From: Sergey Golovanov (sergey.golovanov@iementor.com)
Date: Thu Jan 25 2007 - 02:19:34 ART
Everyone has their approach on how and what to ask proctors, but I can summarize my strategy for all my trips to San Jose, RTP and Brussels (7 times):
1. DO ask questions. I personally went at least 10 times during each attempt.
2. If you can't figure out right away what they are trying to test you on, then it's probably worthless to go ask a question. They won't give you a hint (Ben and Howard sometimes do), and they'll probably make a judgement about your skills based on your question. If you ask two or three of these, you are pretty much screwed. Seriously! I know for a fact, that proctors reserve a right to fail you even if you got 80 points.
3. Before going to ask the question, reread the question 5 times and rethink the question 5 times. Maybe mark it on your paper and don't go yet. More than often it will hit you later on, and you won't have to ask.
4. Most questions have to do with you overthinking the problem they are trying to test. So I always go to them and ask the question this way "Well, I get what you are trying to test, and I've configured this feature X and this feature Y, but are you looking for the feature Z also?" It's guaranteed that they'll give you a hint if you ask this way. They'll either say "NO" (which means "NO") or "YES" (which means "YES") or smile (which means "YES") or "I don't know" (which means "YES").
5. And yes, be nice.
I just read Anthony's post and he nailed it with this one:
"- 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. "
And I'll aslo add this... NEVER under any circumstances feel uncomfortable by going to the proctor for the 5th 6th 7th etc time to ask a question. 80% of my questions I asked were needed for me to resolve ambiguity and helped me get the right solution. If I would have felt that I'm bothering the proctor after my 4th question, I'd probably fail, because I had more questions after that that I absolutely HAD to ask.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Sergey Golovanov, CCIEx5 (R&S/Security/Voice/Service Provider/Storage)
"Please, don't ask me for my ccie #, there are reasons why I can't release it"
ieMentor Instructor and Content Developer
sergey.golovanov@iementor.com
http://www.iementor.com
> -------Original Message-------
> From: Alex De Gruiter <Alex.deGruiter@didata.com.au>
> Subject: Proctor questions
> Sent: Jan 24 '07 21:41
>
> 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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