Ccnp senss

f0rgiv3n

Yeehaw! Well I'm back at it after a long break... I realized that I need to recertify my CCNP before some big changes come my way down the road soon (I won't be having much time!).

Obviously, I hate to take the same exams twice just to "renew" them. I would like to gain another credential and learn something new. I see the SENSS exam seems right up my alley but obviously the official books aren't out. I"ll probably end up taking a risk after going through the CBT Nuggets course.

Anyone (besides the one other thread I've seen on here) taken the CCNP SENSS exam yet on here and used solely the CBT Nuggets course?!

leugenel

I failed SENSS recently. Used CBT Nuggets and some Youtube videos. Will wait for official book before trying again. Sadly, CBT Nuggets videos was not enough for me. In mean time will start CISSP (my company really wants me to have it) and then go back to what I want (CCNP Security).

Highl1

Can you post some info about the exam? How many lab/cli questions and so on?

Keroseen

I took the SENSS exam, and honestly, despite having the official Cisco courseware, the exam I felt didn't accurately reflect what was presented in the training material. Some topics on the blueprint weren't tested on at all, while others were overly emphasized... I used it to recetify my CCNP, but in retrospect, this was probably the worst Cisco exam I've taken in terms of ascertaining product knowledge and skill. I'd skip this one unless you're specifically trying to obtain your CCNP-SEC.

f0rgiv3n

Well I'm scheduled to take it this Thursday! I'm mostly taking it to renew all my certs and put me one cert in the direction of CCNP-Sec. I'm not pursuing CCNP-Sec hardcore but i'd rather take a new exam than just take something i've already done. I'll post my experience when I'm done... Never taken an exam without any real hard study materials... so it'll be interesting to say the least. I'm going through CBT nuggets which is the only place i've found that has a course for it. Here goes nothing eh?

mitchflossin

Let me know how that goes for you, OP. I'm planning on taking the SENSS exam within the next 2-4 weeks, and like you, have only came across the CBT Nuggets (which are awesome I might add). I noticed there were a few topics on the syllabus that weren't covered in the nuggets, and that concerns me.

Anyway, good luck and let us know how it goes!

f0rgiv3n

Went through the CBT Nuggets course in detail, read and fully understood the best practices for hardening IOS devices document directly from Cisco and didn't pass. Was close but I was actually pretty disappointed with the exam, it did not seem to align with what I would have imagined a security certification would be.

I'm not sure what my next step is going to be just yet... I don't know if I"m going to give it another try or take a different one at this point. If you want more of my opinion feel free to PM me.

Also, all the topics on the blueprint I knew very well from my job as well as doing the CCNA Security and the CCNP exams. There goes $250... BAH!

jamthat

Sorry to hear that

I'll be taking CCNA Security soon and was planning on jumping straight into CCNP Security, but after noticing a lack of solid resources available for the exams and reading about some pretty bad experiences I think I'm going to bump CISSP to the front of my pile and reevaluate after that..

Vask3n

This is along the same boat that I was/am in.

I took SISAS twice before passing it, using only official documentation and some sub-par videos from ipExpert since the official Cisco material is not out yet. In the case of SISAS I think the blueprint/exam outline was pretty close to what the test was like. However, SITCS is a different story.

I tried doing the same with SITCS and even though I felt comfortable with the material I failed it and I will probably just suck it up and hand over another $250 to give it another shot. I didn't feel like the blueprint was as accurate as other CCNP exams like the earlier FIREWALL, VPN, and even SISAS which is from the new track.

f0rgiv3n

Dear friends,

I come back to you with news that I finally passed this exam just 30 minutes ago. Let me tell you something, I would not take it until the official material has been released. It took me three attempts to pass this exam mostly because of the oddness to the questions. After my first attempt, I thought I just hadn't studied hard enough. Note: I haven't failed an exam since my CCNA which was in 2007.

I went back and went through the CBT nuggets course, read through all the documentation that was applicable again. I then went for the second attempt and BARELY missed the mark. While I was frustrated, I knew I couldn't stop and do a different exam because I was already so close and I might as well just do it till I pass. I went back and passed it today

Again, my advice (unless you're willing to take the exam at least twice) is to avoid this exam until they release all of the material. Not because the exam is particularly hard but the topics on the exam do not align very well with what is currently available. I was a little disappointed in the exam to be honest, not what I would have wanted or expected for an exam with the title of Implementing Cisco Edge Network Security.

mitchflossin

Way to go man! That's disappointing about the lack of material and the exam not aligning up with the blueprint though.

Highl1

same is with SISAS, CBT doesn't cover like 30-40% of exam. I was lucky that I had a lot of experience before with ACS, so I only had to study ISE, but beware if you haven't worked with ACS

f0rgiv3n

Ugh, what a bummer dude. Glad to hear you lucked out though

Highl1

I didn't find the exam questions that hard, since I've worked both with ISE and ACS, but some of them were very stupid, like where is the option to do this and this in web interface of ACS? Why would anyone even try to rember that

Also, there were some ACL questions or just debug commands, which are, in my opinion not that related to ISE/ACS. And for the end, CBT only mentions ISE, there isn't a single lesson about ACS. Also, the course is around 6 hours, which is short in my opinion, but that's the only training we can get so far.