CCNP ROUTE ...last runners?

ninjaturtle

So I'm still in the fight to get the CCNP ROUTE before Jan 29th, along with TSHOOT. But I'll focus just on ROUTE right now. I was suppose to take the exam on the 31st of December, but I had to reschedule. Anybody else still fighting for it? I keep wanting to let it go, but I just can't. I get that sense to just stay let it go, and study in 2015 for it. I just can't accept that, I have to sit for it at least once before letting it go. Lot's of material to cover, but I'm still digging for it!

late_collision

Checking in.

I sat and passed ROUTE last Saturday. I honestly didn't expect to pass, it was more of a hail mary to get some seat time and determine my weak areas, but it worked out. Since I passed SWITCH last May, the pressure is on to wrap up TSHOOT in the next couple of weeks.

Keep at it, there is still time.

xnx

Me, been studying on and off for 6 months. I'll most likely pass but to be honest CCNP route is like a university class if you don't actively work on a network border

ninjaturtle

late_collision wrote: »

Checking in.

I sat and passed ROUTE last Saturday. I honestly didn't expect to pass, it was more of a hail mary to get some seat time and determine my weak areas, but it worked out. Since I passed SWITCH last May, the pressure is on to wrap up TSHOOT in the next couple of weeks.

Keep at it, there is still time.

Congrats on the pass late_collision! It's funny how that works out sometime, it's almost like you removed the pressure off yourself by just going in and trying to determine your weak points. Here's to the hail marry!!

Will do!!

theodoxa

I scheduled TSHOOT for Jan. 17. I finished my ROUTE studies and feel good on everything except Route Maps/Policy Routing (I understand how they work, but need to do some labbing), and EIGRP Queries/Responses/SIA (this material was at the very beginning of my ROUTE studies). I plan to focusing completely on passing TSHOOT for now, which will also be a good review for ROUTE, which I plan to get done by the deadline. I studied SWITCH before ROUTE, so I'll have to do a little review of some of the more advanced topics (MST, etc...)

xnx

Do you guys work on routers day to day? I work mostly on switches and Server 2012

xnx

theodoxa wrote: »

I scheduled TSHOOT for Jan. 17. I finished my ROUTE studies and feel good on everything except Route Maps/Policy Routing (I understand how they work, but need to do some labbing), and EIGRP Queries/Responses/SIA (this material was at the very beginning of my ROUTE studies). I plan to focusing completely on passing TSHOOT for now, which will also be a good review for ROUTE, which I plan to get done by the deadline. I studied SWITCH before ROUTE, so I'll have to do a little review of some of the more advanced topics (MST, etc...)

Are you doing T-Shoot first??

ninjaturtle

xnx wrote: »

Do you guys work on routers day to day? I work mostly on switches and Server 2012

I touch everything in our data center, so it's kind of a double edge sword as I'm spread all over. But for the most part, I get my router and switch time in the lab. Both home lab and work lab. I think the vast material that's needed to be covered, you'll need the lab. Unless you're working on a fresh network, you won't get that hands on you want, respectively.

ninjaturtle

xnx wrote: »

Are you doing T-Shoot first??

I was going to ask the same thing. That's a first. It's typically the last exam you take in the series.

late_collision

ninjaturtle wrote: »

I touch everything in our data center, so it's kind of a double edge sword as I'm spread all over. But for the most part, I get my router and switch time in the lab. Both home lab and work lab. I think the vast material that's needed to be covered, you'll need the lab. Unless you're working on a fresh network, you won't get that hands on you want, respectively.

Ditto, my situation and thoughts exactly.

theodoxa

ninjaturtle wrote: »

I was going to ask the same thing. That's a first. It's typically the last exam you take in the series.

Probably. I've studied for ROUTEv1 and SWITCHv1/v2, so its not like I don't know the material. If the date is available, I'll probably schedule ROUTE for Jan. 19 since that's a holiday and I don't want to have to either take time off work or take an exam at 8 AM.

