Failed SWITCH

daba

Failed SWITCH today. 740/790.

Overall it felt like a very fair exam. I know I missed a question or two.

I completely ruined one of my sim questions. One required function, which takes up less than 3 pages in the OCG was expected, I had no idea how to complete. I tried the context help, but couldn't get enough out of it to finish it. It's also something that I have never dealt with in production and I consider to be a little outside of the mainstream. The other function I banged out, but then realized I did it on the wrong switch and couldn't undo my config.

Time was not an issue at all, unlike my CCNA. I was surprised by the amount of config in the simlets, nothing like the quick one or two things in the CCNA or CCNA:Sec. Aside from the one sim I've complained about, I found the rest pretty straight forward. You do have to pay attention to the way they ask you to do something.

I'm going to take it again next week while everything is fresh in my head. I only had 1 question that I thought was completely BS asking about a minute detail of a protocol. Oh well, sour grapes and all...

siggnation

Tough break, but sounds like you have a good grasp on what needs to be done.

It's common of Cisco to throw in "got-ya" type questions that may or may not pertain to mainstream networking. I saw some of these on ROUTE.

We're rooting for ya to get it done!

Dollarhyde

Could you share which protocol/technology did they refer to for future people like me preparing for CCNP Switch, just to focus on it more.

10Linefigure

You will get it daba. I missed Switch twice, you will pass no problem.

Simrid

Look forward to taking mine in December :P Should be fun

daba

Thanks. I feel pretty confident and I knew it would be close. I just need to buckle down on timers and know how to do 802.1x and I should be set.

Lamplight

You got this! Are you using CBT or INE to supplement the OCG?

Mooseboost

You will have it next time for sure.

daba

I watched the INE videos. I find them a bit more polished than the CBT ones. Jeremy definitely is pumped when he does his videos but I feel like he goes off on too many tangents when presenting.

viper75

daba wrote: »

I watched the INE videos. I find them a bit more polished than the CBT ones. Jeremy definitely is pumped when he does his videos but I feel like he goes off on too many tangents when presenting.

I agree...Jeremy is great, but I think same. I'm starting to become a big INE fanboy. I've been using a lot of their material lately and I can say they are straight to the point! The load you with LOTS of info and configs. I will always use CBT Nuggets, but INE will be my go to source. They are awesome!

Danielh22185

daba wrote: »

I watched the INE videos. I find them a bit more polished than the CBT ones. Jeremy definitely is pumped when he does his videos but I feel like he goes off on too many tangents when presenting.

I kinda feel the same about the CBT NP series videos, this is also why I am combining IE level and the troubleshooting / hands on videos also within CBT.

Good luck on the next attempt, you'll get it!

Denvore

Hi

I'm still new to this site and catching up on a lot of great stuff that has already been posted. But came across this thread and felt the need to comment.

I feel your pain daba - I failed switch today (770/790) so, like you intend to try again soon while it's fresh in my head. I agree that the questions were fair (with a couple of tricky ones). In fact I could have sworn blind that I'd done mre than enough for a passing mark and was shocked more than disappointed when I found I'd failed.I even entertained thoughts that there may have been something wrong with the test software in the sims and starting to feel a little hard done by.

Reading your experience though has helped calm me down a bit and made me wonder if I have made a similar mistake and configured a wrong switch or something - so thanks for sharing. I did finish early (rare for me) so it is very possible I didn't read the question properly.

Can I ask if you were able to save your configs? I wasn't, but then I'm sure that being penalised for that is probably an urban myth anyway.

Good luck for next week.

shortstop20

There's no need to save your configs, not even sure if you can.

theodoxa

daba wrote: »

The other function I banged out, but then realized I did it on the wrong switch and couldn't undo my config.

I had a similar problem on my SWITCH exam. I mad a typo in one of the commands and it would not let me remove the incorrect command. I ended up passing, but the section that Sim was part of was my worst section score (50%). The rest were in the 80s and 90s. I know that cost me some serious points. If you take it again, there's a good chance you would pass given how much those sims seem to be worth and how close you were.

To expand on what you said about the differences with CCNA...CCNP exams expect you to configure stuff and many times will not tell you exactly what they want you to configure, just that it needs to do X and/or that you can only use protocols which meet certain requirements. This required you to know details about the protocols, not just how to bang out a certain configuration. CCNA by comparison was mostly (I took the 640 Series) gathering specific information using show commands.

daba

Write mem and copy run start didn't work for me.

I booked it for Wednesday morning. I'm feeling a lot more confident

Denvore wrote: »

Hi

I'm still new to this site and catching up on a lot of great stuff that has already been posted. But came across this thread and felt the need to comment.

I feel your pain daba - I failed switch today (770/790) so, like you intend to try again soon while it's fresh in my head. I agree that the questions were fair (with a couple of tricky ones). In fact I could have sworn blind that I'd done mre than enough for a passing mark and was shocked more than disappointed when I found I'd failed.I even entertained thoughts that there may have been something wrong with the test software in the sims and starting to feel a little hard done by.

Reading your experience though has helped calm me down a bit and made me wonder if I have made a similar mistake and configured a wrong switch or something - so thanks for sharing. I did finish early (rare for me) so it is very possible I didn't read the question properly.

Can I ask if you were able to save your configs? I wasn't, but then I'm sure that being penalised for that is probably an urban myth anyway.

Good luck for next week.

daba

And I failed again with a 780. The only area i didn't improve was the security section.

I'm pissed. I had the exact same to sims and thought I knocked them out of the park, so I'm taking it that I still got a number of simple questions wrong.

It's really crushing that I already know ROUTE is going to be significantly harder because I don't have much/any practical experience besides some ASA work.

Denvore

daba wrote: »

And I failed again with a 780. The only area i didn't improve was the security section.

I'm pissed. I had the exact same to sims and thought I knocked them out of the park, so I'm taking it that I still got a number of simple questions wrong.

It's really crushing that I already know ROUTE is going to be significantly harder because I don't have much/any practical experience besides some ASA work.

I am so sorry to hear this. I retook mine today and passed. Please understand that I don't tell you this to make you feel bad, but to try and encourage you as it seems like your experience was the same as mine. You obviously know your stuff and from your other post it would appear that we were both struggling with the same sim.

i had a few of the same questions and all the same sims as last time and answered them in pretty much the same way (some may say that is arrogant of me - but I just couldn't think of any better solutions) and for that reason I was sure I was going to fail. As it turned out this time I scored very well on the section I failed on last time. I therefore conclude that the sim in question is very heavily weighted. So take heart that you probably know the vast majority of the material and have lost marks for simple config error or typo (or maybe like me didn't read the question fully).

keep going - there's no better feeling than "getting your own back" on an exam. Plus, with the scores you are archiving without that sim, you are likely to pass with a glowing score when you do nail it.

very best of luck.

10Linefigure

daba, don't get down on yourself. If it's security you are struggling on then you may want to watch the CCNP Switch Hands-On Labs Exam Prep by Keith Barker. Especially videos 17 and 18. Make sure you take notes and lab along side him. Good luck!