Michael, Buy a standard US keyboard and take it to the lab and tell them you are willing to leave the keyboard as long as they let you use it. Is a $50 dollar keyboard worth sacrificing to pass the test? Most definitely. I don't have technical advice for you because if you missed the entire exam because of one question it sounds like you already have most of the answers.
Your nerves should be calmed down on this next attempt. I remember feeling the same way on my first attempt and I had only failed by a few points myself as well. Regards, Tyson Scott - CCIE #13513 R&S, Security, and SP Managing Partner / Sr. Instructor - IPexpert, Inc. Mailto: [email protected] Telephone: +1.810.326.1444, ext. 208 Live Assistance, Please visit: www.ipexpert.com/chat eFax: +1.810.454.0130 IPexpert is a premier provider of Self-Study Workbooks, Video on Demand, Audio Tools, Online Hardware Rental and Classroom Training for the Cisco CCIE (R&S, Voice, Security & Service Provider) certification(s) with training locations throughout the United States, Europe, South Asia and Australia. Be sure to visit our online communities at www.ipexpert.com/communities and our public website at www.ipexpert.com -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Michael Miller Sent: Wednesday, April 06, 2011 5:54 AM To: [email protected] Subject: [OSL | CCIE_RS] Failed First Attempt / Advice Needed Guys, I took the lab yesterday in Brussels. I passed the configuration section, but failed the TS by one ticket as far as I can tell. When I walked out of the exam, I felt that I had surely passed the configuration, but I felt that I had only solved eight tickets in TS. In my score report I noticed that I have the option for a rescore, but seeing that it was the TS section that I failed, Is it even worth it? I felt that a few factors contributed to me struggling with the tickets: 1) The keyboard was quite different from the standard US layout. Many crucial keys including the pipe and double quote were either in different locations, or not even labeled. The proctor was able to help me through this, but I must have hit the \ key instead of enter fifty times in that section alone. 2) Stress / Nerves - It was my first attempt at any CCIE lab. My thought processes were in panic mode for probably the first ten minutes of the test. It wasn't until the afternoon that I really felt comfortable in the lab. The fact that I seemingly couldn't type some of the most basic commands (show run | i ...) due to the strange location of the pipe only compounded this. The problem wasn't that I couldn't find the key, but that I kept instinctively reaching to the wrong position. With all of that in mind, I'm wondering if I should schedule my next attempt right away, or if I should wait and study? My feeling is that I should probably brush up on my troubleshooting methods based on what I saw in the exam, but I feel like I should be able to do that within the month that I have to wait. A few final notes: The DOC-CD was incredibly fast in my lab. I didn't attempt to open any PDFs, but I felt that surfing it was just like when I was home. I didn't refer to it once, but at the start of the configuration section I opened up a few pages for later reference. I would suggest that candidates learn the hot-keys to open links in new tabs and windows in IE. The task bar can get cluttered, so being able to open a tab saved me space. I can't recall the proctors name at the moment, but I would say he was incredibly nice. I asked him several questions during the config section, and he did his best to answer them when possible. I would say that the advice to explain the technology help me, because I found he was much more willing to discuss the task when he felt I was only attempting to clarify the wording. In fact, he had to check the answer key for one section, because there was a task that was clearly contradictory. In any case, any feedback would be appreciated! Mike _______________________________________________ For more information regarding industry leading CCIE Lab training, please visit www.ipexpert.com _______________________________________________ For more information regarding industry leading CCIE Lab training, please visit www.ipexpert.com
