BSCI (642-901) or BCMSN (642-812) ???

For those of you who have taken these 2 exams...if you had to take one and pass in a limited amount of time, which would you take?

I haven't taken these in almost 3 years and I can't remember which was simpler/less material.
Have scheduled the CCIE written, so fresh on the material, but not ready yet and the stress is killing me (how much material can you cram into a single exam, seriously)...so want to renew CCNP before it expires. opinion is appreciated from all, especially professional crammers.

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Comments

GT-Rob

Well, obviously which ever you have more experience (routing or switching) would be something to lean towards.

If both are even, I guess BCMSN may have a little of a less span of different topics. I would look over the objectives for both exams and see which you would be more comfortable writing NOW, and go on to study that one.

Stotic

The BSCI (in my opinion) is the hardest CCNP test. There's just so much to know! From what I can gather so far by studying the BCMSN, the material is fairly easy in comparison.

mikej412

GT-Rob wrote:

Well, obviously which ever you have more experience (routing or switching) would be something to lean towards.

I was routing long before switches even existed -- so I thought BSCI was easier. But agree, go for the one you know the best.

BSCI has the hardware advantage over BCMSN if you think you're going to need some hands on practice for the exam. You can use the Dynamips (and Dynagen) emulator (and a real IOS file) to practice for BSCI, but you still need real hardware for BCMSN (or a crappy OVERPRICED simulator with lots of bugs).

networker050184

I would agree that you should go for what ever one you are more comfortable with.

If I had to cram for one in a short ammount of time it wouldn't be the BCMSN though. I thought the BCMSN had A LOT more to learn than the BSCI. The wireless and security topics added a lot to the exam besides "switching." The BSCI was pretty straight forward in my opinion with the only real "extra" besides routing being IPv6. In my opinion the BSCI was a lot easier, but it all depends on your experience and how familliar you are with the topics prior to starting your study. Good luck with your recert and written!

Sanis4life

Hmm, BSCI with EIGRP, OSPF, IS-IS, BGP, and Mulicast? Or BCMSN with STP, VTP, Switching, VLANs, and Wireless? I come from a switching enviornment so for me BCMSN is way easier. I have headaches just thinking of all the stuff i still need to learn for BSCI.

tmlerdal

I had a friend that was in a crunch to renew his CCNP as well. He failed the BSCI, but turned around and took the composite a couple of days later and passed. Oh, and he was down to his last week to take an exam to pass.....

I have to agree with the posts, I failed the BSCI the first couple of times I took it, then was getting down to when the old courses were being retired, and switched gears, crammed the BCMSN and took the composite. Of course, I have a stronger switching background than routing, so I thought BSCI was the hardest test I've taken.

bmauro

Call me crazy - but I couldn't decide on which one to do first - both looked equally awesome :P

I did pick the BSCI so I could get some BGP background for work, but believe me, I'm looking forward to switching next.

Now my wallet isn't looking forward to the L3 switches

networker050184

Hmm, BSCI with EIGRP, OSPF, IS-IS, BGP, and Mulicast? Or BCMSN with STP, VTP, Switching, VLANs, and Wireless?

The topics for BCMSN look simple enough, but trust me its not an easy exam. You have STP (CST, MIST, PVRSTP, UDLD, PAgP, LACP), CEF, Redundancey (HSRP, VRRP, GLBP), wireless (unelss you are familliar with wireless a lot of new stuff to learn), security (there is a lot to this section!!), voice support.

But like said before, depends on wich one you are more familliar with.

Cucumber

For me the BSCI was easier. The BGP and IS-IS parts are just plain easy. I think they removed all the BGP hard stuff in this new exam. The only thing to watch for is the Multicast part.

The BCMSN was harder for me because of the Wireless stuff, I thought I was doing the Wireless specialization exam instead of the switching one.

GT-Rob

Cucumber wrote:

For me the BSCI was easier. The BGP and IS-IS parts are just plain easy. I think they removed all the BGP hard stuff in this new exam. The only thing to watch for is the Multicast part.

If you say so. I got 100% on every section, except BGP :P I just couldn't focus when it came to BGP, it did not interest me as much as the other topics.

ITdude

If you think the wireless was "fun" on the BCMSN wait till you visit ONT!