From: Larry Sinclair (lsinclair@ev1.net)
Date: Tue Jul 22 2003 - 02:35:24 GMT-3
I have taken it 7 times and have recently had to retake the written. The
first time I was forced to take it by my company. The second time I knew I
was'nt ready but I waited to cancel until it was too late and took it
because my company was still paying. The 3rd time I had finally learned OSPF
and thought I might get lucky. (CCIE is not luck). The 4th time a friend of
mine gave me his lab and I was able to fail it for free. The 5th time was
the first time on the 1 day lab and the last time it was paid for. The 6th
time I was unemployed a week before and had to pay myself (My company went
bankrupt). The last time I was really ready (I thought) and got burned on
unexpected things that NDA will not let me go into (I went into panic mode
immediately and even messed up IGP).
Why can't I pass the lab?
1. I'm not the smartest person that ever attempted it.
2. I am less than one year from being 50. Let's be honest, age doesn't help
speed or retention, (but it does bring a better attitude).
3. I never had any training. I've been attempting all from books and the
website.
4. I am not in a study group, except for the last 3 months on this list.
(It's great!)
5. I have a family(kids) and all that stuff (6 dogs, a bird, cat, chickens,
etc...).
6. I am not putting all my spare time into it like I should.
7. I do not have a complete practice lab.
8. I let all the above excuses be excuses.
Will I ever pass?
Maybe not, but I will be going again as soon as I can get up the money
and drive 1280 miles in my no air conditioned 170,000 mile mini-van (from
Houston, TX to RTP). I sleep in truck stops. I guess this is my
hobby(failing). My friends and family think I should give up and spend my
time and money more productively (My wife does back me, but I know she would
rather back me if I was doing something else that was cheaper).
Advice from me; Don't do as I did. I think study partners may be what's
needed. Also the bootcamps might have saved me from a lot of those failing
attempts.
I'm shooting for another try in about 6 weeks.
I have taken the 2 day and the one day, and without exception, every
time I go back it gets harder. The old timers on this list that say the 2
day lab was the last time it was hard can take it from me that it is much
harder now. How about you old timers that complain let your cert expire and
try it doing it all over again. Even the written is harder now. 3 hour test
and $300.
I should'nt be typing this crap, I should be studying. I have never
contributed until now, you wouldn't want any technical advice from a 7 time
loser anyway. But I think this thread was started to see if anyone out here
has been failing and I sure fit the bill.
Good luck to all.
-----Original Message-----
From: nobody@groupstudy.com [mailto:nobody@groupstudy.com]On Behalf Of
nettable_walker@comcast.net
Sent: Monday, July 21, 2003 9:15 AM
To: bob_arthurs@hotmail.com; ccielab@groupstudy.com
Cc: dvrgas@yahoo.com; dvargas@conres.com
Subject: CCIE lab attempts...
I personally know a guy who passed on the 9th try.
(I never ask but I have to ASSUME he was not paying for the attemts out of
pocket)
I know several who went 4 or 5 times.
I also know 4 who passed on the 1st try (3 of them the "old" two day lab,
one a
few months ago)
I think an avarage of 3 is probably correct.
Richard
//
> hi guys
>
> i know that the average number of lab attempts is 3 (i think) but does
> anybody know the record for the number of attempts before passing (or
giving
> up)?
>
> i'm just curious...i think people who fail a number of times and still
> continue (and don't give up) to be pretty inspirational.
>
> so...anybody know ?
>
> thanks
>
> _________________________________________________________________
> Get Hotmail on your mobile phone http://www.msn.co.uk/msnmobile
>
>
> _______________________________________________________________________
> You are subscribed to the GroupStudy.com CCIE R&S Discussion Group.
>
> Subscription information may be found at:
> http://www.groupstudy.com/list/CCIELab.html
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.4 : Wed Aug 06 2003 - 06:52:48 GMT-3