Open-Ended Questions 102:
Darby's Woodshed : Darby Weaver
1. Why are there open-ended questions in the first place, isn't the CCIE Written suffcient to prove "theory"?
Answer: There are open-ended questions to defeat the widespread and rampant memorization of the actual CCIE Labs - apparently to the degree of 90-95% first time pass rates in some countries such as China for example (consequently where the CCIE Interviews were introduced).
This is still true. The goal of the OEQ is to verify that a CCIE Candidate has a well-founded sense of the fundamentals.
Note: Anyone who has bought and read a given CCIE Fundamentals book like Security, Network Management, MPLS, etc. will quickly understand that CCIE Candidates are not being treated unfairly when held to this new higher standard... It is what it is. If it is too hard... find another profession to earn $100,000.00+ a year for before you even earn the title of CCIE...
The CCIE Written is actually the most relevant study guide for the open-ended questions and the CCIE Lab itself. There are a lot of misconceptions about the CCIE Written and one of them is that is "just theory" and therefore irrelevant and only serves as a barrier to taking the CCIE Lab itself. The CCIE Written actually is very "lab-like" in terms of scope of problems and the level of comprehension of a wide-variety of topics even when the blueprint between the lab and the written do not match 100%.
I wrote the above paragraph not quite a whole year ago and I still think it is relevant and holds some degree of truth, despite most candidates are failing the new CCIE v4.0 lab arguably due to OEQ... let me explain:
Every CCIE Candidate who sits the lab exam has passed the CCIE Written - certain testing aids.
Let's be clear, crystal clear that is...
a. Most CCIE Candidates had time to study to a given blueprint in the CCIE RS Written.
b. What's more, even the practical questions in the CCIE Written are very... how do I say this... Multiple Choice... aka "Multiple Guess".
c. Despite the dubious testing aids, the ubiquity of the exam, and it being given testing sites (some accused of being compromised too... imagine that...), people still do not score 1000 very often (I have heard of one time and the poor dude had to resit the written since he could not register for the lab with a 100 versus a 2-digit score... seriously.).
d. So.. some people say the OEQ are just "EASY"... Ok fair enough...
e. I'd say 60 of 100 questions in the CCIE Written are easy. 20 of 100 are doable... 10-12 are guessable by some... and the other 8-10... well no one ever scores a 1000 anyway...
Now consider the OEQ... The same parallels apply. I assure you.
2. How long will the OEQ's be around and will they be removed from the exam.
Answer: The OEQ's were designed to be a "discriminator" and allow proctors the ability to ascertain whether or not a candidate has the basic level of understanding and comprehension to perform a task. For instance: Can a driver win the Indy 500 but somehow does not know where to place the key or cannot tell you what the gas pedal does? It's really kind of like that. The idea is that an expert should be able to tell you these things in his/her own words. Simple enough. The concept is that no well-qualified candidate would be able to fail on just the OEQ, although some have claimed this and I've found their posts to prove it. Please don't test me - the example I found gave the candidates lab dates, his scores, and his OEQ's all in one tidy place and so if I expose this the poor bastard would probably be banned if his post is true and it looked authentic to my eyes but who can say short of Cisco?
The OEQ's may or may not be removed if the Troubleshooting Section of the lab exam measures up and proves to serve as a fair "dicriminator". No one is yet certain of this but it is a thought and may well happen. Watch and see how this progresses.
That was my answer some months before the v4.0 of the CCIE Lab was made public... since then...
a. The OEQ has been expanded.
b. Hundreds of the 15% of CCIE's who mysteriously just drop and don't recertify the program... have not been replaced in the last three months or so... so the CCIE RS is in a state of deficits... A telling issue.
c. Many trainers are now in a bit of an issue...
- How long does it take to prep a CCIE Candidate?
- Why are CCIE's not passing - even the very well-groomed?
- What does this say for the trainers and their prep materials?
- What does this say of mostly everyone who has a CCIE now?
d. Disclaimer: Some people are passing and claiming the materials of at least 1 CCIE Trainer is working more often that others. Others are in trouble... why do students take this specialized training that may cost $5000 - $10,000+ in training alone only to fail time after time...
