RE: Motivation for CCIE Lab Exams

Let me chime in here because I have been down this road myself. I took the
exam FIVE times before passing, which by itself was ridiculously expensive.
On my second or third attempt I configured a trunk connection that took down
the entire Layer 2 backbone for the lab, which I would just say is NOT the
way I would want the proctors to remember me. After failing the fourth
time, my now ex-wife advised me to simply quit because she didn't think I
would manage to achieve it. Instead, I quit HER about a month or so later.
So in about October, I was sitting in a tiny apartment (that smelled like
mold) with no money, no furniture, wondering if I made the right decision to
leave. I got the Netmaster Class CCIE workbook and did nothing but study
for four months, and passed on December 10, 2004. With that background,
here are my answers to these questions:

1. CCIE Lab Exams are very difficult and voluminous; how can someone
continuously motivate himself to prepare for and attempt this exam.

Remember the goal and never give up. Also, study the relevant IOS
documentation and know not only the features but how the protocols work.
Find every lab scenario and work through it piece by piece, and understand
why things work the way that they did. Break something in the lab and
rebuilt it again. Repeat this process as many times as you can stand it and
then do it several more times.

2. What can an aspiring CCIE do if you fail an attempted CCIE lab exam.

Every time I finished the exam , I jotted down notes of what I remembered
seeing on the exam and areas which had I had trouble. I then took those and
mapped them in my own lab and solved the problem so it wouldn't trouble me
again. Then I would analyze why I failed...was it knowledge gaps, lacking a
good strategy, or was it related to speed, namely how fast I was able to
accurately complete the tasks. After that, I would start doing practice
labs again, applying those lessons learned.

Overall, I like what Karl Solie (the guru that wrote the very first CCIE
prep books for Cisco Press) had to say; he told me that taking the exam
multiple times, rather than just once or twice, enhanced an engineer's
ability to respond to different conditions, and preparing them for
conditions in the real world.

Hope that helps

Joe Rinehart
MBA, CCIE #14256, CCNP/DP/VP
President and CEO
Gracestone Professionals, LLC

-----Original Message-----
From: nobody_at_groupstudy.com [mailto:nobody_at_groupstudy.com] On Behalf Of marc
edwards
Sent: Wednesday, October 05, 2011 4:19 PM
To: Tannie Philly
Cc: Bashir Sani; Groupstudy
Subject: Re: Motivation for CCIE Lab Exams

Someone who has never failed has never tried.

On Wed, Oct 5, 2011 at 8:33 AM, Tannie Philly <tanniephilly_at_gmail.com>wrote:

> Scott Quotable Quote . . "FAILURE ALONE DOES NOT DEFINE A PERSON. WHAT
> THEY DO AFTERWARDS DOES."
> Lovely!
> On Wed, Oct 5, 2011 at 3:36 PM, Bashir Sani <bashkhid_at_gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > Thank you Scott. advise well said...
> >
> > Bashir
> >
> >
> > On Fri, Apr 29, 2011 at 11:54 AM, Eniola Olaleye
> > <eniola.olaleye_at_gmail.com>wrote:
> >
> > > I have some questions; sorry if they sound stupid or childish.
> > >
> > > 1. CCIE Lab Exams are very difficult and voluminous; how can
> > > someone continuously motivate himself to prepare for and attempt this
exam.
> > >
> > > 2. What can an aspiring CCIE do if you fail an attempted CCIE lab
exam.
> > >
> > > I will appreciate your experiences.
> > >
> > > Regards.
> > >
> > > Enny
> > >
> > >
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Received on Thu Oct 06 2011 - 09:52:18 ART