Re: CCIE R&S Written v4.0 beta

We need to wait around 4-12 weeks to get our results (at least that's what
the final screen told me unless I have bad eye sight). And the new thing
that I noticed since I last took a Cisco exam is that now you are required
to have your picture taken which will appear on the report given to you by
the test centre and a digital signature.
I tend to agree with most of Scott's points of view. I would be carbon
copying most of what he has said so I will save the trouble and agony that I
will cause to you GS people if I were to talk again about it.

I would though say that there's a fair bit of MPLS in it (no ... don't ask
me what kind of questions. That will break the NDA) and I would say that
troubleshooting reared its hard. I got to give it to Cisco. Those questions
some of them challenging and a small amount of it pretty simple if you read
ENOUGH. I never knew troubleshooting could be so much fun :-)

In the end, do I think I pass? I don't know. Either because of nervousness
or plain stupidity that I even managed to skip (by accident, I pressed the
next button too fast) two BIG questions where one of them had a few
sub-questions under them. If I fail, I'll just resit the written at a much
later time but one thing's for sure. After so much hesitation in answering a
number of questions yesterday, it shows that I am NOT YET ready for the lab.
Back to the basics for me and back to strengthening my foundation.

-- 
Warmest regards,
Nickelby Thane
Personal Blog : http://nthane.blogspot.com
CCIE Blog : http://cciecisco.blogspot.com
On Thu, Sep 10, 2009 at 8:28 AM, Scott M Vermillion <
scott_ccie_list_at_it-ag.com> wrote:
> Hey Brad,
>
> No, no score on the spot, as they've yet to decide which questions are
> valid for scoring purposes and which are not (that whole "throw out the ones
> that everybody got wrong and also all the ones that everybody got right and
> keep the midsection for the production exam" type of philosophy).  I think
> it said "up to 12 weeks by mail" before I could expect my score but that
> extreme seems unlikely given that they plan to go live with v4.0 in just
> over a month.  In any case, my gut instinct is that it's not a score I'll
> want to toss out at cocktail parties.  ;~)  I only studied over the weekend
> leading up to the exam and, being the last major summer holiday in the US, I
> can't honestly say that I was completely sans adult beverages throughout the
> whole ordeal (the studying part I mean of course)!
>
> Regards,
>
> Scott
>
>
>
> On Sep 9, 2009, at 6:15 , Brad Ellis wrote:
>
>  Scott,
>>
>> Did you get your grade at the end of the exam? From the betas I recall
>> taking in the past, you had to wait 6-8 weeks to get a score.
>>
>> I'd really like to see a hardcore simulator as part of the CCIE RS
>> written instead of all multiple choice. Maybe using that pretty CCDE
>> flash tool would be pretty slick as well.
>>
>> thanks,
>> Brad Ellis
>> CCIE#5796 (R&S / Security)
>> CCSI# 30482
>> CEO / President
>> CCBOOTCAMP - Cisco Learning Solutions Partner (CLSP)
>> Email: brad_at_ccbootcamp.com
>> Toll Free: 877-654-2243
>> International: +1-702-968-5100
>> Skype: skype:ccbootcamp?call
>> FAX: +1-702-446-8012
>> YES! We take Cisco Learning Credits!
>> Training And Remote Racks: http://www.ccbootcamp.com
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: nobody_at_groupstudy.com [mailto:nobody_at_groupstudy.com] On Behalf Of
>> Scott M Vermillion
>> Sent: Wednesday, September 09, 2009 4:39 PM
>> To: Nickelby Thane
>> Cc: Marko Milivojevic; GS CCIE-Lab
>> Subject: Re: CCIE R&S Written v4.0 beta
>>
>> Hey Nickelby,
>>
>> What was your perception?  I sat this exam yesterday and have many
>> thoughts (some of which I can share, some of which I cannot)...
>>
>> Since I was ineligible to recertify, passing and/or scoring highly was
>> not a paramount objective.  Fortunately or unfortunately depending on
>> perspective, having no pass/fail consequences freed me to deeply
>> ponder and comment on some questions I felt were in need of further
>> development.  This ultimately led to my having a significant swath of
>> the exam to go with only about 30 minutes left on the clock, which in
>> turn forced me to answer many questions without even having fully
>> reading them; get a sense of the issue at hand and answer
