From: Joe Gagznos (kemphall@yahoo.com)
Date: Wed Mar 28 2007 - 13:00:56 ART
Olayemi,
Your email reflects what many of us CCIE's went
through on the way to our number. I congratulate you
on getting the first attempt out of the way - it is
the most stressful attempt with all the unknowns you
encounter.
Early in my persuit of the CCIE, a fellow engineer on
this board recommended laying off the studies the last
couple days heading into the exam. You won't be able
to commit anything new to your mind and you will only
add to your stress worrying about topics that you
don't know. Following his advice, I can tell you it
really helped me with managing the stress leading up
to the big day. I actually SLEPT the last couple days
leading up to the exam. It might not work for you,
but it really helped me.
Keep studying and get your next attempt booked. You
don't want to lose the momentum you have.
Good Luck,
Joseph Gagznos, CCIE #17009
> "Salau,Olayemi" <Olayemi.Salau@southampton.gov.uk>
> wrote:
> 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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