3. What are open-ended questions like? How are they structured?
Answer: Has anyone ever read any of the FAQ's on a protocol on Cisco's website? If so, I'd say this is the meat and potatos of say 2 of the 4 questions in any 4 questions presented. Just a guess but this is the level of difficulty and degree of wordiness that might be expected from any given candidate's OEQ's. This is appropriately referred to as CCNA level OEQ's. The CCNP level OEQ's might actually have a diagram and some given output of any given protocol and the candidate might be expected to ascertain what is or has occurred based on the information presented or even what role a device may be playing for that scenario. This might be considered high-level CCNA or low to mid-level CCNP type of OEQ. Now the last question might be a little tougher and require more of that 30 minutes and it might be a show-stopper and could even be considered unusual but typically is not that unusual to a very observant CCIE Candidate. For this type of question not much prep is available except maybe Hutnik and Satterlee's CCIE Prep Course. I would agree that Doyle an or Clark might be useful as well but in truth just day to day configuration and observing and interpreting not only what each device is doing based on the command output or relevant debug but also say... what role that device might be playing in the greater scheme of the given scope of the question and or topology.
Wow!!! I was so on to something back then... read it again...
Currently I endorse Ruhann de Plessis for the OEQ... and no other.
Go here: http://blog.ru.co.za
4. Are they impossible?
Answer: I'm a poor guy to say as I've yet to encounter them in the wild in a lab yet. However, I will tell you that in the Techtorial at least 2-3 of us had been to the lab between say 1 and 9 times I think and most of us in that category seemed to know most of the questions, but if challenged we may have had some self-doubts. So they can come across as daunting to the stalwart well-prepared lab candidate. The newbies in the room seemed mostly quiet and I think most of the questions presented were eye-openers for the majority of the room.
That was then and this is now...
Yes and No... Mostly yes by trial and error - most people have still failed the OEQ - Well more than have passed anyway since the CCIE v4.0 was released this past October 18th, 2009.
I failed them. I thought I didn't.
I find it hard going back to take the lab knowing the I can waste my who trip based on literally a SINGLE question....
If I know 2 and miss 2, then my score is 0% and I fail the lab. If I had one more question correct, I'd pass the lab.
The prevailing odds are that most people do fail the lab - some claim the OEQ as failing them and others do not (note: since some people say they got easy questions then... not everyone may be willing to tell the whole truth).
5. Where can I get an example of these questions?
Answer: Cisco posted some on their site. Maybe one or two. Each of the CCIE Techtorials offered by Cisco (not the Cisco CCIE 360) had a very good garden variety of OEQ's tossed into the salad for the participants. I am not sure if these can be purchased after the event. But they are the only official source that I am aware of to get OEQ's or the true semblance and essence of the OEQ's as they might appear in an actual CCIE Lab. Who better to present them than the proctors themselves?
Various vendors have various OEQ supplements available - none looked a whole lot like the OEQ to me or not enough to be useful. Others claim they were for them. Maybe? I did not sit their lab.
I think the best aids for the OEQ are:
1. Ruhann's CCIE Short Notes.
2. Cisco Press CCIE RS Written Certification Guide
3. Cisco Live CCIE Presentations
4. Pure Hands-On experience with very detailed: "Attention to Details"
Number 4 applies especially well when I asked a "fictional question of several of the most world-renowned instructors... none knew the answer, although most shared the same opinion.... and one thought he got it right after I pointed him to the answer... He's got more CCIE's than most people walking... We have to forgive him.
My current opinion:
1. The OEQ is hard to beat consistently and is mostly a gamble for most candidates on mostly any day. Sorry its true.
2. I'm in no hurry to resit the lab. As a result, I'm content to be a CCNP who has a Multi-CCIE/CCDE/CCA Home Lab... that is simply "Designed by a CCxP, not a CCIE..." This is my portfolio and it encompasses everything on any of the various lab tracks. That's not bad for a CCxP like me... since I'm clearly not a CCIE.
3. If you disagree with the OEQ... take your $1400.00 vote and use it to do something nice for someone special in your life... or just buy the $1400.00 lotto ticket.
Darby Weaver