RE: Retreat hell! I just got here!

Next time Nathan, you will do fine. Now that you know what to expect;
you will know much better how to prepare.

-Rob

-remember, if it were easy, everyone would do it.

Semper Fi

-----Original Message-----
From: nobody_at_groupstudy.com [mailto:nobody_at_groupstudy.com] On Behalf Of
Nathan Richie
Sent: Tuesday, October 27, 2009 3:26 AM
To: CCIE Groupstudy
Subject: Retreat hell! I just got here!

I took the V4 lab yesterday in RTP. Licking my wounds today but not
discouraged. Howard said he was not aware of anyone passing yet. He
also said that the R&S CCIE numbers were on back order and they would
not be issuing any out until November :).

So here are some thoughts in regards to the exam:

7 New format is OK but get used to everything being on the
monitor and
not printed. As someone previously mentioned, you are unable to
minimize some windows. What I did was just place them at the bottom of
the screen with only the title bar showing - a manual minimizing. There
were 3 of us taking R&S and I don't think there were any real problems.
I had some minor issues but Howard was able to resolve very quickly.

7 If it is on the blueprint, know it! Everything is fair game.

7 OEQ's - enough has been said about these. I really think it
is the
luck of the draw.

7 Troubleshooting - yes you can move on if you get done with
this
early, but with 2 hours and 10-12 tickets, you have to be smoking (in my
opinion). I spent a few minutes reviewing the diagrams and quickly read
through the tickets. I then had approximately 10 minutes to spend on
each ticket. One of the things I found challenging was just trying to
quickly find where in the network the ticket was referring to. As has
been stated before, you can have a large number of routers. As well,
all tickets seemed to be independent. I did find a problem that was
listed on a trouble ticket. It was an easy fix, so I fixed it anyways.
I was on my 2nd to last trouble ticket when time ran out. HOWEVER - at
this point I was really encouraged.
Although I was sure I did not pass this section, I did feel like it was
completely doable.

7 Configuration - (I will tread lightly here as I am not sure
what all
is published by Cisco and I want to respect the NDA). This was the
beast for me (and I am guessing everybody). Five & = hours is not a lot
of time. This was my first lab attempt, so I cannot compare it to
anything other than practice labs I have had. But as has been stated
before, 25+/- tasks, you gotta be spot on and rolling. If you take 30
minutes to read through the task list, review the diagram, & verify
configurations, that would leave you 15 minutes per task with no time at
the end of the lab to verify. So as you can see, it does not leave much
room for a weak area or many trips to the Doc CD.

I think this is accomplishing what Cisco wants it to. It has taken the
difficulty up (at least for a while) and the number of people passing
down. I would like to see them drop the OEQ's now that they have added
the Troubleshooting section, but then as Scott Morris often says, "Cisco
didn't check with me on that one". :)

Overall, yesterday was a great experience. I definitely know what to
expect now going into my next lab. Now I am going back home today to
prepare my remedial training plan and subsequent lab attempt. I will
continue to be on GS and will hopefully be posting more
questions/answers as I move forward to master some other areas of the
blueprint.

I think that it is going to take mastering each section in terms of
knowledge but also in terms of configuring them as quickly as possible.
As I learned in the Marine Corps, the more you sweat in peace, the less
you bleed in war!

Cisco - I don't plan on bleeding next time!

Best Regards,

Nathan

Blogs and organic groups at http://www.ccie.net
Received on Tue Oct 27 2009 - 09:00:00 ART