From: Darby Weaver (darbyweaver@yahoo.com)
Date: Mon Mar 05 2007 - 22:33:43 ART
Sean,
A 66 will (generally speaking) not pass the CCIE Lab -
but you could have just had a bad day - my question
for you is "how did you feel while taking the exam" -
you don't have to answer me, but do ask yourself and
be truthful.
Especially if the section breakdown is not 100% in the
first half of the scoring.
You really should be in the 85+ range, and ideally in
the 90's or so.
More than 10-12 points is good and you really want to
have your Golden Moment or Core tasks nailed.
The CheckITs are graded a little differently as well,
especially since they are so tough.
It is also hard to gauge how you will perform on the
lab by just one exam.
I'd say by the time you've done at least 5 or so
CheckITs or the IE Mock Labs - do the math and that is
almost exactly where you will be on lab day.
Even though the tasks are not necessarily the same
from either in comparison to the real lab.
The core topics are all accounted for in either
company's graded labs.
I consider them to be a nice baseline of where one is
and what one needs to do in order to cover one's own
gaps in knowledge.
Yes, I know sometimes you will make small mistakes of
misinterpret things, but you are just as likely to do
this in the real lab as well.
My own average for each vendor was like 57 or 61 on
average before I went to my first lab with about a
month to close the gaps.
I did not manage my time effectively and thus did not
quite make it the first time. I really did not try
but one full lab before my second attempt and again,
even though I had closed some holes and was in more
control and able to obtain my Golden Moment easily, I
had done so at the expense of things like QoS and IP
Multicast - losing both of these and 30% of my BGP
only left me like 1 point of slack...
Needless to say I lost about 5 points in the IGPs and
Switching or somewhere and I did not make the cut the
second time.
So...
My thoughts and experiences are simple:
1. Buy a vendor's labs - take them the first time
honestly - the whole battery 4 or 5 exams. You will
see where you are - whether you like the results or
not.
2. Analyze the results and classify things into five
groups:
a. Things you just fudged and missed, typos, etc.
b. Things you had no clue about or know you did not
totally understand.
c. Things you got but had to look up.
d. Things you had to use a ? for.
e. Things you just know cold.
3. Based on these findings - mitigate them. That is
research them more, lab them more, and make them more
familair to yourself. NMC - Gives about 50-60 pages
of precise feedback back per lab and also has a ShowIT
Engine to run verification commands against and they
even have TCL scripts available per section. How cool
is that? IE has walkthroughs via COD and detailed
answer keys as well. They will tell you step by step
and perhaps embellish on other tactics, techniques,
and uses for a command.
4. Do the labs more (you will have the labs - lab up
the things you did not understand or miss). Do it
slowly at first. Learn the commands to verify your
answers and learn what to look for in the output of a
debug command that is relevant to each configuration
option.
5. Now once you have become accustomed to each issue,
try the lab again. Are you nervous and tense? Are
you comfortable? How are your results now. Repeat
till 100% is reached.
Now some people will argue with me about this point,
and they should. However, I learned a lot from Dr.
Demmming and Dr. Crosby back in the day. And the one
thing I thank Dr. Demming for more than anything else
was the concept of learning to do something right the
first time.
You see those Mock Labs, CheckIT Labs, or 5-Day
Bootcamps that are all labs are well designed and they
include all the basic elements anyone might need to
master say about 80% of a any given lab.
Yes, by my own estimates this is almost a science.
So my opinion is that if one can master one or more of
a given set of labs...
One can now turn one's attention on any other labs and
do quite well, let's say 75-80% or so, since there are
only so many ways to skin a cat.
The wording may have changed, and make no mistake it
will change, but you now have taken a microcosm of a
body of that knowledge and you have mastered it.
You know how to confgure it and confugre it quickly
(Speed).
You know how to verify it and verify it quickly
(Accuracy).
You are confident in your actions (Self-Confidence).
You know what you know and hopefully by now you know
why (Knowledge).
You now have the basic elements necessary to sit down
at most anyone's pod and have a chance to get it
right.
1. You have a decent speed with the most common items
and know how to verify these items quickly.
2. You will find your accuracy will have imporoved and
your ability to quickly troubleshoot will be enhanced
as well.
3. As a result of items 1 and 2, you will find that
you have a lot more self-confidence.
Now, if you think I'm full of it, you can stop reading
now...
Let me tell you this, I pass a lot of written exams
this way, and I have passed as many as 5 Cisco Written
exams in one sitting on only one day.
I passed the CCNP in 4 days flat once upon a time -
granted I took for ever studying to the point I was
comfortable with the challenge.
===========================================
Here's the rub:
---------------
Take about 4-8 weeks and dedicate yourself to one set
of exams.
Take the first set as graded labs - less than $1000.00
Now lab them up as mentioned above. Only work on the
4 exams you orignally took.
Do each again over the next few weeks, take your time,
learn to verify, look up the DOC CD, and especially
learn to use debug commands.
Now on the 8th week try them again graded and under
pressure...
The goal is about 5-7 time each per lab. 7 is the
magic number of tries per lab.
Now rest a week or two or even a month. Clear your
mind.
Sign up for and take the next vendor's battery of
graded lab exams?
How did you do?
=======================
The "well-prepared" average candidate will score an
average of 60 on the first graded set of lab.
That same student will score 90 or above by the eigth
week with as few as 3-4 repeat walkthrough of the lab.
More will score higher up till the 95-100% range.
This same student who now takes another vendor's lab
will probably be averaging about 80-85% even if that
Vendor is the CCIE Lab itself.
Now if I am wrong or off it will not be by much.
I forgot to mention that this well-prepared student
would have already had some prerequisites met before
beginning this line of torture:
1. Written and/or CCNP exams passed.
2. Bootcamp or training programs equal to IE's COD,
NLI's 1 Week Bootcamp and NMC-1 (there is overlap but
look at what each vendor covers).
3. Read most of the commonly recommended books for the
CCIE - you need to at least know the topics.
===========================================
Now I also recommend a student learn the follwoing
along the way:
1. Scan the exam at least once or twice before
starting any lab.
2. Create a score sheet.
3. Draw the Switching Diagram, the Frame Cloud, the
IGP Diagram, the BGP Diagram, and the Multicast
Diagram. Sounds like a lot but usually only takes
about 15-25 minutes and you will spend more time
looking these things up later anyway if you don't.
4. Create a Checklist you are comfortable with and
read it every day when you wake, before you eat, after
you eat, before you sleep, and write it out quickly
before you begin if you still have any doubts.
This my friends is my opinion on what is needed and
necessary to pass the lab in a mechanical and
methodical fashion.
================================================
= Darby Weaver =
================================================
= CCNP, CCDP, CCSP, CCNA, CCDA =
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