CCNP Switch exam environment / simulator is a disgrace

Just come out of Switch earlier with a mark of 81X out of 1000.

I think the exam missed off one sim, I am pretty sure about that since you're meant to get 5. I'm pretty angry about this as I could have failed if I didn't get 100% in 2 of the 3 sections

My first question was a sim and I completed most of it but couldn't get a LAG (LACP) trunk to come up! I've done this plenty of times in a lab and in production but couldn't do it as one side didn't accept a command the other side did.

I remember having sim problems on my route exam too, but I did a work around for that which I couldn't do here???

In real life you can use a terminal interface / screen you like and commands work as expected. Now I am fearing TSHOOT and putting it on hold until I am 100% sure i'll pass.

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theodoxa

I had a sim on SWITCH (different topic), where I made a typo and it wouldn't let me "no" the incorrect command. I was able to reenter the correct command and when I ran "show run" it showed both commands. I still passed, but given I did poorly on the section that sim was part of, I suspect I would have passed a little more comfortably if not for the sim.

Danielh22185

I can't stand Cisco Sims.... I really wish they would have more flexibility and not intentionally make them hard to use.

ninjaturtle

If you passed ROUTE and SWITCH, you could book TSHOOT tomorrow and you'd pass. TSHOOT is nothing what it sounds like, it really is cake. It's actually a fun exam, and you'll find yourself asking ..."seriously?" through out the exam. Book it and get your CCNP mate!!

Cheers,

Danielh22185

ninjaturtle wrote: »

If you passed ROUTE and SWITCH, you could book TSHOOT tomorrow and you'd pass. TSHOOT is nothing what it sounds like, it really is cake. It's actually a fun exam, and you'll find yourself asking ..."seriously?" through out the exam. Book it and get your CCNP mate!!

Cheers,

I wonder if the new version of TSHOOT is as silly simple...

xnx

That's what my worry is too, IPv6 addresses have only started to become naturally readable to me recently.

I think I made a mistake in doing route first as I barely get any real world routing experience so have forgot a lot.

I will study Route again for a month just incase they're any IPv6 redistribution tickets on the new T-Shoot

kohr-ah

ninjaturtle wrote: »

If you passed ROUTE and SWITCH, you could book TSHOOT tomorrow and you'd pass. TSHOOT is nothing what it sounds like, it really is cake. It's actually a fun exam, and you'll find yourself asking ..."seriously?" through out the exam. Book it and get your CCNP mate!!

Cheers,

TSHOOT was the most fun exam of them all. AND TSHOOT is the only questions in cisco where if you click cancel at the last moment you can come back to them later.

smcclenaghan

I also found the sims to be dissimilar to production and the labbing I've done and generally buggy. It was very frustrating but I'll be more prepared next time for the BS which is Cisco sim.

bharvey92

TShoot is a piece of cake, book it for a few days time..do some routing labs (to refresh) and sit the exam. Go get it my fellow Gooner

theodoxa

The old TSHOOT was super easy if you passed ROUTE and SWITCH legitimately. I had used the TSHOOT topology throughout my studies, so I knew it well and passed with a near perfect score. I think I missed one or two of the MC questions at the beginning. There were a very small number of MC questions right at the beginning before the trouble tickets.

whizzer

I took the switch exam today and passed with an 874. I also could not get the trunk to form in the sim and I know everything was correct. I wasted a bunch of time scratching my head and triple checking everything. All the interfaces came up, even po 1.

koz24

theodoxa wrote: »

The old TSHOOT was super easy if you passed ROUTE and SWITCH legitimately. I had used the TSHOOT topology throughout my studies, so I knew it well and passed with a near perfect score. I think I missed one or two of the MC questions at the beginning. There were a very small number of MC questions right at the beginning before the trouble tickets.

