From: Jim Brown (Jim.Brown@caselogic.com)
Date: Mon Sep 09 2002 - 12:50:58 GMT-3
I thought this day would never come. It is finally my turn to compose this
message. I passed the lab on Saturday in RTP. I can't begin to explain what
a relief it is to pass.
I slightly embarrassed at my number, five digits, and the number of attempts
it took me to pass. This was my fifth attempt in 13 months. The "number of
the day" was 8101 on my first attempt last August and I thought it wouldn't
be any big deal to pass before 10,000. I was wrong.
This exam was probably the single most humbling experience I've had to date.
I wrote a Background, Advice, and Comments section if you don't want to read
the whole message.
BACKGROUND
I was in the hunt on every attempt, I just befell some bad luck on the first
couple and missed by only a handful of points on the last two.
I walked out of the lab in San Jose last month expecting to receive my
number. I was SURE I had passed. I thought I possibly dropped 8 points at
the most and this left me with a cushion of 12 points. There wasn't any way
I could fail. I was waaaaaay wrong.
During my daily jog I ran over the experience in my head time after time and
couldn't figure out what I had done wrong. I verified the logic in my
solutions to the lab problems and knew it wasn't bad logic. This left only
one thing, careless errors. I finished with only 45 minutes and had checked
my work only to find a few things wrong. Last minute fixes and no time to
regression test them killed me.
Attempt number 5 was to be my last. The night before the exam, I decided if
I didn't pass on this attempt I would quit. I'm not a quitter, but I thought
I had given it all I could and there is a time to concede. I didn't want to
wind up one of those freak stories you hear about like...."20 attempts and
they still haven't passed." I knew I was a good engineer, but I just might
not be able to pass the exam.
Before attempt number 4 and 5 I hadn't really studied any since January I
have a new infant daughter. I would look at the material and there wasn't
anything for me to learn. I just wasn't motivated and you can only read the
same things over and over so many times. I only did one lab before each
attempt to get my speed up and some light reading on certain topics I felt
might pop up.
I probably only invested 30 study hours for the past two attempts.
On this attempt I basically finished at lunch. I had one core technology to
implement and I knew how to do it except for a couple of minor "knobs". The
knobs were worth a bunch of points. I had everything up and running on the
first pass by 1:15. Now began the task I had skimmed over in the past.
Checking every single command I had implemented!
I found so many freaking errors it was unbelievable. If you had asked me to
bet my life if I had implemented command X on router Y, the bet would have
been on. Some things just weren't there. I had skipped them, miskeyed them,
or whatever? This is why I had failed in the past.
I spent the remaining time scouring my configs and this is why I passed!
Plain and simple.
Mike Reed told me there are some people who just keep making the same little
mistakes that prevent them from passing the exam. He let me know they might
be good engineers, but the minutia kills them on the exam and I thought I
was destined for this category.
If I had known what it would take when I started this journey, I can
honestly say I might not have embarked. It was consuming and humbling but is
over. For me it would have been over on Saturday one way or another.
ADVICE
I used all the same materials, blah, blah, blah. This is not worth
mentioning. Some standouts are the McGraw Hill book for DLSW+ by Tam Nam Kee
and both Cisco Press Parkhust Configuration Guides for BGP and OSPF.
Know the core technologies cold! AND I MEAN COLD! You should know BGP, OSPF,
DLSW+, ISDN, EIGRP, and redistribution like no ones business!
Know how almost every other technology works in theory and you should have
messed around with it in a lab environment at least. A proctor once told me,
"We don't expect you to know everything, just eighty points worth."
You should be comfortable finding anything on the documentation CD without
using the search engine. Try to use it exclusively as your lab date
approaches, remember this is all you will have on game day.
And the most important advice I can give anyone is.... check, check, and
check your work again. This is what kept me from passing for 13 months. Even
if you know you implemented it correctly you should still check it again. I
found a minor error with 10 minutes to go that would have cost me 5 points.
Stay calm it is only a stupid exam. If you fail, you can just come back and
take it again.
I wish I had tested at RTP from the beginning. It is more relaxed and
cheaper in my opinion. I paid for my hotel, air, and car for what I paid for
my hotel in San Jose!
The proctors are there to help you understand the requirements. They want to
see you pass, they enjoy success as much as you. They aren't trying to fail
anyone. Be thankful there isn't any subjectivity to the grading. We are all
on a level playing field and it make it that much sweeter when you achieve
it.
COMMENTS
If you are fortunate enough to receive exam requirements before your
attempt, I see them pop up on lists all the time, at least have the ability
to solve the problem on your own with research and DON'T post them to the
list. If you can't solve them without using a public forum you probably
should be sitting the exam and what kind of engineer would you make if you
pass.
The number doesn't mean someone should know everything about Cisco
networking. It means I could pass a practical exam designed by Cisco to test
my understanding of their idea of networking on the specific topics
presented that day. It also means I can do research to develop a solution.
If I don't know it I can most likely learn it. I know there are individuals
out there without numbers who know a hell of a lot more than I do about
networking and vice versa.
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.4 : Mon Oct 07 2002 - 07:43:47 GMT-3