Saturday, February 6, 2010

Lab attempt 02/02/2010 - first go round with the lab

Well, I suppose I should put a few words together about my first experience at sitting for a Cisco CCIE Lab.  I didn't expect to pass, considering that there isn't any formalized training available for the wireless lab like there is for all the other CCIE tracks.  I scored a 60, and needed an 80 to pass.  I signed up for the next exam right after checking my score, and the earliest available date is was in August, so I booked the date.

I was glad that someone recommended that I bring ear plugs - they were a godsend since the CCIE Pod 01 I had was right next to the racks of equipment.  I had originally thought the ear plugs were so you didn't hear any one elses' freak out..  I couldn't hear anything over the noise of the rack w/o them & was glad for the quiet they provided.

I lost some time trying to figure out which shortcut on the desktop led to the PC that would let me web into the controllers once I'd gotten them initially configured.. I guess I should have asked about that sooner instead of waiting till after lunch.  I really didn't like the way the tasks were laid out in the book.  I felt that the information I needed was scattered around within the text, and the key pieces of information could have been laid out more clearly.  I guess that is part of the point of the lab though - and I need to come up with a way to lay out the information I'll need for all the configuration before I start.  I spent a lot of time flipping back and forth through the diagrams and scenarios looking for naming conventions and vlan numbers when if I had made my own "spreadsheet" it would have been one stop shopping.

Now that I know what I'm up against, I have drawn up a better plan of attack.  I have to be *much* quicker at the CLI of IOS APs and for WLCs.  I couldn't have anticipated how little time I'd have to complete each task correctly within the 8 hours allotted for the lab.

4 comments:

  1. The best of luck to you Jennifer! 60 is very good score on first attempt imo.

    Keep up the good work and you will definately get your number! :-)

    Kelvin Dam (also pursuing the CCIE Wireless)
    CCIE #18572 (Security)

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  2. Too bad you failed. I failed also at my first attempt and didn't do my second yet.

    Keep up the good work.

    Sjostke.

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  3. Yeah, it would have been nice to only sit it once.. but fat chance right? :)

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  4. Great work Jennifer. I'm sorry to say that I bombed on my 2nd attempt last month. I went in thinking that I had all the bases covered from my 1st experience, only to discover that there was a refresh 1 week before. I didn't get much further even with 2 weeks hands-on intense scenario ptractice. I haven't given up. What I wouldn't give for a WiSM blade for our company 6500! The spreadsheet idea is a good one. I could have used that because I totally agree with the confusing directions. I spent at least hour trying to figure out what they wanted. The next attempt will be from my own pocket but I'm shooting for at least by the end of this year.

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