From: johnnieutah1@gmail.com
Date: Mon Jul 21 2008 - 00:43:37 ART
First off, I'm a pseudo newbie on the list, but have transparently
gravy-trained off of the archives for years now, so I thought I'd finally *try*
to give back, since this thing called the CCIE lab has pretty much been my life
for the past year.
Second, I thought I'd post a note on getting the wind knocked out of me on my
second attempt this past week in RTP. Yes, CCIE R&S 2, this candidate 0. I
have now scheduled my third attempt for Sept, but enough about the future, I am
going to share a few things on where I think I went wrong this past time.
In both of my attempts, I've calculated the scores to where I was in the low
70's the first time, and high 70's this past attempt. Great - this is like the
best looking girl in high school telling you what a great friend you are...I'm
close, but not there yet. Both times I walked out thinking I had a good shot,
in fact this past time I felt I had passed.
Time Management: I finished the lab with about 2 hours to validate, and go back
to a section I deliberately skipped until the end. No real issues here, except
I did not put enough attention to detail on validation in a few sections. I
think I was trapped on a few specific tasks where I felt my solution to the
task was best and did not allow myself to consider the range of possibilities.
Thus, I spent time on other areas and allowed this to hurt me.
Checking with the Proctor: I believe I'd have my number had I did this on (2)
occasions on tasks that certainly required clarity (at least to me). I knew
the technology, knew how to configure the required task, but did not verify
with the proctor that my interpretation was consistent with the question. Big
mistake. BIG, BIG Mistake.
Making a last hour change: I found an error in a task I'd configured
previously, decided I didn't like my original solution, and spent 20 minutes
reconfiguring and validating the second go 'round. A bad decision considering
the point value of the task, and the timeframe of the exam itself - I was at
about hour 7 when I did this. My decision to make changes and the time I
burned doing so prevented me from focusing on a section I needed to spend more
time on.
Not doing a final, thorough, "show run": I don't know for certain if this even
impacted my result, but for peace of mind and the fact that I'm replaying this
past attempt over and over in my mind, I did not do a complete "show run" on
every device in the last hour. I did do a "show run | begin, or | include",
but not a full "show run". Seems like a rookie mistake, would feel a whole lot
better now if I had.
Reading: Just thought of this, I read fast, I can glance at a few sentences
and get the meaning. This technique is better served when skimming emails,
leisure reading and the like. I found myself reading the test in this manner,
but realize I need to read word by word, line by line. I need to adjust to the
test, not the other way around.
So now, I'm getting out of my denial that I failed this past attempt and trying
to remotivate myself to getting back on the horse. It was brutal looking at
the results - thanks for sending them at midnight, I couldn't fall asleep after
knowing I'd have to show up at work the next day and report the news. But
nonetheless, I'm gonna continue to grind, as a lot of you have done and
currently do.
BTW - I've used IE Workbooks and NetMasters DoIT as study material. I've made
huge strides in studying and progress through these materials over the past
year.
Thanks everyone , thought I'd share...
JU
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