Scheduled to take ROUTE on Friday. Need Advice

marcj04

Hey guys,

So I am finally scheduled to take the CCNP:ROUTE exam this Friday. My plan was to start studying right after I passed my CCNA exam last June but that didn't pan out because I was swamped with school and work. Anyways here is what I have done to prepare for the exam:

- Read and thoroughly took notes on OCG Route
- Watched Jeremy's CBT Nuggets videos
- Currently watching Chris Bryant's CCNP videos for topics that wasn't really covered in the CBT nuggets and OCG Route videos
- LAB, LAB and MORE LABBING
- Took a bootcamp course

I'm still really nervous and I don't know if I'm 100% ready. I got a free voucher when I took the bootcamp course so I'm not too worried if I fail the first time but as much work I've put into studying for this exam, it would be pretty disappointing if I did fail. I was wondering what other materials should I be going through before I take the exam. I have the Boson practice exam simulators and there were a lot of little things that I was getting wrong so I went back and focused on those topics. I feel comfortable with a lot of the new CCNP material like PBR, IP SLA, Redistribution etc. The thing that gets me is a lot of the old stuff that was tested on the CCNA like certain netflow commands, interpreting certain Frame-Relay show commands etc..

Are the Boson practice exams a good indicator on the difficulty of the actual CCNP: Route exam? I find the simulations easy. Some of the multiple choice questions, on the other hand, are very difficult.

Also, did anyone find that the OCG book for the route exam to be insufficient for this exam? It seemed like it was lacking a lot of material and wasn't that great for this exam. I used it for my CCNA studies and I loved it.

koz24

What lab manuals are you using?

marcj04

I received a lab manual when I took the bootcamp. The company I did the training with was Global Knowledge so it was their lab manual. It goes pretty in depth in configuring and troubleshooting EIGRP, OSPF, EIGRP for IPv6, OSPFv3, BGP, Redistribution, PBR, IP SLA,Route Filtering and Routing Protocol Authentications. It didn't have any DMVPN labs but I did the ones based off Keith Barker's CBT Nuggets DMVPN lab.

koz24

Oh, you should pick up the $10 101 Labs for CCNP Kindle. Great workbook.

Did your company send you to Global Knowledge? I was looking at their SP courses and they were something like $3.5k per course!

marcj04

Ok great I will check it out. My biggest worry for the exams are the multiple choice. I think I will do well on the lab sims.

Yup they did. No way I'd spend that much on a bootcamp unless it was for a CCIE bootcamp of course.

koz24

BTW, I agree with you on the OCG. The Odom CCNA OCG was a lot better than the CCNP OCGs. What I would do is print out the blueprint and review each topic. Google and use the book to review the topics but also write down page #s under each topic for easy review. You will probably find that there are topics which are barely covered or not covered at all in the OCG, and I would really spend some time on those topics.

marcj04

Great idea! I have the topics and I've gone over them all twice but I never thought about writing down the page #'s. Theoretically, all the topics make sense to me and I have no issue in explaining what each topic is. Now what will kill me is know some commands lol. Thanks for the help!

Danielh22185

I took the old route exam in 2014. I also read the FLG and Simplified books for prep. I also used the 101 labs and the back of the Simplified book for lab prep. I failed even after that a couple times. My best word of advise is to go for the most direct simple answer. Sometimes I would waste too much time with either a SIM or even a multiple choice questions trying to break down how Cisco is trying to trick me instead of just answering based on what makes logical sense.

Good luck to you and let us know how you do!

atorven

Make sure that you're solid with the other topics outside of Layer 3 technologies, I can't stress this enough! As others have also said, watch out for those topics that aren't on the OCG/FLG.

Good luck with your exam!

marcj04

Hey all,

I figured I'd give you guys an update. Unfortunately, I failed by a lot. I got a 717. That exam was like the CCNA on steroids. The labs and sims were tough but I actually felt comfortable with those. I did well on Layer 3 and surprisingly VPNS. I completely bombed Network principles and Infrastructure Services. I'm not sure if I should try to schedule the exam asap or what. I honestly felt confident going into the exam then after seeing the first couple questions I realized how unprepared I was. I honestly thought I did way worse than 717 but I guess the sims saved me.

Thanks for the help guys. I won't give up and I'll just study even harder now. I still can't believe it was only about 10 months ago since passing my CCNA. I would have never imagined I'd be taking my CCNP this soon. I'll keep everyone updated!

koz24

Failed ROUTE on my first attempt as well. It's a pretty tough exam. Also thought the sims were easy but the theory is what they get you on. Good luck!

Nans

Huff..!! Not an easy decision to sleep with tonight though, but you got it and you got it..!! Study hard and bomb it again

Danielh22185

Bummer! Trust me when I say... I know the feeling. Re-focus those studies on the areas you missed. After any fail I try to make an effort to write down anything and everything I can remember from the test I know I didn't quite get right. Now that you have seen the test try to lab up on the SIMS to be more prepared with a plan when you see them again. Also make note of your weak areas you got from your test results and hammer out more review for those areas. Keep at it! You got this!

marcj04

I just wanted to give you guys an update.
Attempt #2 was today and I passed my only 10 points lol. I felt much more confident the second time around. I bought the FLG and the Exam practice pack because they had a buy 3 or more and get 55% off on Ciscos website.

I can't believe I can finally not stress so much over that exam. Now to take a week off and start studying for the Switch exam. I hear it's easier so I'm not as stressed about this one.

koz24

Congrats marc!