Attempted the BSCI exam this morning......

miller811

And failed miserably.

After approx 4 months of what I considered intense preparation. (3-4 hours every day)
I used the BSCI official Exam Certification Guide from Cisco press
The train signal videos that I watched at least three times,
Cisco site
techexams site,
google etc....
Test bank from train signal,
test bank from Cisco press material

I was blown out of the water on the exam.
After having gone through this, I did not feel the material I used prepared me for the material (or level of questions on the exam). Not sure where to go from here, I do not do networking on the job on a daily basis, but felt with enough effort and study material, I should have done better.

Looking for some advice on how to get back on track for the BSCI.
Any thoughts?

kryolla

Try the study guide it is more in depth than the exam cert guide and routing tcp/ip vol 1 & 2 doyle. Also what subject did you do bad on. CBT are only good for intro to the exam topics are you using any lab books by cisco academy. Do you have a good foundation on how a packet is routed and how it is put in the routing table and how the router does look up in the routing table to pick the best route i.e longest matching prefix and than what interface to send out on which might take a second look up or recursive lookup. Do you know what a router has to do if you put a static route with a next hop IP address or what happens when it is an exit interface instead.

mikej412

The Cisco Press Exam Certification Guide may be fine if you work for a Business Partner and are exposed to all the material on a daily basis and just need a review for the exam.

Everyone else probably wants to start with the Cisco Press Self Study book. Check the CCNP FAQ for the link to the Cisco Press CCNP web page with the suggested books.

Adding CBTs like CBT Nuggets and TrainSignal is fine if you're a "video person" and reading Doyle is great, especially if you plan to go past the CCNP someday -- but they don't replace the long hours on real hardware (or Dynamips/Dynagen) practicing hands-on what you've learned. And the key is to understand the material, not memorize some trivia and a few configurations.

APA

Self_Study guide!!!!

I'm using that at the moment and always use the exam cert guide in my revision process..... Haven't started doyle yet... but would like to get through it before I attempt the BSCI.

Apart from that... head down bum up mate!!! You'll breeze through it next time... now you know what to expect.

miller811

kryolla wrote:

Try the study guide it is more in depth than the exam cert guide and routing tcp/ip vol 1 & 2 doyle. Also what subject did you do bad on. CBT are only good for intro to the exam topics are you using any lab books by cisco academy. Do you have a good foundation on how a packet is routed and how it is put in the routing table and how the router does look up in the routing table to pick the best route i.e longest matching prefix and than what interface to send out on which might take a second look up or recursive lookup. Do you know what a router has to do if you put a static route with a next hop IP address or what happens when it is an exit interface instead.

Thanks for the reply. I have what I thought was a very good understanding of the routing process, but the exam proved me wrong. I do own Routing tcp/ip Volume I, but only used at as a second source in the final days of exam prep. I felt I did bad on almost every subject. There was an element of clock management the I could not control. When I had only 40 minutes left with 35 questions to go, I knew I did not have time to spend too much time on any question.
Looks like it is off to the book store.

miller811

mikej412 wrote:

The Cisco Press Exam Certification Guide may be fine if you work for a Business Partner and are exposed to all the material on a daily basis and just need a review for the exam.

Everyone else probably wants to start with the Cisco Press Self Study book. Check the CCNP FAQ for the link to the Cisco Press CCNP web page with the suggested books.

Adding CBTs like CBT Nuggets and TrainSignal is fine if you're a "video person" and reading Doyle is great, especially if you plan to go past the CCNP someday -- but they don't replace the long hours on real hardware (or Dynamips/Dynagen) practicing hands-on what you've learned. And the key is to understand the material, not memorize some trivia and a few configurations.

Thanks for the info, Self Study guide appears to the way to go. during my study, I read the exam book first, took notes etc. Watched the train signal video, and duplicated every lab on live time gear in the home lab. Rewatched the videos, duplicated the live time gear. Reviewed my notes, skimmed Routing TCP/IP volume I, and as you stated memorized some trivia (and a ton of not so trivial facts). I felt prepared for the exam, I did not think I would ACE it, but felt well prepared, and was looking forward to getting on to BCMSN, since I work with switches a lot more than routers. My goal was and still is to take the recommended path to the CCNP and complete the BSCI first.

Any opinions on "CCNP Building Scalable Internetworks (BSCI 642-901) Lab Portfolio (Cisco Networking Academy) (Lab Companion)"

Wondering if that is a worthwhile purchase.

Thanks.

aueddonline

hey man I wouldn't worry to much same thing happened to me, I prepared for the exam like it was the CCNA and was blown ou the water also, but next time you'll know what your up againt, you'll be fine.

as well as the material i'd work on being able to read though and do the question quickly and don't spend extra thought processes in the exam worrying about how you ballsing it up, it'll only cost you time

CCIEWANNABE

Thanks for the info, Self Study guide appears to the way to go. during my study, I read the exam book first, took notes etc. Watched the train signal video, and duplicated every lab on live time gear in the home lab. Rewatched the videos, duplicated the live time gear. Reviewed my notes, skimmed Routing TCP/IP volume I, and as you stated memorized some trivia (and a ton of not so trivial facts). I felt prepared for the exam, I did not think I would ACE it, but felt well prepared, and was looking forward to getting on to BCMSN, since I work with switches a lot more than routers. My goal was and still is to take the recommended path to the CCNP and complete the BSCI first.

Any opinions on "CCNP Building Scalable Internetworks (BSCI 642-901) Lab Portfolio (Cisco Networking Academy) (Lab Companion)"

Wondering if that is a worthwhile purchase.

Thanks.[/quote]

i am using the lab portfolio and i have to say it is a great book. it is what the instructors and students use when you go through the official bsci course. it has every exam topic in it too including eigrp, ospf, isis, route manipulation (distro lists, route maps, redistribution), bgp, ipv6, multicasting. it has 33 labs that walk you through step by step what you are doing and why. i would highly recommend it. i will be taking the exam in two days so i'll let you all know how it went. good luck