“Now I will have to pass the Lab once again” said one of the disgruntled candidates on Internetwork expert blog. There are many candidates who have passed the Lab portion but are unable to pass through Core section (Open-ended questions) and hence end up being failed.
Last year has produced maximum number of CCIE approximately between 3400-3700Including many who cleared multiple tracks (for which you don’t get another number) The highest ever produced in the history previous year 2007-2008 must have produced Anything between 2500-2800 if you combine last two years have produced maximum numbers.
Why should these figures bother Cisco primarily because CCIE still remains the ultimate certification to achieve and so are the expectation would you like to meet a CCIE who is not able to come up with answer to simple question such as being asked in the open end format?
Its no secret that Cisco wants to filter un-deserving candidates from getting the CCIE and something need to be done though as expected this step has been met with an unprecedented amount of panic dates are suddenly available and let me inform candidates that things will only get tougher in future.
Now the question arises how should all the CCIE aspirants react to it? Is it really that bad? Not in the long run if people will keep becoming “experts” at such alarming rate Salaries will go down industrial recognition will go down CCIE will stop from being what it represent an Expert it will just become another Certificate. So those who will achieve it can continue to expect the rewards they do expect after achieving their CCIE.
I was in Bangalore on 18th Feb for my CCIE Security and was witness to this new phenomenon here are few useful tips and information to all the candidates:
You will get 4 to 5 open ended questions
you have a maximum of 30 minutes to solve them you can however submit them earlier if you wish
Time spent in answering open ended questions will not be compensated so you still have 8 hours exactly.
Open ended question begs explanation which could be very brief like 4 to 5 sentences but one must write some sort of explanations. Yes and No kind of answers will not be considered.
Marking is all or nothing means either you will 80% minimum passing requirement in core or nothing (0%) so say if you have solved two question correctly your score still will be 0.
If you FAIL open ended question you will be considered as FAIL irrespective of your performance in the Lab but you are allowed to proceed with the Lab as result is not instant.
I would highly recommend using CCIE written blueprint for and resources for preparing open ended questions.
It will be safe to assume that you can afford to get one Question wrong
In general these questions will be like “Explain advantage of Stub area” to give
you an idea about the sort you can expect now the problem is that you don’t study in that mode while preparing for CCIE Lab say I would be looking for all sort of possible configuration options for Spanning Tree but will hardly bother about explaining Spanning tree but from now onward you will have to make that adjustment in your study mode.
Its like appearing for an interview with a little difference please keep in mind that your grammar is not in a problem here so don’t feel shy of writing please ensure that you put your point across in the best possible manner. To give you an example I will answer my own question.
Q. what is a stub area?
A. stub area is usually a spoke area design aimed to reduce routing burden on the spokes routers/areas. While designing stub one must keep in mind that there should not be any dependability on Spokes or minimum. Spoke also should not have many outbound options but the Hub.
Usually we install either summarized or default routes on stub for EIGRP it helps in reducing number of Query’s for OSPF LSA flooding both resulting in reduced routing calculations and traffic.
Now I just went a little overboard but the thing is, look at the question does it say Eigrp stub or Ospf No!! not in particular so I have spoken primarily about general concept and then few specific points related to Ospf and Eigrp please ensure that you highlight all major points as expected from a CCIE. The idea is not to write an essay but let the other guy know that you have a grasp on the topic.
Open ended question are subjective and hence there is no perfect answer and that adds to the confusion. coming back to the exam on 18th.I know of results of two candidates both failed one actually got 86% in Practical but still failed which is very unfortunate buts that’s the exact point Cisco is trying to make not many will approve of it or will feel comfortable its like giving written and Lab on the same day.
What has been hailed as the ultimate benchmark for testing your internetworking skills, what had become a legend an unforgettable journey for many has now been changed forever matter of fact reduced to a farce in a way where Cisco is saying that I don’t trust you clearing the Lab portion itself which in my opinion is sad.
I sincerely believe its nothing much to worry for candidates who are well prepared but for few who expected the short cuts to get them through.