Jan. 17 (Scheduled) -- TSHOOTv1
Jan. 19 (Scheduled) -- ROUTEv1
End of January -- SWITCHv2

[UPDATE]

I Just Scheduled ROUTEv1 (642-902) for January 19.

ninjaturtle

January 12th for ROUTE
January 19th for TSHOOT

Levithan

Im also working on ROUTE, been studying fairly steadily since july. Ive been reading TCP/IP Volume 1 2nd edition and taking alot of notes in the process, with the idea that i can head for the ccie later if so desired. since the deadline is fastly approaching, im also in a bit of a rush. Id love to bang out route and tshoot within a week, but not sure if i can manage it. I work with cisco routers and switches on a daily basis, mainly doing dmvpn and other stuff.... Wish everyone luck!

ninjaturtle

Levithan wrote: »

Im also working on ROUTE, been studying fairly steadily since july. Ive been reading TCP/IP Volume 1 2nd edition and taking alot of notes in the process, with the idea that i can head for the ccie later if so desired. since the deadline is fastly approaching, im also in a bit of a rush. Id love to bang out route and tshoot within a week, but not sure if i can manage it. I work with cisco routers and switches on a daily basis, mainly doing dmvpn and other stuff.... Wish everyone luck!

How do you like the TCP/IP Volume 1 book? Compared to the CCNP books? I've heard Brian McGahan mention that book many times, and that candidates should read it.

If you can swallow the $250 cost of the exam, I'd say go for it. For me, I will always wonder later on "what if?" No turning back now! I'm about to crack open another can of NOS energy drink and go at it!

bharvey92

Good luck man! Keep at it. Route is a beast, but I'm sure if you covered all the basis and work day to day with the gear you will be ready! Once you sort TShoot is seriously quite a breeze (you'll maybe 2/3 days to get used to the topology and to cover the Switch stuff again).

Good luck!

aaron0011

I finally sat for the ROUTE exam yesterday and passed it. Had time over the holidays to read the FLG for a second time and lab a few OSPF topics I was weak on. I'm going to try to squeeze TSHOOT in by the end of the month depending how demanding work is over the next few weeks. If I can't do it and have to take the new version I'm not really too concerned with the additions.

I worked a large scale project combining two decent sized EIGRP/BGP networks in the latter half of the year. After doing many of these topics in the real world every really clicked for me. IPv6 was by far my weakest area but it was expected as I didn't put a lot of time into studying that topic.

I think ROUTE is a harder exam than SWITCH, but YMMV. Good luck to everyone with their attempts over the next few weeks.

RouteMyPacket

What is all this "study for TSHOOT"? If you passed ROUTE and SWITCH legitimately then just take TSHOOT right away, it's pathetically easy, you have to do no configuration at all. It's an embarrassing exam and Cisco should have made it so that you find the root cause and configure it correctly IMO, that would be more accurate for skill assessment.

Again, if you have taken the other two exams what is there to study for, do you need to learn what ping, traceroute is?

theodoxa

RouteMyPacket wrote: »

What is all this "study for TSHOOT"? If you passed ROUTE and SWITCH legitimately then just take TSHOOT right away, it's pathetically easy, you have to do no configuration at all. It's an embarrassing exam and Cisco should have made it so that you find the root cause and configure it correctly IMO, that would be more accurate for skill assessment.

Again, if you have taken the other two exams what is there to study for, do you need to learn what ping, traceroute is?

From what I've seen so far, the TSHOOT materials I'm using are basically a review of ROUTE and SWITCH, with some coverage of "Troubleshooting Methods" which I'm already familiar with. Nothing really new.

bharvey92

Spot on, I used a couple of weeks to recap the Routing topics (BGP, EIGRP, OSPF) as it had been a while.

Fitzi

I too finally got off my butt and sat the ROUTE exam at the beginning of December and then the TSHOOT exam a week later and got them both. No review/study for TSHOOT, didn't score that well but still passed, my time management was mainly to blame for that I guess and a long day at work, nothing like a deadline for motivation.

sucanushie

Hope to sit for SWITCH on the 12th and then asses where I'm at and schedule TSHOOT.

Finished reading the OCG and now halfway done the lab manual. Feel pretty good about most stuff. Few things to key in on but I have all weekend to get that stuff worked out.

late_collision

RouteMyPacket wrote: »

What is all this "study for TSHOOT"?

