I received my good news on June 5th that my lab attempt from May 13th was successful. Why such a long delay? I’ll get to that. It has taken me some time to finally find the time to write this story. I hope you the reader find it useful in some way.
My study approach was probably not that different than most people that post their success stories. Long nights spent staring at a console window, non-existent weekends, and family members wondering when I will reintroduce myself to them. I used a half-real/half-virtual rack for my test labs. Real switches connected to a GNS3 simulation for the routers and FR switch. Using a Q-in-Q breakout switch between the switches and simulation PC (this is well documented and easily found with Google) I found that there wasn’t any technology I wasn’t able to lab up successfully. Imagine a lab with dot1q tunnels traversing a qinq breakout switch – fun stuff!
One thing that I found important for my studies was to never shortcut anything regardless of how well I thought I knew the technology. This was difficult for me at times since with near 15 years of networking industry experience, there were some time saving temptations. With INE WB1 for example, I did not skip a single task, even if I thought I knew the feature inside and out, or if it was too obscure and wouldn’t be tested on. Reviewing it in my mind and just confirming the answer would not have had the same lasting benefit as actually typing it up and viewing relevant show commands to verify.
I had already finished WB1 and half of WB2 plus viewed all of the ATC videos by the time I attended the bootcamp in Raleigh in March 2013. For anyone that was at this bootcamp (high five), I was one of the Canadians that provided a good target for jokes for the two weeks. I enjoyed this bootcamp immensely, and continued to learn little bits that surely helped during the lab. I finished the bootcamp feeling very confident.
My first lab attempt was scheduled for the first week in April. A major accident closing a freeway threatened my travel as I barely made my flight to San Jose. Nevertheless, I made it to my hotel in the evening before the exam date. As confident as I was, I still felt very nervous and apprehensive. After all, this has been the ultimate goal for most of my career.
On to the lab exam. First the troubleshooting section. “I’m going to enjoy this” is what I’m thinking. After all, troubleshooting is by far my biggest strength. Let me tell you, there was a three point question that humbled me. While I managed to find and repair 2 or 3 faults that would explain the lack of results, I still ended up with a lack of results. When time was up, I did not complete the three pointer and one other two pointer. As I move on to configuration, I’m thinking to myself “That might be enough, right?”
On to the config section. I didn’t use any unorthodox approach for this. I drew up a tally sheet to keep track of the questions I’ve completed and/or verified and their points, but I found that I did not need to re-draw the topology. Four and a half hours in, I reach the end of config and spend some time verifying. With an hour left I went ahead and tackled a section I was originally planning on skipping entirely due to the point value versus config time. I did get the desired results on that section and probably gained a few more points.
Walking to my car, I’m thinking back to troubleshooting. Did I just squeak by? Maybe.
1 or 2am in the morning, I spring awake as I hear an email on my phone. It’s the email telling me to check for my results. I log in and see ‘Fail’. Examining the details, I see a pass for config, and my mark for troubleshooting suggests I missed 6 points which I guess is 1 point shy of a pass. I think to myself – If I didn’t get that three pointer, then I must have missed the other three pointer. Maybe the solution I used violated the restrictions?
Well of course if I’m that close, then I’m ready to take it again at the soonest opportunity, so I schedule a 2nd attempt for just over 30 days later. I did spend a little time reviewing some of the WB2 labs, both config and troubleshooting, but nothing near the same intense time spent as the months leading up to that.
Travel to San Jose for the second time is uneventful. I arrive at my hotel earlier in the day and have time to relax as I prepare for the next day’s mental assault.
Troubleshooting section, round 2: I am able to finish 9 out of 10 tickets in just over an hour. I double check that I have the desired results without breaking restrictions. But again, the last three point ticket eludes me. Even after spending nearly 45 minutes on it, the ticket still wins. I’m ok with this though, because I rocked the other nine, right? Sure.
Configuration is just as challenging as the first time, but I’m able to complete it with time to spare. I verify the questions again to make sure I didn’t miss a restriction. Double check everything. Feeling that my confidence at this point could be my undoing, so check some more.
On my way out to the car, I feel as though I’ve already gotten my passing result and I’m beaming about my accomplishment. It’s amazing how one can feel so good one moment and have it replaced entirely by one word. The middle of the night email comes and I log in and see.. “Fail.” A knot forms in my throat as I let out a pathetic sounding “no…”
I spend the next day attempting to process the results I saw and get it to match the experience I remember in the lab. I just can’t get it to add up. I passed configuration again but my marks in troubleshooting were even worse than the first time. Missing 7 points – I knew about the three point ticket, what could I have done wrong in two other tickets?
My friends and family ask me if theres a way to have it checked again and I explain to them what most of you reading this know.. Even Cisco warns you that historically re-reads have less than a percent chance of turning around a result. I turn to Google and search for other people’s experience with re-reads and I see one case that I found particularly interesting – in his case the result was turned around. His circumstances were very much the same as mine – a poor mark in troubleshooting that didn’t make sense. He speculated that maybe he had left some debugs on in a couple routers, and as I think back, actually maybe I did too.
Finally I decide that if I’m sure that I had got those tickets right, then statistics aside, I’d be foolish not to attempt the re-read. So I applied for it. The next three weeks were agonizing. I checked the results page every day, often multiple times. In another post on IEOC, user sjuggins submitted a ticket to Cisco at the three week mark to inquire as to the status and their result was positive, so I figured why not, and when I got to three weeks, I also submitted a ticket to Cisco learning support.
My circumstances continued to mirror both of the other stories, as they report that their status on the tracker changed from fail to a blank. Sure enough the day after I submit my ticket, my status is now blank. I’m going out of my mind at this point. Is this a good sign? I don’t want to get my hopes up again just to be dropped off another cliff.
The day after that my wife’s alarm goes off at 5am, and even though it never wakes me, that day it did. I check my phone and see the same email for me to view my results online and I say out loud “this is it…” My wife immediately knows what I mean and shares in my apprehension. I sat in bed for several minutes staring at the email. Finally I get up, log in, and see the magical word “Pass”
That day instantly turned into the fourth happiest day of my life, shadowed only by my wedding day and the births of my two girls.
As I’ve had some time to come down from the high of that day, I sometimes think back to the first exam. I know there’s no sense anymore but I can’t help but wonder how the mark was possible. I was missing 6 points – I had assumed that I missed both three point tickets, but then I remember, there was a two point ticket that I didn’t even attempt. Did the three point ticket that I did find 2+ faults in start working after I moved on? Did they mark me incorrectly on two more two point tickets that I was confident I got right? Oh well, I will never know.
I am now CCIE #39442, and feeling pretty good about it. In addition to thanking INE for the fantastic preparation material and brilliant instructors, I also have a couple of bloggers to thank (I think you may know who you are) for if I hadn’t come across those posts on other re-read successes, I might not have tried it, and today would be a very different day.