RE: Did not reach the summit.

From: Scott M Vermillion (scott_ccie_list@it-ag.com)
Date: Thu Nov 06 2008 - 14:54:48 ARST

I'm not entirely convinced that there is any one-size-fits-all advice as far
as lab strategy/time management goes. The overwhelming majority recommend
this idea of being done in x number of hours (some go as far as to say be
done by lunch!). We've heard recently from someone who was so lightening
fast he left an hour early. Unfortunately failed, though.

Some people are far better of with a build-and-thoroughly-verify approach.
Mock/Assessor labs taught me I was among them. Why? Because if I rush
through and then have to find all of the silly mistakes I've made after the
fact, I'm scattered and unfocused. I don't perform my work like that in the
real world. Why should I in the lab? If I'm working on an OSPF task, the
OSPF area of my brain is stimulated and focused. I build and thoroughly
verify prior to moving on and awakening, say, the BGP area of my brain.

Just a little different perspective to consider. Having said all of that, I
have to admit that I waited too long to work on *some* degree of speed and I
found it difficult to build-and-thoroughly-verify inside of my eight-hour
time budget (ultimately finished my final task in San Jose shortly after
they gave us the five-minute warning). It may not have been the sexiest
performance ever given in the lab, but it was good for 80+ points...

-----Original Message-----
From: nobody@groupstudy.com [mailto:nobody@groupstudy.com] On Behalf Of
Craig Tompkins
Sent: Wednesday, November 05, 2008 11:27 AM
To: cciestudy
Cc: ccielab@groupstudy.com
Subject: Re: Did not reach the summit.

It sounds like you need to continue working on speed to allow for more
testing and confirmation. Once you have your speed so that you can finish
full labs in about 5.5 hours or less, spend specific time on knowing how to
check everything and ensure 100% that what you put in place meets the
requirements. Do not THINK you got it right, PROVE you got it right, so you
know for sure. I spent two weeks on this alone before my passing trip to
San Jose

I had a layoff of 2 years between attempts once, and it felt like I was
starting over. My personal advice is if your goal is to pass this, do not
stop now. Finish it off. It is better to see it through now then pick it
up again later. Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence and
determination. 

-- 
Craig Tompkins
CCIE #16921

On Wed, Nov 5, 2008 at 9:01 AM, cciestudy <cciestudy@mid-world.net> wrote:

> I messed my 2nd R&S lab attempt Tuesday.  In comparison to the first
> attempt, I was able to handle time management better and get to all the
> questions this time.  However, I left the exam feeling that it was close.
> The scoring showed I was not as close as I thought.  I had missed some
> categories that I though I had nailed down.  There were some questions
that
> I know I clearly missed, and others that I had reservations as to exactly
> what they were looking for.  I suspect there were some small details that
> were missed.  Many of the questions were clearly vague and probably mean
to
> be that way.
>
> I am trying to decide what to do next.  Continue on with this self torture
> or quit this all together.  I had spent about 1 = years studying and at
> least 6 months of intense 20-30 hours per week studying.  I went though
the
> IE vol 1-3 (at least half of the labs twice), Cisco ASET and some 2 year
> old
> GK boot camp materials.
>
> Thanks.
>
>
> Blogs and organic groups at http://www.ccie.net
>
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