The definition of a game plan is any strategy devised to reach a given objective (From en.wiktionary.org/wiki/game_plan). As someone once said, not to plan, is planning to fail. Therefore I need a concrete strategy for the next attempt. Game plan one was simply to invest all my effort into mastering the technologies. This I believe was successful, however the dynamics of passing the CCIE lab is far more complicated than just the technologies. Personally I would say the technologies are 50% of what it takes. The other 50% is comprised of the psychological and the physical aspects that determine your overall delivery on lab day.
To summarize my RS experience which correlates with the above. Game plan one was similar: lab, read and absorb as much as possible. Got to the lab in Brazil, was confident, somewhere along I messed up, got the result no pass. I was fortunate enough to get a response from Bruno, one of the proctors at Brussels, that due to configuring a simple IP address wrong, cost multiple points. How did it miss the radar. Re-evaluate what went wrong. Booked the next lab, just over a month away from the first attempt. Did no technical excercises, just read the labs I previously did and prepared mentally for the next attempt. The reason for no technical labs was after the first lab I realized I was ready for this part of the lab but that it required more than that. I needed to demonstrate on lab day that I knew what I was doing in a very articulate way. That is the tough part of the lab. If Cisco was a democracy, I would vote for tougher lab questions and partial points.
The first SP lab went similar, the technologies went well, but due to my RS lab experience, time management went out the door in favor for being as punctual in the demonstration as possible. I actually thought I would finish the lab with time to spare and be able to go over everything again in order to spot the errors in interpretation, requirements that were just simply skipped and those questions that broke previous ones. I got the balance totally wrong.
For the second attempt I have a bit of a problem. I can not sit the lab within a month, I have to wait five before I can have another opportunity to convince Cisco. The advantage of sitting the lab in quick succession is that it is easier to stay prepared at CCIE level. Lab day is a peak along the journey and to maintain that peak for five months is not going to be easy. I have no other choice but to keep doing labs and keep everything fresh. This is for my own benefit in the long run. Since getting back to labs at the start of November I have completed the first four labs of IPX Vol3, now branded as the Lab Mentoring Kit. They are simple labs, but what I like about them is that the topology does not have to be complicated in order to bring a point across and makes it easier to learn from. I actually consider Lab3 and Lab4 of this range to be the best of all the workbooks I have done (read the review). I am now currently busy with INE vol2 labs and have completed the first three. I would rate the first two labs from INE vol2 second to lab3 and 4 from IPX vol3, aka Mentoring kit. The further the INE labs go in the workbook the more the wheels start to fall off. If you do the last 5 labs for the first time, make sure to use their forum where most of the workbook bugs are discussed. For some reason Lab8 rings a bell as another gem. After completing INE vol2, I will do the 5 IPX vol2 labs and lab5 from IPX vol3. The reason for this is that they are marathon labs which I hope will help with time management. I need to complete them in 6 or less hours or even better if I can do one every evening after work. This would be a workout of note.
All this should be done by the end of December. I then have about another month in order to either prepare for OEQ and if they don’t arrive I will spend this month on specific scenarios, reading and preparing mentally. All this with the focus on speed and accuracy while keeping the technologies fresh.
