7/18/2005 -- Editor's note: To read part one of this two-part series, go here.

There’s never any point in time when you will truly know everything. Similarly, there’s never any point in time when the exam will be as bad as you may think it is until you try it! So you can spend years and years “studying” for the CCIE written exam and never think you know enough to take it. But you won’t know until you try. And you may also surprise yourself along the way: You probably know more than you give yourself credit for. (Either that or you’re really lucky!)

There are people I know (you know who you are) who keep waiting and waiting to take the first step because they “aren’t prepared.” Like your friends said about dating, you’ll never know unless you try. In the worst-case scenario, you’ll be out $300 and two hours of your time. But at least you’ll know exactly what the written exam is like and know where your shortcomings are!

After you manage to pass this test on your knowledge about networking theory, you can just shove much of that knowledge to the back of your brain. Don’t lose it, though, because it might come in handy. You never know when you might want to impress your friends with your knowledge of SWAN. You can even use trivial tidbits like the encoding type used by 10-Megabit Ethernet as pick-up lines. (Haven’t tried it myself, but let me know if you do!)

CCIE Lab Thinking
Now, it’s time to start going through this stuff and demystifying a lot of it. Fortunately, all of the myths and urban legends about the CCIE are not part of the non-disclosure agreement I had to sign!

With everything, there should be a plan of attack. This is a battle (sometimes a war), and no battle goes very well without a plan. I like the approach that Marines often take: divide and conquer. So, let’s break things up.

The CCIE lab exam is about 70 percent technology -- the other 30 percent is pure psychology. You’ve managed to overcome the written qualifier exam already so you know you know a lot! (Or, at least you think you know a lot … ) You might again study and study and study for years and years and years and never feel ready. No doubt hearing about the legendary difficulty of the CCIE lab exam can only add to the psychological pressure of actually taking it on.

You hear stories all the time about it taking people five or six (or more) attempts before they finally pass. That’s a lot of pressure. But remember, those people aren’t you. You might start the morning of the exam day sitting in silence with all of the other condemned, err, candidates, waiting for the proctor to unleash the evil on your poor souls. The fear of the unknown will eat at you.

So, you get my point earlier about the written exam! Get up and try. If you convince yourself ahead of time that it’ll take you three times to pass the lab, you’ve relieved a lot of self-induced pressure, which I said before is 30 percent of the exam’s difficulty. Your mind may be free now to bring all of your knowledge forward from the recesses of your repressed subconscious. Hey, you might even surprise yourself and pass it in one go! More on the psychology later -- for now, just make sure that since you’ve decided you want the CCIE, you actually attempt the exam sometime before you retire!

CCIE Boot Camps
Another way to test your readiness, as well as helping in your preparation is to attend a CCIE boot camp. There are many vendors that offer this sort of training. They aren’t cheap, but remember they can help to mold you a future with a better salary!

A boot camp is a term established awhile back in the IT certification industry for types of training that deliver a large amount of information in a short period of time (but usually long days) -- kind of like cramming. Check out the various CCIE boot camp vendors and compare the format, hours, instructors and everything else you think will translate into success for you.

It’s also important that you be familiar and comfortable with the instructor before choosing a boot camp. Especially as high-level and intense as this sort of endeavor is, the instructor can make or break the experience. I know some very technically qualified people who offer training and though some are great engineers, they can’ teach what they know to someone else to save their lives! This can make the experience very difficult for the students.

Learn about the technical qualifications of the instructor. If there is more than one instructor, find out about them all! Look to your online communities of candidates to see their opinions as well. Many of them will have been to a boot camp or know someone else who has already. Use this to your advantage.

When you get to the boot camp, expect long days. Often times when I deliver training, we start at 8 or 9 in the morning and often don’t get out until midnight! Sometimes later, only to start again the next morning. Nobody ever said this would be easy!

When you attend a boot camp, you need to think of it as a final rite of passage. You should be sufficiently challenged throughout the week (new perspectives or whatever), but you shouldn’t be learning many things for the first time. The boot camp experience is much better as a validation of your knowledge -- a chance to ask someone knowledgeable questions in person, a chance to fill in some blanks. Viewing the training this way will make sure that you get the most out of it, and you’ll better retain what you learn there.

CCIE Lab Day
This is it. It’s game day! And what a long, strange journey it’s been! So, what things make the day better? Well, it actually starts the night before. If you’re traveling to the lab, arrive early the previous day (or even a day before that). This will give you time to adjust from traveling (or possibly a time-zone change!).

The night before the exam, have a good dinner. Briefly review some notes of the important things to remember (you did make these, didn’t you?). Emphasis on the word briefly. You aren’t going to cram for a test like this. You won’t learn or retain anything new from the night before. Get a good night’s sleep. Go to bed early. Dream of the CCIE certification plaque.

On game day, hopefully you woke up well rested! Now, go join all the other candidates in the trenches! At this point, let’s review all the psychological pressures you need to relieve and erase before engaging the enemy -- the CCIE lab exam.

First, remember that during the lab, you are responsible for you and only you. Whatever anyone else is doing is not important (unless they throw something at you, those jerks). Do whatever is necessary for you to ignore the people around you. I recommend earplugs or a noise-canceling headset.