>> instinctively before clicking "Next" (the obvious answer choice is
>> often the wrong one with this sort of test, though, so such an
>> approach is suspect at best).  I ultimately answered my final question
>> with 40 seconds left to go, so not much chance I scored well at all
>> but I'm hopeful that my comments will be considered and will help to
>> improve the final product.
>>
>> I will say that emphasis has been lessened in some areas and increased
>> in others, but this was not the big shift I was anticipating.  Many
>> questions were very familiar to me from previous bouts with the
>> written.  Those that were new were a mixed bag in my view.  Some
>> directly tested knowledge, whereas some seemed to be probing me for
>> the "Most Correct Cisco Answer," since on a technical plane they could
>> be answered variously, depending on perspective and interpretation of
>> the question.  That some of these might survive the beta and go into
>> production  perplexes me to say the least - for the money that's paid
>> for the privilege of attempting this exam, my expectation is that all
>> questions be of the highest quality and that they directly and
>> singularly test knowledge and ability.  Not having seen the new v4.0
>> Cert Guide yet, I'm not clear as to how some of the more obscure
>> topics will be addressed there.  Frankly, some questions seemed to
>> have been borrowed directly from other exams/tracks, which I don't
>> view positively at all.
>>
>> This was my first experience with a Cisco beta at any level or within
>> any track.  I received the same question or essentially the same
>> question three times - twice.  So either I earned or lost a lot of
>> points on just a few topics, depending on whether or not my answers
>> were the Most Cisco Correct (I resisted the urge to answer differently
>> each time in an attempt to nullify the outcome one way or the other -
>> I stuck to my guns).  I was also surprised to see so many obvious
>> typos in the questions and answer choices - one would expect a basic
>> spell-checking before even going beta.  But no real impact to the
>> candidate there, so I'm not going to blow that sort of thing out of
>> proportion.  It is after all a $50 beta vs. a $350 production sitting.
>>
>> At the end of the day I can only sit back and hope things are
>> tightened up a fair bit before I become eligible to actually recertify
>> in a handful of months (and no doubt they will be - to exactly what
>> extent is the burning question in my mind).  I also object strongly to
>> some of the new changes that Cisco claims were meant to bring the exam
>> into alignment with others (e.g. no ability to skip questions and
>> return to them later, time permitting).  The CCIE was the original
>> certification program, no?  Bring the others into alignment with _it_
>> if there's an overwhelming imperative to do so.  This exam is
>> challenging and includes a time management element that is lacking in
>> many of the others.  I truly wish Cisco would stop trying to make the
>> CCIE look and feel so much like the lower certs, yet have it be so
>> much more of a challenge to obtain.  All things aren't equal, OK?  Or,
>> as was once said, some things are more equal than others!
>>
>> Well there you have it from my own personal perspective anyway.  No
>> doubt the list would appreciate hearing from others in a strictly NDA-
>> friendly sort of way...
>>
>> Regards,
>>
>> Scott
>>
>>
>> On Sep 6, 2009, at 5:21 , Nickelby Thane wrote:
>>
>>  I am giving it a go at this Sep 9 :-). If I fail, I am going to
>>> blame it on
>>> not knowing the technology enough :-). I expect Cisco to throw in a
>>> few
>>> L3VPN and MPLS questions and then fail us so we can resit the test
>>> in its
>>> final glory form (kidding).
>>>
>>>
>>> --
>>> Warmest regards,
>>> Nickelby Thane
>>> Personal Blog : http://nthane.blogspot.com
>>> CCIE Blog : http://cciecisco.blogspot.com
>>>
>>>
>>> On Sun, Sep 6, 2009 at 5:25 PM, Marko Milivojevic
>>> <markom_at_markom.info>wrote:
>>>
>>>  So, have any of you guys tried the new beta? Anything,
>>>> non-NDA-breaking, to report to the rest of us? :-)
>>>>
>>>> --
>>>> Marko
>>>> CCIE #18427 (SP)
>>>> My network blog: http://cisco.markom.info/
>>>>
>>>>
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