or stupid about asking questions.
Everyone should be aware of the Non-Disclosure Agreement, and take it very
seriously! But on the other hand, there are lots of rules in our lives that
should be taken seriously. Does that mean we are all over-cautious,
over-anxious and paranoid? It should not.
Go study for your labs!
Scott
PS. I feel better now. Hopefully some of you do as well! :)
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