After entering the exam room, you’ll be told all the rules about time and break room and bathroom access. You know, the important stuff! After that, you’ll be assigned a desk, pod of equipment and a lab book. Your lab book is likely going to be different than the person next to, in front of, or in back of you, so don’t even bother letting your eyes wander.

Read the entire exam first! Yes, the whole thing. Jot down some notes that might help you throughout the day. Start getting a feel for the lab, where it’s going and what problems may arise. Judge how one task impacts another. Nothing operates in a microcosm, so you need to be able to identify these things. Bruce Caslow, of training provider NetMasterClass, refers to this as “spotting the issues.” See the problematic potholes in the road before you run into them.

The reason you do this is not only to plan your attack but also because the beginning of the day is the only time your mind will be clear. Later on, when problems do arise, you’ll be so deep into OSPF or BGP, or whatever else, that you’ll lose sight of the big picture. So, look ahead for those problem areas.

Create yourself a diagram of the lab. Yes, they already give you one, but it may not have everything you want, and you’re not allowed to write on it. Draw your own: quick and easy. You should also consider marking things in multiple colors to differentiate them easier. It may be messy, and that’s fine. When you’re taking an exam, it’s function over form. You’re not making a work of art.

By the way, if the exam was good enough to read once, it’s a good idea to read through it a second time. Check your drawing and notes and everything before typing anything. This whole process should take between 20 and 30 minutes. This is why earplugs, or noise-canceling headphones, are very important. Even though you know it’s a good idea to plan and read ahead, you’ll hear other candidates madly typing away not even five seconds after sitting down. No matter how much you tell yourself this planning is important and worthwhile, some part of your brain will attempt to sow doubt in your mind saying you’re falling behind and too slow. The stress can be maddening, but don’t give in. Carefully map out your plan of attack.

The lab will be presented to you in point sections. Each point section may have multiple tasks listed. There is no partial credit. That means if there are three tasks in a section worth three points and you complete two of them successfully, you still get zero points for that section. One thing I’d recommend doing during the lab is to make yourself a checklist of the point section titles. For example:

• Basic OSPF (2 points)
• Multi-area OSPF (4 points)
• OSPF Filters (2 points)
• Etc.

As you complete all tasks within a particular point section, check it off on your list. This will give you a running total at any time during the day of how many points you believe you have. This will help you adjust your battle plan throughout the day. As the day goes by, and time runs short, don’t try to tackle the hard things that you aren’t as experienced with. Work on the things that are sure to give you the most points!

Ask plenty of questions! Make sure that you understand what is being asked of you. Remember also, though, that the proctor can’t feel that they’re revealing too much information. So ask questions such that you demonstrate your knowledge level but that you only desire clarification.

Dissect the scenario pieces. Find out which parts are core to building the network and which are more just “fluff” on top. When you start to understand the relationships between the pieces, this will be easier to spot. Look for things at the end of the exam that are destined to affect something you did earlier. Make a note so you don’t forget!

In the end, only 80 points out of 100 are needed to pass the CCIE lab. It might be a B- in high school but here it’s difficult to achieve! Your ability to adjust your game plan on the fly (like a quarterback calling audibles in American football) and knowing where you stand at any point during the exam will help you greatly! If you find you’ve reached 80 points, don’t stop there! Just because you think you’ve accomplished a task doesn’t mean that something wasn’t missed in between! Aim for 100! Accept nothing short of perfection! (Just kidding, but do try your best!)

What Happens Next?
And just when you thought it was over, there’s more pain in store! You have to wait for the score report to show up in your e-mail. That e-mail will contain one of two things: either a congratulatory message with your CCIE member number enclosed, or a score report showing the percentage of sections you answered correctly. If you’re unfortunate to get the latter, just remember it’s only for your own good so you know where you need to improve for the next time!

Note that if you’re lucky and do receive your CCIE number, you won’t get a score back. All you’ll know is that you scored 80 or above. I’ve always been amused when people state they got 100 points on the CCIE lab, 99 or some chest-thumping thing like that. You may think that you had that many points, but in reality, you may have received only 81! What do you call the guy who graduated dead last in medical school or barely passed the board exams? This may scare you the next time you’re sick or awaiting surgery, but you still call him/her “doctor.” And the CCIE is the same way: These exams shouldn’t be the end of the road of your studies. Passing the exams is only a point -- although a significant one -- in your career development.

Also, don’t forget to reacquaint yourself with your family, spouse, significant other, friends or whoever else may have become lost or displaced along the way! Lying on the beach someplace with a frou-frou drink and tropical umbrella is typically a good place to start!

And in case you’re thinking everything’s over once you get you’re a certified CCIE, think again. Every two years, you’ll have to recertify by doing the written qualifying CCIE exam (any track’s written exam can do the trick). That means you still, and always will, have to be on top of your game!

With that, I wish the best of luck and success to all of you in your quest for the CCIE (and perpetually beyond)!

More articles by Scott Morris:

• So, You Want To Be a CCIE?, Part 1
  
• Theory and Application: CCIE Routing & Switching Written Exam