“Expanded” Tips for Passing the CCIE Lab Exam, Part 1 of 3

I was perusing the Cisco Subnet blog here at NetworkWorld.com and I noticed that one of my favorite peer authors here at Cisco Press, Yusuf Bhaiji, posted an awesome list of tips for passing the CCIE Lab Exam. In this blog series, I am going to list them again (we can never be reminded of them too many times), and I am also going to expand a bit on each one. I hope all of our CCIE Candidate readers enjoy! 1. Read the entire exam first and check for addressing issues. Do not skip any details or sections. On the day of your Lab Exam, one of the things the proctor should do during your orientation is instruct you that one of your first tasks in the configuration portion of the Lab Exam should be to ensure your initial configurations have loaded correctly on all of your devices. They also indicate that you should ensure they are the CORRECT configurations. My personal “pre-configuration” exam strategy is this…I speed read (skim) the entire lab exam, and then go back to any Layer 3 diagram provided and check the diagram against my equipment. I typically check two routers and one switch to ensure they possess the correct initial configurations. If three of my devices are correct, I feel pretty good that they are all going to be just fine. Be sure you take the time to immediately check at least a couple of your devices. If you want to upset a proctor really quick on lab day, just go to him or her about two hours into the day, and indicate your initial configurations are wrong! 2. Manage your time. Make a plan to cover all the sections in the time provided. Work out how much time you will spend on each section, keeping in mind the point value of the questions. Don’t forget to allow time at the end to verify your solutions. In my personal strategy approach to passing, I am always examining a task and placing it mentally into one of two categories – CORE or NON-CORE. Core tasks are those that must be completed in order to obtain universal connectivity in my lab network, and non-core is a task that does not impact such connectivity. I create a SKIPPED TASK TRACKER with some of my scratch paper. Any task that is NON-CORE and that is giving me problems with configuration immediately gets placed on my SKIPPED TASK TRACKER and I move on from it. At the very end of all of my configurations, I revisit the SKIPPED TASK TRACKER and start working on these tough ones again! 3. Clarify the requirements of each question. Don’t assume requirements that aren’t mentioned in the question. During the lab, if you are in any doubt, verify your understanding of the question with the proctor. OK, this one is MUCH easier said than done. Task interpretation (and unfortunately, task misinterpretation) is one of the most intriguing parts of the CCIE Lab Exam. Practicing with trusted hypothetical CCIE lab tasks is critical to mastering this “art”. And as the Cisco tip indicates, properly utilizing the proctor can be critical to your success. Well, I will be sure to post more of the “expanded” tips for you soon, and also, I will be sure to blog about tips on properly utilizing your Lab Exam Proctors!