From: Sean C (upp_and_upp@hotmail.com)
Date: Wed Mar 28 2007 - 10:02:35 ART
Hi Olayemi,
You've got the right attitude!! Keep moving, don't stop for a break. This
was my downfall and a large reason why I had to knock on Cisco's door seven
times to earn my digits.
Sean #17085
----- Original Message -----
From: "Salau,Olayemi" <Olayemi.Salau@southampton.gov.uk>
To: <ccielab@groupstudy.com>
Sent: Tuesday, March 27, 2007 4:59 PM
Subject: 1st Lab Attempt - Once Beaten, Twice Bold!!
> 1st Lab Attempt - Once Beaten, Twice Bold!!
>
> Hello Lads,
>
> To be honest, I don't know where to start from, never envisage that I
> will have to put up such a mail after my first attempt. There was
> nothing uncommon, which happened to me, it's been a norm that people
> don't pass at first attempt, I was baptised into this norm 24hrs ago.
>
> It all started when I decided to pursue my magic number, based on my
> background and lots of commitments here and there, couldn't afford the
> pricey trainings and bootcamps around. So I decided to do it all alone,
> believe me it was 99% successful. I didn't even have to buy any
> textbooks ... my textbook was the DocDVD from which I read in-to-to. But
> I must give credits to the IE team for without their materials, I
> wouldn't have learnt so much from this wonderful experience.
> Surprisingly, in the exam didn't had to use DocDVD much, I spent less
> than 30mins altogether checking the DocDVD in the Lab. Believe me, I was
> very close to getting my magic number. I think I knew what went wrong
> and I'm saying this for those who are yet to have the baptismal
> experience of R&S Lab. I knew my stuffs, not boasting now but as
> expected, I knew how things work in and out ... very thanks to the
> GroupStudy Members, can't begin to start mentioning names now ...
> writing this on the train back to London. As a matter of fact, I
> finished all the tasks in the Lab, so why did I fail then ... only one
> answer.... I learnt on the 26th of March 2007 that the almighty CCIE Lab
> is not only a test of technologies but also a test of time management.
>
> I literally completed my final task when the proctor asked us to stop,
> the approach I used in the exam was: verify after each task, although it
> works for some and don't for others. Being my first real test under
> pressure, this affected me, big time. I was so nervous, by the way, I
> found Diegem to be the most boring town that I've ever been to. Maybe
> partly due to the "Industrial Estate" - Pergasus Park where I stayed, it
> was too quite for my liking. But like I told someone earlier today, I
> wasn't there to watch the sky scrapers, so I kept my focus, but I was so
> so nervous. I arrived 2 days before the exam which I regret doing now, I
> couldn't sleep for 48 hours, finally got the Lab, Proctor was so nice,
> He made me undo the idea in my head about how evil Proctors can be. He
> even noticed I couldn't eat during launch and persuaded me to take
> something even if it's Banana and water. But didn't have the course to
> approach him, I was very conformable with the tasks. Again what went
> wrong ... ok, I'm don't feel bad, disappointed, disgusted or sad at all,
> I really am proud that I had to fail on first attempt in other to learn
> about time management in the hard way. With CCIE one thing, is knowing
> the technologies and how they work, another is time management in the
> Lab. Personally, I discovered you must have a TIME MANAGEMENT APPROACH
> to the tasks and think at a very high and fast speed. Oh! I was so close
> to getting the number ... now is not the time to feel sorry for myself
> at all, infact, I've quickly booked another Lab for July 1st in Dubai,
> that was the closest I could get, by the way, if any of you (outside US)
> want to drop your Lab Date, I need one in May very badly. I won't
> relent, no retreat, no surrender ... It's such a mixture of salt and
> sugar, an awful and wonderful experience. At least, now I have first
> hand information of what it takes to pass the CCIE - that would be not
> only the technologies, but also a good management approach to things.
> Troubleshooting wise, I discovered all the bad configs injected for the
> sake of testing whether candidates know their stuffs ... but on 2
> occasions ... had memory block, and it took about 90mins to figure out
> what went wrong. Before I knew it, it was launch time, and before I knew
> it, it was all over. You guys want to know the most difficult of all the
> tasks .... Waiting to know about your result ... a part of you says
> PASS, another says FAIL ... I had to wait close to 14 hours to discover
> that Cisco gave me another opportunity to attempt the Lab, ofcourse, I
> don't see myself as a failure, but saw that I needed to work on speed,
> speed of thinking and managing, and trust me ... I WILL BE BACK ... I
> will not stop until I get those numbers, even if it means going into the
> Lab every quarter of each year ... I now see how honourable the CCIE
> logo and number is, I commend all those who have them, and for those who
> are aspiring, never relent, it's not that difficult afterall, don't let
> anyone scare you, if you know your stuffs and can beat your chest to it,
> then work on speed and time management ... I had to learn the hard way
> ... But I'm proud of this, once beaten - twice shy in deed.
>
> I've ordered some new kits, I will start practising and brush up on
> speed asap, if any one has a free slot in May/June (Outside US, US Visa
> is proving difficult to get these days, got Belgium visa in 2 days), let
> me know ...
>
> KEEPING THE DREAM ALIVE!, LIVING THE DREAM SOON!!
>
> Olayemi Salau
>
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