ROUTE 300-101 Passed!
Hi All,
Without going into too much detail, I just want to share some of my thoughts on having recently taken the new ROUTE exam.
The exam was at the same time both more difficult and easier than I had imagined.
The questions themselves could be somewhat tricky, but they weren't too deceptive providing you had a good grasp of the material. What threw me was the amount of material that was either nowhere to be found in the official study materials from Cisco Press (OCG, FLG, etc.), or only touched on in minimal detail. Several questions involved terminology and/or concepts that were almost completely new to me. After the exam was over, I went back into my books to make sure that I hadn't missed huge swaths of information, and sure enough, these topics got either very cursory mentions or were absent entirely. The OCG was especially sparse in this area. Fortunately, these questions didn't carry enough weight to prevent a passing grade, but they were definitely frustrating to muddle through. I obviously can't go into much detail here, but if you are using the Cisco Press stuff, make sure you know the material inside and out to allow yourself enough of a cushion just in case you get as lost as I was with some of these questions.
On the other hand, the labs/simlets weren't as brutal as I was expecting. They were certainly difficult enough to require a lot of practice and a strong grasp of the concepts ahead of time (if you're currently studying, lab redistribution until your brain melts, including the various methods involving how to spot and fix suboptimal routing). I actually had fun with them for the most part. I only got really stuck once, and the issue was a simple one that I was over-thinking. I believe I scored 100% on the labs based on the breakdown.
Anyway, to those who are preparing for this exam, lab, lab, lab and lab some more, pay extra attention to the "new" material that was added to the 300-101, and don't be afraid to go beyond the official materials when it comes to those topics.
