SWITCH 300-115 - First Attempt Failure

mj30250

776/790 - UGH.

People aren't kidding when they say the wording on some of these questions is just brutal. Route was pretty difficult, but I don't recall it being this ridiculous in terms of question content/trickiness. I *think* I managed to do pretty well on the sims, but of course it doesn't let you know. I definitely messed up on a ton of multiple choice questions which killed it for me. This isn't my first exam failure ever, but it's certainly the most frustrating. I really thought I was pretty well prepared.Having to shell out another $300 sure doesn't help one's mood, either.

HappyBearIT

Not bad for a first attempt. Write down as many of the questions as you remember that confused you and find the answers in the switch config guide. Then go retake the test in 1-2 weeks. Any longer, and you'll start forgetting other areas of what you studied.

matt333

very good score for your first attempt. I took switch two times before passing.. just have to keep going. Good luck

mj30250

Yes, I plan to retake it as soon as I am able.

The more I think on it, the more confident I am that I aced the sims. I "only" had two, but one of them covered a sizable array of topics and it probably took a good 25 minutes or more to finish up. I will definitely brush up on the topics that threw me in the multiple choice portions, but I thought I was pretty solid on them before. They really split hairs on this one, and some of the wording was borderline broken English. I would have expected a more polished experience, but I felt like I was taking a beta exam at times.

mj30250

Well, I studied my ass off, retook the test today and...did even worse than the first time. Unreal. I LOATHE this test. I've never failed a Cisco exam more than once. Another $300 down the toilet.

scaredoftests

I am sorry. I hate Cisco exams. Very vague and you can't go back to questions like other exams.

mj30250

Yes, the wording is terrible with spelling and grammar mistakes throughout which makes it even more fun. For $300 a hit I'd expect a higher level of QC. Also, the fact that I read the OCG and FLG cover to cover (more than once) and found questions that were not in any way covered in either book is rather nonsense.

mj30250

I took this nightmare of a test again today, and....PASSED - with an 832. Finally. I still hate it. At this point there shouldn't still be questions related to subjects that fall outside of every book I've read, and I've read several, but yet there they were. Anyway, off to brush up on ROUTE and then schedule TSHOOT.

clarson

congrats on the pass

I'm studying for the switch exam also. What studying materials did you find the most helpful?

mj30250

I used a mix of materials, including the OCG, FLG, Chris Bryant's book/videos and the CCNP Switch Simplified book (this one is very detailed, but not fully updated for the current exam). Each were very helpful in their own way.

Without going into NDA-breaking territory, here are some areas to focus on that aren't really covered in the official books with enough detail to ace the exam:

LLDP and its associated TLVs
Version differences between HSRP 1/2 and VRRP 1/2/3 - there's a decent amount to memorize here, but you'll be glad you did
Stackwise and VSS (details on how each functions, not so much how to configure)
DHCP Snooping and associated functions (Source Guard, DAI, etc) as well as SPAN - know these inside out as the questions on these I found to be very deceptive / oddly worded
LACP

clarson

Thanks for the info