CCIE SP Lab Feedback – Updated!

Some of the guys over at IEOC have provided this feedback from the SP Lab Exam for 2009..

Additional Update – 28-1-2009:

Guys i went to SP lab yesturday….that was my first try i have done all IE labs and was very confident that this time i will def pass……i went to the exam and when i came out of lab i was 100% confident as i did pretty well…..every single thing worked for me…..i attempted all questions and everything worked the only thing i was not sure abt was 3 point question and as per cisco policy i cant discuss that when i got the shock of my life when i saw my result i was failed and i got less then 70%……i couldnt beleive it….i m still in shock…..i am shattered…….i am like a dead man on this earth….all my studies all my efforts went into drain…..guys please sujjest something for me shd i contact cisco or do rechecking or what…….brain,scott guys plz comment on this as i m feeling vvvv down…..i can challenge cisco that it was alright……guys help me out plz

Additional Update 2 – 28-1-2009:

My attempt was the same. I am not saying I got 100% for everything but everything was working IPV4, MBGP, Multicast etc 100%. So I was confident too and very disappointed to see fail as well. Esp. when there are faults which you overcome during the lab and all the lights come on.

However we can fail because we do not interpret the question or questions correctly. The biggest thing which can fail us is that too much config is strung together for the 3 points J So you can have it all good but leave out a line which does not affect the outcome of the results in the routing table e.g. isis network point-to-point does not affect the routes themselves but needed to be under the interface to meet a question requirement!? So we deem it to be correct but we lose 3 points for missing config. Do that a few times and you are a gonner!!

What I find strange is during lab practice before my lab with the kit being used I used to get a lot of “mpls label corruption”. Routes which had labels are withdrawn from the LFIB etc and reachability then goes and nothing works!!! You then have to reload and all works again (ISIS L1 & L2 with TE across both L1 & L2 esp.J). Who is to say that after you have finished your lab and after a few hours label corruption occurs, (bearing in mind we are building quite a few differing technologies on the 2600/3600/3800 which ideally should run on 7206VXR and higher device) when they come to mark it nothing works

My 2 cents
 
You just have to keep your chin up and go again and hopefully nail it next time. It totally sucks failing but will be worth it once you have achieved it.

Original Post:

Feedback 1:- Well, I just took my SP lab the other day.  It was very tough, but I left there thinking I might have passed.  For preperation, I had done all the technology labs from Internetwork Expert and another vendor.  I did the other vendor’s technology labs twice.  I had also gone through all the mock labs from Internetwork Expert (most of them twice) and the other vendor.  I did really well in all these mock labs.  If I did not understand a topic, I researched it both in books and on Cisco’s documentation website until I understood it.  This lab test was a total surprise!!  I can’t and will not go into details because of the NDA, but it was really surprising to see my scores.  I had everything working save one or two things.  I only skipped one question, but they gave me 100% in that area.  I’m not sure how that is even possible.  I am really scratching my head at this score report.  I’m not even close enough to try a regrade.  I did nothing the lab said I could not do. Well, I will keep trying.  I’ll reschedule again in a few months. Overall, it was a great experience.

Feedback 2:- Hi, Just as my experience, failed SP lab last week. Estimate my score to be something higher than 75% from the table recieved. My configuration was completed at 1340, with 4 task noted not completed. 2 of these completed within 1/2 hour, last 2 tasks neved completed fully according to spesifications. Spent rest of the time verifying and crosschecking over and over. At finish I knew 6 points was lost, 6 more points could be wrong because my solution was working but I was not fully satisfied.  Subtract another 10 points for details overlooked or task misunderstood - still optimistic but knew this would be close to 80, above or below. Experience: look out for nasty wording in tasks, nasty configuration and do not expect IElabs to have covered everything. But IElabs are great, would not have my score without these labs.  New lab has been booked, found it not easy to find dates within reasonable time in Brussel.  Jon

Feedback 3:- Having my lab in around 2 weeks and reading your descriptions, I am getting really afraid about my lab & results…I tried SP lab before and I had similar issue, I didn’t understand why I lost so many points in the areas where I was pretty strong. Lab wasn’t easy, wording in some questions was nasty, but it was still doable. I also had task which was not possible to configure (at least I didn’t know how). Anyway, it is time to go back to study If you have any additional advice, subjects to review, etc please let us know Cheers, Seba

And finally to finish on more positive note -> A CCIE SP Lab Pass.

Feedback 4:- I’m not sure if this is the right place to post this message but I passed my CCIE SP Lab in RTP on Thursday, Aug 7.  It was my first attempt and I only used the Internetwork Expert material to study with.  I must say this discussion board is a tremendous addition to the practice labs.  One thing I do want to mention is that it’s probably time for the CCIE SP practice labs to be updated, there are some technologies simply not covered in the practice labs that you will see on the real thing.  I of course can’t give away any details but I would make a careful comparison of what’s in the practice labs and what’s on the blueprint if I were you.  Some items on the blueprint cannot be tested due to the current IOS versions being used in the lab.  My only other tip is to really work on your time management and understand your limitations.  It was difficult for me but there were two questions on the lab that I skipped completely – both had the potential to break lots of other stuff and they would have consumed lots of time.  I’m not saying that is the best approach, but since I was able to identify what I call “sucker” questions, I was able to spend my time on the other parts of the lab that I knew I could do.  Thanks again Internetwork Expert – couldn’t have done it without you.

A. Joe Mann
CCIE #17203 (R&S, SP)

PS:  Due to a number of questions related to my previous post — here are my observations regarding what is on the CCIE SP lab exam blue print but not covered by the Interwork Expert practice labs.  Please note that this is just a comparison of what is on the blue print vs. what is on the practice labs - this is not an indicator of what you will see on the lab – I just believe that to be prepared for the lab, you need to cover the entire blue print:

1) Spanning Tree
2) IS-IS (while on many of the practice labs, I would consider most of the scenarios rather basic IS-IS.  I believe it simply needs to be covered in more depth.  This could just be my own weakness though, since I was never exposed to IS-IS until I started studying for the SP lab)
3) MP-BGP for multicast
4) mGRE
5) AToM and L2TPv3
6) QinQ

Some of these topics you can pick up in the R&S practice labs.  It’s also probably worth mentioning that while there are other features on the blue print that are not covered in the practice labs, I do not believe the current hardware and IOS versions in the lab make these very feasible to test (no guarantees of course).

Also, there are tons of IOS services that you could be tested on.  Lots of these can be found in R&S practice labs as well but at the end of the day, you just can’t cover them all — best to know the Doc CD so you can look it up quickly.

Best of luck to all of you and many thanks to others that have posted on this board.

Steve’s Note – Tapping into the various vendors support forums is a great way to glean knowledge irrespective of whether you are a customer of theirs or not!

Ref: http://ieoc.com/forums/t/4868.aspx & http://ieoc.com/forums/t/2810.aspx & http://ieoc.com/forums/t/4956.aspx