Tips for Working with the Proctors

“Proctor, Proctor, give me the news, I got a bad case of Multicast blues!”
Are the proctors helpful or not? Many have plenty of opinions on this. At the very least, let’s consider some tips that might help us in working with them…

• Be polite! If you are confrontational, they are going to be far less likely to care about you and your silly question about the lab ☺ An example of politeness that I used was to always preface my question with a comment like “I am so sorry to bother you…” or “May I take a moment of your time?”

• Demonstrate your mastery of the subject matter in your question. Politely stress that your issue is vagueness or grammar in the task – DO NOT give any indication that it is the material you are struggling with. And while you might be a bit upset that the grammar in the lab is poor, certainly do not go to great lengths to point that out! The proctor you are speaking to may have written that task, and they might take great pride in it! Here is an example of demonstrating your mastery on a subject – “Sir, I am considering the use of Root Guard for this task as I believe it meets the requirements, yet I am concerned about the request that the interface must be Shut Down by a violation. Technically Root Guard does not do this. Root Guard blocks the port using what is termed a root-inconsistent state. Is it still a viable solution even though I am not truly shutting down the port?” You are going to get a lot further with the proctor that way then this way – “Should I use Root Guard for this task?”

• Do not be afraid to visit a proctor two or three times about the same question. I did this in the Multicast section and eventually got the guidance I needed.

• If you are getting nowhere with a particular proctor, try another one if that is possible at your testing center.

• Immediately following a lab attempt, spend some time with the proctors to pick their brains about ways you can improve, their grading system, etc. They are very willing to help typically!

• Do not attempt to bribe your proctors. They might take your money – BUT THEY DO NOT GRADE YOUR EXAM! Someone in another time zone grades your exam! ☺

Do you have other tips? Let us know in the comments! Thanks for reading my dear friends! And special thanks to Chris from my Mocklab Workshop for the sample proctor question! He asked it the correct way of course. ☺

By Anthony Sequeira, #15626