From: Scott Morris (swm@emanon.com)
Date: Thu Jan 25 2007 - 01:45:15 ART
Not much to add to this string here other than emphasizing the "be nice"
part! It may very well be hard to do depending on how the day is going.
But no matter what has been happening, it is NOT the proctor's fault!
(Sometimes it may take several days to realize this!)
They see many people on a daily basis. You do not want to be remembered
because of what a (substitute colorful word here) you happened to be.
The easier you are to get along with, you'll find the easier things are with
the proctors.
Other than that, Anthony is spot on.
Scott Morris, CCIE4 (R&S/ISP-Dial/Security/Service Provider) #4713, JNCIE
#153, CISSP, et al.
CCSI/JNCI-M/JNCI-J
IPexpert VP - Curriculum Development
IPexpert Sr. Technical Instructor
smorris@ipexpert.com
http://www.ipexpert.com
-----Original Message-----
From: nobody@groupstudy.com [mailto:nobody@groupstudy.com] On Behalf Of
anthony.sequeira@thomson.com
Sent: Wednesday, January 24, 2007 11:25 PM
To: Alex.deGruiter@didata.com.au; ccielab@groupstudy.com
Subject: RE: Proctor questions
"Proctor, Proctor, give me the news, I got a bad case of router blues!"
R. Palmer
This is one of my favorite areas of Lab discussion. In fact, I had planned
on doing a post about this subject soon...
Here are some quick tips off the top of my head that I want you to consider,
please let me know your questions/ideas on the subject:
- Be as friendly and as calm as possible when approaching the proctor.
If you have any kind of attitude - good chance they might too.
- If your site has several individuals that are proctoring - try approaching
them all at various times to get a feel for which seem to be more helpful.
Once you figure that out - only approach the more helpful proctor.
- I know time is a critical issue - but try and take some of your time to
rehearse your question a bit before you actually approach the proctor.
- Make it very clear to the proctor in your question that you are
"expert-level" with your knowledge of the subject matter - and that you just
need clarification on the ambiguity that you PERCEIVE in the question. One
example of accomplishing this is as follows. You might end up explaining to
the proctor the exact three different methods you are considering for
accomplishment of the task - and then explain to the proctor how you see
some ambiguity in the question as to which would be more correct.
- While you want to seem expert-level - do no let this come across as
arrogance.
- Do not ever frame the question so that the proctor must give you an exact
answer. You should not say - "Hey - I can do Option A, Option B, or Option C
- which do you want?" Instead - I would frame it more like - "I think I can
do Option A, Option B, or Option C to accomplish this task. I am leaning
toward Option A because - BLAH, BLAH, BLAH, do you agree with my reasoning
here....I only ask because I see some ambiguity in the second sentence of
this task...."
In RTP - I got a sense for the two proctors that were there for most of my
attempts. I learned which I could ask which types of questions of.....and I
found them critical ingredients in my eventual recipe for success.
One of my friends and colleagues passed on his first try not so long
ago....he said what put him over the top was that early in the day a proctor
helped him interpret a diagram correctly. He indicated if that had not
happened - he would have had NO CHANCE TO PASS.
Proctors can be invaluable. And at the same time - many first-time passers
never said ONE WORD to the proctors. The lab is indeed a very personal
experience.
-----Original Message-----
From: nobody@groupstudy.com [mailto:nobody@groupstudy.com] On Behalf Of Alex
De Gruiter
Sent: Wednesday, January 24, 2007 9:42 PM
To: ccielab@groupstudy.com
Subject: Proctor questions
Hello,
I am looking for the best advice on how to approach the proctor.
I tried 2 completely different approaches for each of my labs. In the 1st I
asked a lot of questions and received persistent negative feedback. So I
posted a similar question to this one after the 1st lab, and I was torn down
in flames by certain people who stated that I "obviously knew nothing"; if I
had asked clear, reasonable questions, I would receive a response.
So I spent time between lab attempts better learning the technologies, and
in the 2nd lab asked very few questions. I basically ignored the proctor -
on the few occassions that I did ask questions, I was met with a similar
response to my 1st attempt.
I am now faced with a dilemma. Due to locality there is one location that
proves particularly practical in my endeavour to sit my next, and hopefully
last, exam. The trouble is that if there are any areas of ambiguity... And
lets face it, there are going to be at least 1 or 2 areas of ambiguity, even
small areas, in the lab... I honestly am lost when it comes to getting
clarification from the proctor.
So my question is: how can I structure a question in such a way that the
response is useful? And, perhaps, should I simply not bother asking any
questions at all?
Advice appreciated.
Alex
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