Thoughts on TSHOOT 642-832
Greetings all.
I completed TSHOOT 642-832, 986/1000 (and CCNP R&S) today and thought I'd pass along my recommendations for anyone looking to complete this exam before it expires in January, 2015.
1. I started off by going through the various posts on TSHOOT in this forum for an idea how to tackle the exam. Note that I completed SWITCH in November of 2012 and ROUTE in March of 2014, so my knowledge on SWITCH concepts was very rusty (aside from what I do day to day in my job).
2. Based on recommendations in the posts, I setup the lab in GNS3 (routers and frame relay) with physical switches.
3. I spent about 3 weeks reviewing my ROUTE and SWITCH notes (casually), which I took in great detail during study for those exams. My notes were largely based on Chris Bryant's material.
4. I spent about a week (I was able to secure time off of work to wrap this exam up) building/rebuilding the TSHOOT topology while practicing the Boson ExSim-Max TSHOOT material.
Some thoughts on the lab & topology: This was very important for refreshing all of the key concepts as well as becoming familiar with the TSHOOT topology. Highly recommended.
Some thoughts on the ExSim-Max: I passed all 3 of the exams on the first try, so I wouldn't say it did so much to help with regard to having the knowledge to pass the exam, but it did help significantly with how to approach the exam. I practiced this using a single monitor/low resolution, just like what I knew I'd see on the exam. Being able to get used to the way the exam works was a large bonus.
Final thoughts: If you have significant routing and switching experience, you'll be going into this with a leg up. I can see how folks who don't have an opportunity to work with this stuff day in and day out might find this exam to be challenging.
I completed TSHOOT 642-832, 986/1000 (and CCNP R&S) today and thought I'd pass along my recommendations for anyone looking to complete this exam before it expires in January, 2015.
1. I started off by going through the various posts on TSHOOT in this forum for an idea how to tackle the exam. Note that I completed SWITCH in November of 2012 and ROUTE in March of 2014, so my knowledge on SWITCH concepts was very rusty (aside from what I do day to day in my job).
2. Based on recommendations in the posts, I setup the lab in GNS3 (routers and frame relay) with physical switches.
3. I spent about 3 weeks reviewing my ROUTE and SWITCH notes (casually), which I took in great detail during study for those exams. My notes were largely based on Chris Bryant's material.
4. I spent about a week (I was able to secure time off of work to wrap this exam up) building/rebuilding the TSHOOT topology while practicing the Boson ExSim-Max TSHOOT material.
Some thoughts on the lab & topology: This was very important for refreshing all of the key concepts as well as becoming familiar with the TSHOOT topology. Highly recommended.
Some thoughts on the ExSim-Max: I passed all 3 of the exams on the first try, so I wouldn't say it did so much to help with regard to having the knowledge to pass the exam, but it did help significantly with how to approach the exam. I practiced this using a single monitor/low resolution, just like what I knew I'd see on the exam. Being able to get used to the way the exam works was a large bonus.
Final thoughts: If you have significant routing and switching experience, you'll be going into this with a leg up. I can see how folks who don't have an opportunity to work with this stuff day in and day out might find this exam to be challenging.
CCNP Progress
ROUTE [X] :: SWITCH [X] :: TSHOOT [X]
ROUTE [X] :: SWITCH [X] :: TSHOOT [X]
Comments
GNS3Vault may have something like what you're talking about, but I'm not sure.
Another important thing that everyone mentions is the Kevin Wallace TSHOOT videos on YouTube. I watched these and they were helpful.
ROUTE [X] :: SWITCH [X] :: TSHOOT [X]