In order to pass the Routing and Switching CCIE lab, one must pass all three sections. This creates great stress on a CCIE candidate. The Cisco 360 Routing and Switching CCIE Learning Program helps reduce this stress by offering what is called a “Core Knowledge Waiver”. If a student attends either a Cisco 360 Advanced Workshop I course (CIERS1) or an Advanced Workshop II course (CIERS2) and receives a recommendation from a certified Cisco 360 instructor to receive the new Core Knowledge Waiver, the CCIE candidate can then bypass taking this section of the Routing and Switching CCIE exam and begin the lab with the hands-on troubleshooting and configuration sections. This helps reduce the pressure of taking the CCIE Lab.
The Core Knowledge Section is a thirty minute section where you answer the computer based questions to show that you have competency in the core technology area. If you take the a Workshop, complete the work in the class and your show your instructor that you understand the material from which the core knowledge questions are derived, you can ask your instructor to recommend a waiver for you. The waiver is not automatically given because you take a class, but rather is designed to allow the instructor to evaluate your knowledge and recommend you to Cisco as a candidate that you knows this material.
The Core Knowledge waiver program will leverage Cisco 360’s international pool of 40+ certified instructors that are more than capable of determining whether a CCIE candidate is worthy of bypassing this section of the CCIE Lab exam. We are a more than confident that all Cisco 360 instructors throughout the world will use good judgment when administering this program.
Great news for all our students who want to get the Core Knowledge section out of the way before exam day!
Here is the quote from Cisco Learning Network:
Beginning April 1, 2010, Cisco will allow Cisco 360 Learning Program students who attend a Cisco CCIE® Routing and Switching or CCIE Voice workshop to request a waiver and skip the Core Knowledge Section of the CCIE lab exam. All waiver requests must be approved by the workshop instructor. No end date for the Core Knowledge Waiver has been announced, but Cisco will provide at least 60 days’ notice before discontinuing the waiver.
https://learningnetwork.cisco.com/docs/DOC-6842
More information on Cisco 360 Workshops offered by NetMasterClass:
http://www.netmasterclass.com/CCIE/Training/