""Karl Thrasher"" wrote in message [EMAIL PROTECTED]">news:[EMAIL PROTECTED]... > Hi, > > I recently took the CCIE written. I didn't pass, but I really wasn't > expecting to. I missed it by 6 points. A while back when the beta was > running, I was just getting ready to begin studying for the written when I > found out the beta was on. I found out about the beta on a Wed. and the beta > run ended on that Friday. So to evaluate myself, I paid the 50 bucks and > took the test with no study. I missed it by about 6 points then as well. I > thought, considering my level, at the time, it was not too bad and > definately attainable. > > I had to put my study off for a while after the beta attempt because of a > project I had to get up to speed on and then recently started studying. I > studied for a few weeks then took it to re-evaluated where I stand now. > > I saw on the board some people complaining about questions being too product > specific. I saw little to no types of those questions. My test was mainly > theory and heavy configuration and troubleshooting questions. Yes, some of > the test is a test of your memory but what test isn't? Is there a test that > exists that to some degree does not test your memory? And, yes, some of the > information tested is sort of trivial in aspect, but the ultimate goal is > not to pass the exam but to pass the lab. While studying the technologies > for the written, studying that "trivial" information, you pick up alot of > things you didn't know, or things you once knew but forgot. I think the > better you do on the written the better you'll do on the lab. Not to say > that a good score on the written will guarantee a passing lab attempt at > all. But I think the more you study for your written, you will be all that > much more prepared to study for your lab. > > I think I'm in pretty good shape. I have no pressure to pass as far as money > goes when taking the tests, because my GI Bill will pay for all written and > lab attempts, pass or fail. Plus I teach Cisco stuff during the day on 5 > racks that Cisco donated to the college. So even when I'm not studying, I > am. Plus the network I work on at my regular job has about 30,000+ Cisco > devices. So I think all these "pluses" will equal a CCIE R&S cert one of > these days. If not I will be dissapointed in myself. But I'm pretty > confident right now. > > I noticed someone else mention that a down-side of the exam is that someone > could take the written as many times as they wanted until eventually > passing. I could do that, but I don't want to waste my money. I'm not going > to attempt it again until I think I've picked up about 20 points. Although > my GI Bill will pay for my tests and lab, I have finite funds and I want to > save my money for the labs. But I don't think that just because that you can > take the test as often as you like will cause the market to be flooded with > CCIE's. Most people are persueing the CCIE cert because of money: they want > more. People have fininte funds.
It is absolutely an issue because for many people, it's not their money. And it's not specific to the CCIE, but to all cert exams that just allow you to attempt it over and over again without penalty. Let me present to you a specific example. Consider the case of resellers. Practically all of them have some kind of certification requirement for X number of Cisco,Microsoft, Oracle, Novell, or whatever certified people, and this gets audited by the vendors. Now, many resellers have a much more pressing problem, which is simply surviving financially, so they don't really have time to be worrying about cert requirements. But when the audit day starts breathing down their necks, everybody knows what happens - there is a mass burst of people going to Prometric. Obviously the ideal thing to do would be for the reseller to send people to proper training classes and then give those people good hands-on experience before sending somebody to take a cert exam. But of course this is the real world, where dollars matter. Companies are going to choose the most expedient method to get things done, and if that means cutting corners, then so be it. What's more cost-effective - paying $3000 and taking an engineer out of commission for 5 days for training and then having that person attempt the cert exam for another $300 (and another afternoon), or just sending that person to Prometric every day for 5 days for $300 each? You tell me what you would do. The net result - the reseller passes its audit but there is also a whole slew of paper-XXXX's in the world. >It's not too bad to take the test several > times but when you give the lab several pops that adds up. I'll bet there > are alot of folks out there that have given up because of the money it would > take them or because they have already spent too much money on their failed > attempts. There are probably many, many more people that don't have the > funds to take the test and lab as many times as they want, than people that > have the money to take them over and over again until they pass. So, I don't > think that it's an issue. Another issue is the perennial balance between money and time. In your case, you are willing to wait and study harder before your next attempt. You value your money more than your time. Others value their time more than they value their money. Let's face it, time is money, and the only difference is the time-to-money exchange rate. A guy who failed can calculate that he can either take another X weeks of time to study, or he can just keep trying the test a bunch of times for Y dollars until he passes, so the real question is which to him is more valuable - the X time or the Y dollars. Like you said, the real goal is to pass the lab. Therefore many people see the written exam as a stupid requirement - something that they just have to survive, and not necessarily do well in. Therefore, they see little reason to actually study harder for the written when they can just as easily attempt the exam over and over again until they finally pass. The question is, do you want to study hard or do you just want to keep trying the exam. Again - it's a trade off between time and money. I leave you with the following note. There are few exams in the world which simply allow you attempt the exam over and over again without penalty - cert exams being one of a few important exceptions. For example, you can't simply take the SAT over and over again without penalty. All your SAT attempts and scores show up so colleges can see that you've just been trying to cherry-pick a high score. Same is true of the SAT 'cousins' - the GMAT (business school), the LSAT (law school), the MCAT (medical school), etc. In college, you can't just fail your physics or your psychology final exam, decide that you don't like that, and just try it again. If you fail, you fail - it shows up on your transcript. You can't fail a state bar exam or a medical board exam and just show up the next day to try again - there is a substantial waiting period you have to endure. Why do they do this? Simple. By increasing the penalty of failure, it forces people to study harder. People take the SAT much more seriously because they know that all their attempts will be recorded. Otherwise you know what's going to happen - you're going to have rich kids attempt the SAT 100 times to try to get a perfect score so they can get into Stanford. People take the bar exam more seriously than they would if they knew that if they failed, they could just show up the next day and try again. That's the point. Now, I don't mean to sound militant. I would advocate a wait period of at least a month before re-attempts of the written. But in your case, looks like you're going to be studying for a month or so anyway, so it's really no skin off you. And I actually advocate much more serious reforms than that (like relative scoring), but that's a whole 'nother battle for another time. > > Just a comparison note between the beta and the current exam, the current > exam seemed much harder. > > Anyway, that's all I have to say this go 'round. Besides it's time to hit > the books. ;). > > Thanks, > > Karl. Message Posted at: http://www.groupstudy.com/form/read.php?f=7&i=58810&t=58805 -------------------------------------------------- FAQ, list archives, and subscription info: http://www.groupstudy.com/list/cisco.html Report misconduct and Nondisclosure violations to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
