From: Cisco Nuts (cisconuts@hotmail.com)
Date: Wed Aug 22 2007 - 18:03:55 ART
Hi:Can any one share their experience of having taken the Lab in Sau Paulo?How
is it for Americans there?I am contemplating on taking the Lab there rather
than take it in the States.How is the proctor? Friendly or cold ;->How are the
hotels close to the testing center? Any recommendations?Also, how safe is it
for Americans over there? Any tips is appreciated.Thanks!!> Date: Wed, 22 Aug
2007 11:05:53 -0700> From: scott_ccie_list@it-ag.com> Subject: RE: Beijing lab
experience> To: ccielab@groupstudy.com> > Hi Mark,> > Thanks for sharing your
experience, as I doubt many from outside of Asia> have attempted the lab there
(could be wrong, that's my assumption). My> wife and I vacationed in China a
few years ago. While we found a few> things in Beijing interesting, we also
found it to be a rather stressful> environment to vacation (for a laundry list
of reasons, no need to air> them individually, just suffice to say that it was
not the ultimate> "vacation" setting). So I honestly can't imagine attempting
the lab> there. Honestly, when I went shopping for a lab date recently, I
looked> at every single location *but* Beijing. > > Just as an aside, I love
Australia (Sydney is OK as cities go, but it's> everything outside of there
that I most love), so I looked for a lab date> there first (any minor excuse
to go would be sufficient). No luck. > Couldn't find one open date. But
we'll see, if I feel ready before my> date in SJ, I may start looking for a
cancellation there...> > Sounds like your in the zone for a number on your
next attempt! Best> wishes...> > Scott> > -------- Original Message
--------> Subject: Beijing lab experience> From: Mark Abrahams
<mark@abrahams.co.nz>> Date: Wed, August 22, 2007 4:13 am> To:
ccielab@groupstudy.com> > Hi all> > Just thought I'd share my Beijing lab
experience with you all, as I> would have appreciated similar info prior to
taking it on.> > First, the history: I was a victim of the Great August 2007
Sydney> Lab> Reschedule, and so received a phone call from Cisco two days
prior to> sitting my first attempt in Sydney on August 2nd advising that my>
date> had to be rescheduled to early October. As I felt ready to do the>
exam> at that point, I looked for alternatives, and the one feasible option>
turned out to be Beijing. Thankfully, Cisco offered me an August 15th> seat
there, but as travel to Beijing is quite a different proposition> than to
Sydney (I live in New Zealand) it took a while for me to make> arrangements
for this. Finally I confirmed five days out from the> exam> date that I
was on my way to China.> > There were a few challenges, at least to me as a
foreigner, that the> Beijing lab environment introduced:> 1. The desktop
environment used a Chinese locale, which wasn't too> much> of a problem
since you didn't need to use it that much at all.> 2. The lab had only
HyperTerm as the console application (from other> comments I had assumed
that all CCIE labs used SecureCRT).> 3. In HyperTerm, most of the keyboard
mappings I was used to didn't> work. For example, no up arrow - you had to
use Ctrl-P instead,> Ctrl-B> for back one character, etc. So I wasted time
before establishing> with> the proctor that this was the way of things in
Chinese HyperTerm -> and I> wasn't about to wade through the Chinese menu
structure to prove him> wrong. Every time I reverted to using the arrow
keys, the next> character I typed was also gobbled. Didn't realize how
ingrained my> use> of the arrow keys was until that eight hour stretch!>
4. Also, the Chinese notepad has no search-and-replace function. More> time
wasted trying to look through the Chinese menus in vain for this> function,
then trying to explain to the proctor what I was looking> for,> and then
finally establishing that you couldn't do this. Again,> disappointing
because I had learned from someone on this forum> (whoever> it was -
thanks!) what I thought was a rather slick process of> harvesting all IP
address from the configs and search-and-replacing> to> produce a TCL
script and switch macro for reachability testing (very> useful these are!).>
5. The proctor's English was reasonable without being outstanding.> While
most questions were understood fine, some took a little longer> to> get
through than perhaps with a native English speaker - no major> complaint
though. Worst case, I had to use scratch paper to write out> examples of
what I was talking about. The proctor was helpful, while> maintaining a
professional distance.> 6. The lab exam consisted of a paper copy of the
diagrams followed by> the questions, all stapled into one booklet, with no
electronic copy> (is> that normal for other CCIE labs locations?).
Although I found the> provided diagrams adequate for most tasks (I did
diagram a few point> solutions), I was used to having the diagrams on a
separate> unattached> page so that I could view them easily along side
reading the> questions.> I had assumed that either this would be the case,
or there would be> an> online copy of the diagrams to refer to. Again, I
didn't realize how> much I flicked from diagram to question to diagram etc.
until I had> to> turn pages to do so. In hindsight, it would have been
less> problematic> for me to copy a couple of diagrams verbatim to the
scratch paper,> just> to get them on a separate unattached page.> 7. The
lab was _cooollllld_. The amount of typo's I made was> understandably higher
under the exam pressure, but I'm sure the very> aggressive air conditioning
didn't help as I felt my hands freezing> up.> Understandable though, as
the exam was in the same room as the five> racks of testing equipment. And
I'm notoriously cold under normal> conditions, so this probably wouldn't
affect most normal people :-)> 8. Lunch was nice but required chopsticks to
consume. My chopstick> skills are appalling :-) Interestingly, we only had
twenty minutes> for> lunch, and we sat in silence at our lab desks to eat
(although no> work> was allowed during this time).> > Despite all this
(and although the list is long, none were major> impediments), I felt that I
knew all the topic areas and answered all> the questions with about an hour
to go. It was in fact with about 10> minutes to go I discovered a problem
with one of my IGP solutions> that> may have lost me 6 points or more
(poor verification strategy - point> noted). So I was flustered and rushed
leaving as I didn't fix the> problem, and so this made me feel I hadn't done
very well.> > My reconstructed score ended up being 75%, which was
obviously> disappointing, and I couldn't help but think that if I'd had a
little> more time afforded by an English-speaking setup, things may have>
swung> for me enough. However this is likely just me clutching for excuses,>
and probably because I felt I otherwise had a pretty good handle on> the>
test. Having said that, I still lost too many marks on things I> should>
have either known better or verified better. And this is the stuff> that>
ultimately needed to be more up-to-scratch.> > So, back on the horse, and
looking forward to wreaking some havoc in> my> next attempt, which will be
in Sydney.> > Cheers, Mark.> >
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