What is the TSHOOT topology that you're referring to? Is it the one from the TSHOOT Lab Manual? CCNP TSHOOT Lab Manual, 2nd Edition

shortstop20

koz24 wrote: »

What is the TSHOOT topology that you're referring to? Is it the one from the TSHOOT Lab Manual? CCNP TSHOOT Lab Manual, 2nd Edition

https://learningnetwork.cisco.com/servlet/JiveServlet/previewBody/6741-102-1-23100/TSHOOT%20Exam%20Topology.pdf

theodoxa

This one ^^^^^. On the previous (2010-2015) TSHOOT, Cisco published the the topology from the actual exam.

d4nz1g

I telnet'd from a switch to another on my ICND2 exam. just don't do it. ever.

smcclenaghan

I can't agree with the subject of this thread more.

My advice to anyone on any Cisco sim: use show commands. Always. Just because you think you configured it, doesn't mean it was actually configured,j or configured correctly.

I won't go into an extended rant here, but avoid interface range commands, use show commands often, don't configure something unless you're positive it can be configured (because the "no" command is often not supported to unconfigure it)...

These sims are awful and worthy of better business bureau complaints.

No, I'm not kidding. I have a Cisco case open now and if it doesn't result in a voucher for a future exam, I'll open a BBB case to record my experience if nothing else.

xnx

PLEASE take this further... I would have probably scored 900+ but either I missed a sim or 1 didn't come up and it still annoys me today.

Such an expensive exam and they can't be bothered fixing the bugs!

Fitzi

smcclenaghan wrote: »

I can't agree with the subject of this thread more.

My advice to anyone on any Cisco sim: use show commands. Always. Just because you think you configured it, doesn't mean it was actually configured,j or configured correctly.

I won't go into an extended rant here, but avoid interface range commands, use show commands often, don't configure something unless you're positive it can be configured (because the "no" command is often not supported to unconfigure it)...

These sims are awful and worthy of better business bureau complaints.

No, I'm not kidding. I have a Cisco case open now and if it doesn't result in a voucher for a future exam, I'll open a BBB case to record my experience if nothing else.

interesting that I never thought about this, but I do recall the no command not working a few times on a couple of sims. This could also explain a couple of very near misses on some of the exams I have taken as I do like to use the interface range command and it's usually pretty rare for me to go back and check the running config if I was to get the outcome I was expecting.

i wonder though, since part of the exam objectives is verification, perhaps checking the config with show commands is part of this and hence points added or subtracted based on the use of these commands? It could explain why, when I passed an exam I previously failed, no matter how much more study, time or labbing I put in the pass mark was always just a little more than the failed attempt (which was usually right around the passing score), which would make sense as I mostly didn't change my approach to the sims.

smcclenaghan

xnx wrote: »

PLEASE take this further... I would have probably scored 900+ but either I missed a sim or 1 didn't come up and it still annoys me today.

Such an expensive exam and they can't be bothered fixing the bugs!

I did. Cisco case was opened and subsequently closed. They said they reviewed the exam content but they clearly didn't (this is an easily reproducible bug).

BBB case 433296 was subsequently opened against Cisco, just to document the experience. I don't expect anything to come of that.

azaghul

Seeing the Cisco simlets have such a bad rep and its been a while since I did any, is there anywhere legitimate to get practice in the simlet environment before sitting the exam?

Sorry to raise an older thread, but at least this one is in the same year!

Trifidw

I thought the simulator was OK when I took switch yesterday (to renew my CCNP). One of the labs was fairly long winded with a few different things needing to be setup and it worked perfectly.

Would anyone be interested in my study notes?

White Wizard

Trifidw wrote: »

I thought the simulator was OK when I took switch yesterday (to renew my CCNP). One of the labs was fairly long winded with a few different things needing to be setup and it worked perfectly.

Would anyone be interested in my study notes?

Absolutely.

Trifidw

I did keep my post generic about switching (well that is in the name!) but kind of misses the point I was making now it's been edited.

Notes posted here: http://www.techexams.net/forums/ccnp/114678-300-115-study-notes.html#post977176 hopefully the community will improve on them for those who are doing the CCNP the first time round.

teuchter

I would agree, i sat the exam and felt like i was good on the studying however some of the questions/simulators were outwith the scope of the syllabus.

Any tips on my resit? 11th of December.