From: Phillip Day (Phillip.Day@telindus.co.uk)
Date: Tue Nov 20 2007 - 08:44:43 ART
I know this is of no real help to what you are saying, but I found the content of my second exam to be much harder than the first, but I passed it because I was ready for all the other things which slowed me down on the first attempt, and so didn't hang about with them. The second paper had lots of little corner technologies that we don't talk about much on GS, but the extra time I gained from not needing to work out the format and knowing what diagrams to draw etc, meant I could look them up and configure them from examples in the doc cd.
My first attempt sound a little like yours, from reading through the questions quickly at the start, I saw nothing that I wasn't familiar with and so I felt confident, but I let myself down with a stupid L2 issue (which I still kick myself about) which stopped me getting full connectivity, from there I was just picking up odd points wherever it was still possible.
I will say though that I was mindful of trying NOT to study the same things I was comfortable with and that I saw in the first lab because I could be sure with my luck that they wouldn't be there next time.
Just my thoughts
-----Original Message-----
From: nobody@groupstudy.com [mailto:nobody@groupstudy.com] On Behalf Of Simon Grace
Sent: Tuesday, November 20, 2007 10:46 AM
To: Gary Duncanson
Cc: Cisco certification
Subject: RE: Difference in Exam
It's very tough to know where to study from, okay, you have the blue
print but that pretty much covers everything.
I've not had formal training (too expensive for my company and
especially me), I've only found this forum a few months back. So I
looked at what was available.
I used the IE lab books as I assumed that if you used them to find out
what to study then you should cover things. First time round (doing the
workbook) I just tried to get through them, second time around I really
started reading into the technologies fully, understanding fully why
certain things did certain things. Third time around I played, mixed and
matched and fine tuned anything I wasn't too sure on. For the first exam
the workbooks were a very good study aid.
Seems a silly question but do people actually start with the UNIVERCD
web page and just read the whole lot. I've read the stuff I come across
in the work book and always use it to investigate things I've got stuck
on, but I've never sat down and read it from start to finish and to be
truthful even if I did I couldn't remember everything.
My main shock was the difference in difficulty in the exam. They weren't
even similar.
-----Original Message-----
From: Gary Duncanson [mailto:gary.duncanson@googlemail.com]
Sent: Tuesday, November 20, 2007 12:29 PM
To: Simon Grace
Cc: ccielab@groupstudy.com
Subject: Re: Difference in Exam
Sorry to hear that Simon.
A lot of folks bank on workbooks getting them through these days. You
say on
the second attempt a good proportion of the questions you were seeing
first
time. Do I take that as meaning from the labbook you have been
practicing
with? What about the command references and configuration guides in
DocCD
and the books you must have poured over this last year?
Perhaps cisco are simply trying to beat the labbooks. Who knows.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Simon Grace" <SimonG@pcsystems.gr>
To: "Cisco certification" <ccielab@groupstudy.com>
Sent: Tuesday, November 20, 2007 10:10 AM
Subject: Difference in Exam
> Hi Guys,
>
>
>
> I've left this a few days before I wrote it as I needed to calm down.
>
>
>
> Back in September I took my first lab exam. I used the Internetworking
> expert labs and due to me not being quick enough and not leaving
myself
> enough time to work on the real tricky questions I just missed out.
>
> Okay, no problems with that, I didn't deserve to pass and needed to up
> my game a bit.
>
> Without going into details that by knowing the stuff on the IE labs
and
> the various areas covered you should be okay in the lab. There were a
> couple of new questions I'd not seen but that's to be expected. The
lab
> was of a fair level.
>
>
>
> Okay, I got back on the study, got my speed up and basically hit it at
> 150%. I carried on with the IE labs but really nailed them, I also
> checked out a lot of the things that came up here and lab'd stuff up
> that I'd not seen before.
>
>
>
> Went back last week, knowing that nothing is certain but knowing that
my
> skill level was much higher than the first time around and I only just
> missed that.
>
>
>
> I was blown away, firstly the exam was much, much harder than the
first
> one. I read through the exam and realised that a good proportion of
the
> questions I was seeing for the first time. Not to mention the way the
> questions were asked. Once again without going into details it wasn't
a
> case of configure this it was put in such a way to make it as
difficult
> as possible to ask a question. Not just once, twice but once again,
many
> difficult questions. I couldn't help but feel that they had made the
> exam so difficult that they were really trying to stop people from
> passing. Going by the exam 2 months before and then this one, they was
> absolutely no comparison, the second was just mind blowing.
>
>
>
> Now, I'm no Einstein, but I did work very hard on this and I know my
> stuff, but when the score report comes back I really can't help but
feel
> that something really isn't quite right, I feel like the goal posts
have
> been completely moved. Plus I know the stuff was working and I know
> where I dropped points but the score report doesn't reflect that.
>
>
>
> I got chatting to a guy after the exam who'd had the same lab. He'd
also
> sat one a couple of months before and had been studying about the same
> amount of time and talking to him I get the idea that he too knows his
> subject. We both agreed fully that it was just on another plane and
> couldn't understand how two exams could be so different in expected
> level of knowledge.
>
>
>
> So, I'm writing this not in a lets go on a burn and pillage rampage
but
> rather has anyone else had similar experiences, do you feel a bit let
> down by the fact that there appears to be no standard level for the
> exam. I'm trying to speak with our Cisco guys here to see what can be
> done. Obviously Cisco own it and do with it what they want but I don't
> like to be treated unfairly and will try and do whatever is in my
power
> to get things sorted. The price of the exam including flights etc
isn't
> cheap and we deserve a level playing field.
>
>
>
> Please unicast me, no need to go into details but more on the lines of
> found the exam to be fair or totally different levels, whatever you
feel
> relevant.
>
>
>
> Oh well, I'm gonna take a few weeks off, think about things and then I
> suppose get back into it.
>
>
>
> I wish you guys who are going to take the exam all the luck and don't
> worry, if you get something on the lines of the first one you are
> getting a fair crack of the whip.
>
>
>
> Cheers,
>
> Simon.
>
>
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