Everyone who has got a Voice Lab date before 2009 mid July must have this one same thought in their mind: this is going to be my one and only chance before the new version 3.0 kicks in. There is just no seat available for SJ, RTP, Sydney, Tokyo and Brussels lab unless you are looking for a date after mid July. However, if you really need to retake, with some luck you might still be able to land a date in May-July if you check frequently every day. Do note that there is a "100 click (or 80?) per day" limit so there is really some luck involved in getting a date now. One advice: use "Check4Change" add-ons in Firefox as it is a really handy tool for this purpose. Anyway, you still need some luck to secure a seat because of the above click policy. Some also are hoping that more seats will be created but anyway, it is just a rumor so we do not want to place too much expectation on that.
As this coming attempt would be the one and only chance for most of the candidates taking the version 2.0 lab, I would like to share some of my experience to help candidates in nailing this Voice lab. I passed in 2009 Jan after learning a few very good lessons from my first attempt. Here are a few tips that I hope will help out Voice candidates. If any of this does help you, please drop me a line so that I can share your joy.
1. Do not always think something not working is caused by the hardware/software. Yes, there are several configs that need you to reboot the box so that they can become effective (you should know this by now). However, maybe because of this, a lot of candidates tend to first think it is the hardware/software that is making their configs stall. I too had this thought at my first attempt. I thought I configured everything perfect but something just dang didn't work. So I rebooted the box once but unfortunately it still refused to work. I rebooted the box again but it still didn't work. After spending some time doing the debugging, only then did I realize that I did some very silly mistake. After fixing the mistake, right away everything started to flow smoothly. So, lesson of this is, do not immediately think hardware/software is causing your issue. In fact, I have talked to a proctor and he revealed that in his 5 years' experience as a proctor, the hardware breakdown in his lab only happened twice. What's more interesting is, on both occasions, any CCNA could tell it was a perfectly clear hardware problem (man the box was down and the debugging messages tells everything..).
2. Read this article of InternetworkExpert: http://blog.internetworkexpert.com/2008/06/30/voice-lab-strategy/ I actually followed most suggestions in this article and modified some to suit my preference. On my first attempt, I really needed to recall hard of all the steps in the article. What does this tell? Very simple, it meant I was not ready at all for the lab. However, after the failed attempt, I spent a lot of time reading the books and doing some hands-on and guess what, I did not even have to remember the suggested steps and I could configure everything from the scratch right until the Verifications part. Lesson of this is, when you are really confident and familiar with all the configuration steps, you are ready to kill the beast. If you are not, spend all your possible time on hands-on and make sure you can do everything without having to think much (I cannot advise you to postpone your lab date until you are ready since this is the one and only chance you may have...)
3. Read the Forum at both ccbootcamp and ipexpert. You can learn a lot from the intriguing questions posted there. I spent at least an hour reading all those threads (and replied sometimes, of course) and they really helped much.
4. Finish everything at least 1.5-2 hours before the time is up. I know this is easier said than done but you will realize that you will have no choice but to do so. The reason is very simple: we just cannot configure everything without making some careless mistakes all the way from the beginning until the end (e.g. typos, missing out a minor detail etc). In my first attempt, I finished 30 minutes before the time was up and alas, I found so many careless mistakes and when the proctor asked us to stop, I knew I was as good as gone because I had found at last 5 careless mistakes by just reviewing the first few questions.. In the last attempt, I had about 1.5-2 hours to check and guess what, I found 7 careless mistakes. If I didn't have time to review the questions, since there is no partial mark given, I would have lost 7*3=21 points and failed...
5. We all know that we need a good night's sleep before the big day. Yes, but most people would be too nervous to get a good night's sleep before the big day. This is even worse for candidates like me who have to fly to places with different time zones. In my first attempt, hoping for a good night's sleep, I tried to keep myself awake during the day time (local time of the lab location) and it totally backfired. That night, although totally exhausted, I was so nervous that I could only get 2-3 hours sleep on and off. Knowing that I definitely need to get some sleep, I changed my strategy. This time, upon arrival at the hotel, I went out to have a nice lunch (indulge yourself in some good food that you like; don't go for raw oysters though hehe), came back to the hotel and had a shower. Then I lied down on the bed watching some DVDs that I brought and I slept off the whole afternoon. When I woke up I must say I felt all refreshed and my "fear" of not getting enough rest was gone, because at least I have got these 6-hour sleep in the afternoon. I then went out to have a good dinner, came back, watched the DVD again and I was in Dreamland in no time. The next day I woke up fully energized and I knew I had a good advantage over any other candidates to nail the lab and yes, I really did. :-) Sounds silly but it is worth a try for those who need to fly far, who cannot sleep well in the plane or who always get nervous the night before the big day.
6. Proctor. This is very important. If you have some doubts that even the proctor can't answer, request the proctor to at least email the one who is going to mark your paper or the one who is responsible for this track. Most of the time the proctor would agree if your request is reasonable (of course if the proctor knows you do not understand the question or you are making any wrong assumptions then they will turn you away). Also, know the correct way to ask a question. Don't waste your time to ask everything only to get turned away by the proctor. If your PC happens to freeze, don't waste your time arguing with the proctor to give you back the 5-10 minutes' time. Just reboot it and move on with other tasks. If the PC keeps freezing, then you have a case though.
Well that's about all I can think of now. I apologize as I know points 2, 3, 4, 6 might be repeated elsewhere at least hundreds of time (?) but keep in mind point 1 & 5. They are something that I think most CCIE candidates got affected much!
Good luck and do let me know the good news!
