Failed CCNP Route

JD20

Failed CCNP Route 300-101. I'm pretty frustrated and discouraged. The cert wasn't what I was expecting. The materials I used to study were:

Cisco OCG Route 300-101
Chris Bryant's CCNP Route Study Guide
Chris Bryant's CCNP Route Video Boot Camp
CBT Nuggets CCNP Route 300-101 Series
Boson Practice Tests
GNS3

I studied for 3 months before taking the certfication. I would study every weeknight for about 2 hours and about 3-4 hours on the weekends. I read OCG and Chris Bryan'ts book slowly and took detailed notes. Anytime I would come up on labs in the book, I would stop and lab them myself in GNS3. I made sure that I would go through all the "show" commands when I finished labbing a topic.


A little background on myself, I have an A.A.S. degree in Computer Networking Technologies and I currently posses my CCNA. I was able to pass the ICND2 back in December and didn't want to take to much time in between. I'm currently a Tier 1 NOC technician at a telco. I'm not a provisioner so I don't get to actually configure our equipment, but I do get a lot of exposure to complex configs which I study all the time. For example, PE and agg routers. I want to achieve my CCNP so I can move up in the company.

I guess my plan now is to take a week or two off to clear my head. I'll then find some new study material and try to hit the areas I was weak on. If anybody has any good suggestions on study tips, books/videos, or practice tests please let me know.

Edit: I forgot to mention my job paid for this cert. They will pay for any passing attempt from here on out.

DCD

Sorry to here that you failed the exam. How do you think you did on the Sim labs and what was your score?

Welly_59

what topics did you have which you didnt think were covered in enough detail in the official study guides?

joshuamurphy75

Sorry to hear that, the same thing happened to me. It's a crazy hard test, but I keep seeing people on here who have passed it. The only approach I know of is to over-prepare. Don't rely on the official cert guides. Read the list of topics from Cisco's website, and get a good book or two on each. I'll be posting on the forum if that approach works for me.

negru_tudor

I know that feeling all too well unfortunately but we all have to go through it at least once .. Blow some steam and then back at it, don't let 1 failure get in the way of doing what you like (and getting the cert for it ). Try adding something different to your study material.. Give INE a try..Keith Bogarth's stuff is 100% gold.. he's one of the reasons I passed SWITCH on the 1st try.

JD20

joshuamurphy75 wrote: »

Sorry to hear that, the same thing happened to me. It's a crazy hard test, but I keep seeing people on here who have passed it. The only approach I know of is to over-prepare. Don't rely on the official cert guides. Read the list of topics from Cisco's website, and get a good book or two on each. I'll be posting on the forum if that approach works for me.

Yeah, that's what gives me hope. That I see people on here passing it so I'm going to keep trying. I admit the OCG wasn't as thorough as I expected it to be. I thought that by supplementing it with Chris Bryant I would be able to pass it. I'm going to pick up the FLG and use that as a new source of material. I'll also keep looking for other good reading material as well. Let me know how you do!

JD20

negru_tudor wrote: »

I know that feeling all too well unfortunately but we all have to go through it at least once .. Blow some steam and then back at it, don't let 1 failure get in the way of doing what you like (and getting the cert for it ). Try adding something different to your study material.. Give INE a try..Keith Bogarth's stuff is 100% gold.. he's one of the reasons I passed SWITCH on the 1st try.

Thanks for the words of encouragement. Yeah, I'm going to take some time off and not think about Cisco. In a week or two, I will get back into full study mode and try once again. I will definitely look into INE. I've heard good stuff about them as well.

esr0159

never really liked the OCG for route try looking at the FLG version and also check "How to master CCNP Route" by rene molenaar.

JD20

esr0159 wrote: »

never really liked the OCG for route try looking at the FLG version and also check "How to master CCNP Route" by rene molenaar.

Ok, thanks for the advice. I will definitely check those out.

huntert

https://www.udemy.com/cisco-ccnp-route-300-101-the-complete-course/