I'm beginning to side with you.

I always err on the side of caution, so I've cruised through the first 10 chapters in the TSHOOT book so far. I paid for it, might as well read it, right? There have been a couple of nuggets throughout the book, but at this point, it feels largely like a waste of time. There are a couple of later chapters in the book that seem interesting, but it looks more to satisfy a curiosity rather than prepare for the exam.

I guess I'll let you know how it goes in about 2 days.

RouteMyPacket

late_collision wrote: »

I'm beginning to side with you.

I always err on the side of caution, so I've cruised through the first 10 chapters in the TSHOOT book so far. I paid for it, might as well read it, right? There have been a couple of nuggets throughout the book, but at this point, it feels largely like a waste of time. There are a couple of later chapters in the book that seem interesting, but it looks more to satisfy a curiosity rather than prepare for the exam.

I guess I'll let you know how it goes in about 2 days.

Follow the packet.....

This client is unable to reach Server A.....ok we "FOLLOW THE PACKET"...ping...traceroute....once we find the device having the issue we then use our routing and switching knowledge to isolate the fault then provide a resolution.

Not to mention you can basically **** (not really but you know what I mean) the exam by abandoning the ticket, going to the next one, verify the config then abandon and go back to the original ticket. I did that only once on some suspected IPv6 OSPFv3 issue (I hate IPv6.ugh!) and it confirmed my suspicion and I was able to answer correctly.

dracula

NinjaTurtle - I failed ROUTE today with a score of 745 (argh, the sims) but similarly to yourself am also determined to get it. Been studying on and off for about a year using the OCG so figured I might as well book the exam allowing myself time for a second shot. Now I know I need to put the theory to one side and focus on labbing. Good luck!

dave151

I agree. It feels wrong to not fix the problems in each ticket.

ninjaturtle

dracula wrote: »

NinjaTurtle - I failed ROUTE today with a score of 745 (argh, the sims) but similarly to yourself am also determined to get it. Been studying on and off for about a year using the OCG so figured I might as well book the exam allowing myself time for a second shot. Now I know I need to put the theory to one side and focus on labbing. Good luck!

Don't even think twice about it, let it go and take it as a learning experience. Review your weak points, lab up a bit more and take another stab it it. Don't let ROUTE win!

I'm labbing up myself right now, with intermittent breaks and running through practice questions. Followed up by a little reading review on topics I feel weak on. #NoSleepForMeTonight #NOSenergydrink

Let's do this!!!!

ninjaturtle

I failed ROUTE yesterday. I came up short by a few points. That exam is a beast. I knew I was pushing it with the time frame, but I just had to try sitting the exam. I rescheduled it for next Monday and will try one more time. I just have to do a massive review of everything, then focus on my weak points. I will get this dang cert, even if it kills me trying!!

Study on my friends...

bharvey92

Sorry to hear, chin up and keep going man! You're nail it next time!

ninjaturtle

Being that I don't even know what sleep is anymore, I've made yet another cup of coffee and running through my final review. I'm taking another stab at ROUTE tomorrow.

#fROUTEup

theodoxa

RouteMyPacket wrote: »

Follow the packet.....

That is how I passed TSHOOT.

ping 10.2.1.254
ping 10.1.4.5
ping 10.1.1.9
ping 10.1.1.5
ping 10.1.1.1
ping 209.65.200.226
ping 209.65.200.241

Wherever the PING failed, I started my troubleshooting there. I built the topology about half a dozen times, so I knew the physical IPv4 addressing (had to check the topology for IPv6) and what routing protocols were used where like the back of my hand.

bharvey92

theodoxa wrote: »

That is how I passed TSHOOT.

ping 10.2.1.254
ping 10.1.4.5
ping 10.1.1.9
ping 10.1.1.5
ping 10.1.1.1
ping 209.65.200.226
ping 209.65.200.241

Wherever the PING failed, I started my troubleshooting there. I built the topology about half a dozen times, so I knew the physical IPv4 addressing (had to check the topology for IPv6) and what routing protocols were used where like the back of my hand.

I did the same as you man "Follow the packet!"