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
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Hondabuff
Member Posts: 667 ■■■□□□□□□□
Congrats on the pass! I had to laugh when you mentioned one monitor on low resolution. I use Dual 21" monitors at work and Dual 24"s at home and was very annoyed when taking the Switch Exam and not having any room on the screen to clearly see what you need to input. Where did you get the topology from for Tshoot in GNS3? I haven't even peeked at it yet because I'm deep into route at the moment.“The problem with quotes on the Internet is that you can’t always be sure of their authenticity.” ~Abraham Lincoln -
iproute
Member Posts: 269
I built the lab from scratch (with several assumptions about configuration) using the published Cisco TSHOOT topology: https://learningnetwork.cisco.com/servlet/JiveServlet/previewBody/6741-102-1-23100/TSHOOT%20Exam%20Topology.pdf
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.CCNP Progress
ROUTE [X] :: SWITCH [X] :: TSHOOT [X]