GREAT STORY!!! Let me put my 2 cents in. You did well. Remember the CCIE
test is Cisco's toughest test and when passing such a test, you should
reward yourself. Now you may be asking yourself, "what the ^%# do you mean."
You got a fine score considering what you went through. Better luck next
time!
""Charles Henson"" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in message
92gf64$s80$[EMAIL PROTECTED]">news:92gf64$s80$[EMAIL PROTECTED]...
> Good afternoon all, just wanted to tell everyone a quick story that I hope
> all exam takers will take heed of. I had scheduled the 350-001 R&S exam
for
> Friday the 22 of December (right before xmas) almost a month in advance at
a
> local prometric site (RTP, NC area) so that I would have plenty of time to
> prepare and then (pass or fail) could take a breather during xmas and
> hopefully start focusing on the lab next year. My exam was at 11:15 and I
> had a 2pm flight immediately afterwards. I'm one of those folks that likes
> to feel not only like he's studied and ready with the material but also
> mentally prepared or focused or in the zone or whatever else you want to
> call it. I got a good nights sleep the night before, slept in the next
> morning and arrived at the prometric site around 9am. I figured I'd
casually
> go over my 800 pages of notes one last time, and slumber into the exam
room
> a little early if they could fit me in. Problem. Locked door. I start
> knocking on the window and finally some admin chick comes up and opens the
> door. She asks what I want, I explain "I have an exam at 11" to which she
> replies "not today sir we're closed". CLOSED! To make a long story short
the
> testing center had told Sylvan Prometric they would be closed this
> particular pre-xmas Friday but Prometric forgot to put it in the calendar.
I
> spent the next hour to hour and a half on the phone. First, Prometric
> apologized and said they would gladly reschedule me for the following
week.
> I explained that that was not good enough as my brain would be saturated
> with laced eggnog and whatever else and that the week between xmas and
> newyears was just not suitable. I told them this was their mistake and
they
> needed to reschedule me same day at another location. After getting
approval
> from some manager they finally agreed to reschedule me just to tell me
that
> all the sites it the Raleigh, Durham area were completely booked. If this
> wasn't the Friday before xmas rescheduling for a later week would be fine,
> but I felt that I had spent so much time preparing that if I went on
> vacation and then came back it would be the end of January before I would
be
> ready to take it again. I went to the prometric website and printed all
the
> addresses and phone numbers for all the testing centers in my area and
> called one by one. I got about halfway down the list before finding
someone
> who said they could fit me in. The only catch was I needed to get over
there
> as soon as possible. I jumped in the car and raced over to the new site.
> When I got there we got back on the phone with prometric and after 40
> minutes of arguing with the new customer service rep finally got the exam
> downloaded. I had just enough time to throw out my bubble gum before
sitting
> down infront of the computer. Obviously due to the NDA I can't talk about
> the exam other than to say it was tough, deserves it's reputation, and
> really evaluates whether you have a clear understanding of the
fundamentals
> or not. Anyway, I failed. Score: 67. Am I displeased at the score? Not at
> all. It was my first time taking the test and I feel I gave it a fair
effort
> and I got a fair result. I had bridging and dlsw down pat but was week on
> some other key areas. Do I blame the mess before the exam for my failure?
> Not completely. It is obvious to me that I still have some skill
sharpening
> to do before I consider this exam again. I do wonder, however, if I hadn't
> spent the morning running around in circles and on the phone with people
and
> had gotten a good hour or so to go over my notes and focus on those weak
> areas if I might have passed it. Once again, I don't blame Sylvan
prometric
> for my failure completely. I just wonder if it may have been influenced by
> my lack of focus in the exam room. LESSON LEARNED. Don't make assumptions
> about the communication process between Sylvan Prometric and these local
> testing centers. call them up and make sure the scheduling is correct. The
> CCIE written is the biggest exam I've taken to date and I was very
> optimistic. It's a shame that I spent the morning scrambling to make it
> happen instead of sitting in a quiet room, going over my notes and
"getting
> in the zone". Just my two cents.
>
> Charles Henson
> CCNP +S, CCDP, MCSE
>
>
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