Failed R&S Today

Hi,
I'm mostly a lurker on this list but thought I would give a quick feedback
(obviously without disclosing technical content) on my first attempt at R&S
lab today.
The TS section was actually not quite as tough as I thought it would be - I'm
still awaiting the grading but I'm hopeful I may have scraped a pass there.
The scenarios were pretty well phrased (for a Cisco exam!) and it was
generally clear what the objectives were. The graphic in the TS section
pinpoints which area of the topology we need to focus on, which is helpful.
There were a couple of questions which were definitely time sinks, which I
left until the end. I completed 8/10 questions including a 3 pointer.
The Config section I found to be very tough indeed - there weren't many
"stupid router tricks", instead you had to have a really good grasp of a wide
variety of the blueprint, which is as it should be. I found myself
referencing the DocCD way too much (didn't it find it particularly slow), and
I realised a couple of hours in that I wasn't going to make it this time. I
really struggled with maintaining focus and speed past this point TBH.
One think which I personally need to work on is the pyschological aspects of
the exam - I found myself continually thinking "I'm in the lab!! Wow this is
really hard!! I can't see myself passing this one!!" Rather than really being
"in the moment" and totally engaging and focusing on the job in hand.
Difficult to recreate that outside of the lab environment IMO.
In summary I thought it was a very good, fair and balanced exam, albeit
extremely difficult :)
Cheers,George

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Received on Mon Dec 10 2012 - 23:11:51 ART