No more CCIE OEQs

Well it looks like the end of Cisco's controvertial OEQs which have been a part of the CCIE track for about a year.

Some of the CCIE tracks having them added recently and others still waiting. However the news is that they will be gone as of the 10th of May from the R&S and Voice tracks. Surely its only a matter of time before they go completely.

I haven't seen anything official yet but thats the rumour.

I think there is enough pressure without them for CCIE candidates. Imagine you pay $1400 for the chance to take the exam and can fail in the first 30 minutes on the OEQs.

The written should be weeding out those that aren't upto the exam.

The CCIE lab has always been about hands on, it's the 800lb gorilla of the tech exam world.

I know that those who have failed the OEQs but aced the configuration and troubleshooting may not get much flexibility from Cisco, I can't see them saying "Oh well OK so it was a bad idea here's your CCIE as you aced the config part" but thats life.

It was always wrong when Cisco introduced two classes of CCIE the haves and the have nots. That the 360 candidates got the waiver was the thin end of the wedge but hail hail it looks like common sense has prevailed and maybe just maybe for once Cisco has listened to the communnity and relented. There are a lot of good ideas in the Cisco community and most Cisco certification candidates do it the right way, study hard and put in the hours. To fail the CCIE on 4 or 5 questions would heart breaking.

Well done Cisco, good move.

No doubt there will be other tweaks to the exam with that half hour slot to fill but its definitely a good move.