Chuck, thanks for your sharing. Keep working hard, I believe you can do it
finally, and I wish we all do...!!
"Chuck Larrieu" wrote in message
<000d01c0bfcc$08c90800$[EMAIL PROTECTED]>...
>Hey, everyone, how you all been?
>
>The short story is I did not make it to day 2. The rest of this is a bit
>long winded, and easily skipped.
>
>First of all, I was quite pleased to find upon reading through my Day 1
>scenario that there was nothing I couldn't do, given time. There are plenty
>of practice labs from several different sources which cover all the core
>topics, so there were no surprises for me.
>
>Secondly, I was quite pleased when during my review of Day 1 results with
>the proctor, he told me they were going to change the written instruction
>on a particular section because of the solution I used. I'm actually quite
>surprised it hasn't been done before. I was grudgingly given points,
>although I was told my solution was definitely not what they had in mind.
>
>However, in the end, it was a few simple omissions that cost me the points
>I would have needed to squeak into Day 2.
>
>Only one of the six of us who began together was invited to the second day.
>
>Things I learned:
>
>1) having the core topics down cold is CRUCIAL. No kidding!
>
>2) Time is crucial, but not, I believe, in the way I have seen it discussed
>in many places. I highly doubt that typing 80 words a minute versus my 20
>WPM was the difference. Not when I spent as much time as I did
>contemplating. You can't think it. You have to know it.
>
>By 2:00 p.m. I knew I didn't have a prayer of hitting all the requirements.
>At that point I started counting points, putting myself in a defensive
mode.
>By quitting time, if I got full credit for everything I thought I deserved,
>I would have had 31 points. As I found out in my review, I missed a few
>simple things, and blew myself out of the water. This leads back to the
>internalization of the core topics. You can't be thinking about how to
>configure anything. You have to just bang them out, the same way you bang
>out shaving or washing your hands or eating your lunch.
>
>3) Methodology is crucial. You have to have a good methodology that is
>internalized and is habitual. You can't be thinking "what's next?" I don't
>believe it matters what your methodology is, so long as you are consistent
>and quick. My own methodology failed me because I was constantly adjusting,
>rather than banging it out.
>
>4) I spent a good two hours last night in my hotel room debriefing myself.
I
>have six pages of notes regarding my day one experience. This will form the
>basis of my study plan for my second attempt. I know that it is highly
>unlikely I will have a scenario like the one I just worked on next time
>through. But I will focus on methodology and speed.
>
>5) Good rapport with the proctor is helpful. I was able to get the
>information I needed by carefully wording my questions and making sure that
>my desired result was understood. The proctor is under a bit of stress
>himself, with so many folks vying for his attention. He may think you are
>asking something you are not. I made sure that if I was not getting an
>answer that made sense that I clarified my request, so that the answer was
>one that helped me understand. I will say also that the test I saw was
>reasonably clear. The questions I had tended to be the result of outputs
>from various show and debug commands, to clarify what the expectation was.
>
>A few other comments:
>
>I was far too aggressive in scheduling my lab date. Should have pushed it
>out 60 days. Don't be in a hurry. Those without a lot of hands on need to
>spend several months of several hours a day practicing. No two ways about
>it.
>
>There has been a lot of discussion about the patch panels used in the lab.
>All I can say is that the panels are clearly labeled. IMHO you have nothing
>to worry about. That said, I did have to revisit the rack twice, in order
to
>make a cabling change. This was purely the result of a chicken or egg
>situation, and not due to any difficulty with the rack itself. People with
>home labs know well the issue with hooking up routers back to back.
>
>I sat next to a guy this morning ( a day 1 candidate ) who was getting up
>every few minutes and going to the back of the rack to move cables around.
>Completely unnecessary and driving the proctor nuts. There is no need for
>any candidate to touch the back of the rack.
>
>You can't let little stuff stop you. Those with extensive hands on
>experience know that sometimes routers do funny things like boot into
>rommon> or behave as if there is an extensive paste going on in the
>configuration dialogue. I have a router here at home that boots into rommon
>once in a while. A reload has always done the trick ( knock on wood )
>sometimes leaning on control-C will stop a misbehaving configuration
>dialogue. No this is not NDA because I did not go to troubleshooting. I
>experienced one of these things as I got into the routers at the very start
>of my lab. Stuff happens now and again. Rule number one is "don't panic"
>
>With a six to seven month backlog, I have plenty of time to follow up on
the
>action plan I developed for myself as part of my debriefing session. That
>plan includes extensive reading and practice using the configuration guides
>from CCO. Highly recommended, as one of my proctors told me.
>
>One more little thing. I was permitted to bring in a small clock, and a
>picture of my wife. The clock to help me keep to my schedule. There is a
>clock in the lab, but I prefer having something in my face. Whenever I was
>discouraged I looked at my wife, who seemed to be saying "you'd better
pass,
>honey, because I've already spent your raise" ;->
>
>Lastly, I had the pleasure of meeting several people who frequent this
list.
>It was quite a thrill, and a definite pleasure to put faces to the names.
>The socializing helped me relax, or helped me deal with my disappointment,
>depending on when we met. It was indeed a privilege, Jason, Drew, Dale,
Rob,
>David, not to mention my fellow test takers Todd and Wendy, and couple more
>whose names I am unable to remember. Proctors, too. I enjoyed the
>opportunity to work with you.
>
>Well, I'm back here at base camp. 11,000 feet to go still. See you all
along
>the way.
>
>Chuck
>----------------------
>I am Locutus, a CCIE Lab Proctor. Xx_Brain_dumps_xX are futile. Your life
as
>it has been is over ( if you hope to pass ) From this time forward, you
will
>study US! And I ain't kidding, neither!
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