BSCI studies update.

AlexMR

I have covered EIGRP and made the practice labs in the official self study guide. I really understood everything and now everything makes a lot more sense than it did with the superficial EIGRP subject covered in the CCNA. I didnt find it hard at all. I think I spent more time figuring out how to set up GSN3 than actually studying EIGRP.

I've heard many times that all the questions in the exam are not covered by this official guide. What are the recommended books for this. I decided my study material is going to be the self study guide, CBT nuggets and then Routing TCP/IP. Should I get "Developing IP multicast Networks" by Beau Williamson http://www.amazon.com/Developing-Multicast-Networks-Networking-Technology/dp/1578700779/ref=cm_cr_pr_pb_t ???

mikearama

AlexMR wrote:

I've heard many times that all the questions in the exam is not covered by this official guide. What are the recommended books for this. I decided my study material is going to be the self study guide, CBT Nuggets and then Routing TCP/IP. Should I get "Developing IP multicast Networks" by Beau Williamson http://www.amazon.com/Developing-Multicast-Networks-Networking-Technology/dp/1578700779/ref=cm_cr_pr_pb_t ???

You heard correctly. "Most" people who use the Guide complain of anywhere from a half-dozen to dozen questions that surprise them... material not even touched on.

You have a great list of study material. The Routing TCP/IP book is thorough... just dry as hell (yes, worse than the Study Guide, believe it or not).

I used the Nuggets for the BCMSN but not for the BSCI, but the board hears nothing but good things about it.

Personally, for the approx half-dozen questions on multicast that you may/may not get, I wouldn't get the "Developing IP multicast Networks" book, unless you have an interest in multicast beyond the scope of the BSCI. It was a topic relatively well covered by the Study Guide.

If I could suggest anything, it might be to add or sub in the Chris Bryant BSCI package. I failed this exam my first time, despite using the Study Guide, the Exam Cram, and the Nuggets, and about 200 hours of study... but passed on the second attempt after adding in the Bryant package.

Hope that helped.
Mike

_maurice

+1 for the Chris Bryant material

ethan98ta

I had the same problem, I used only the study guide and got completely caught off guard. I had to watch the CBT Nuggets for a lot of the parts I didn't understand. Now I'm taking a different approach, hopefully it works out.

redwarrior

I think this could be said for most of the CCNP exams, although maybe BSCI is more so. I went in for my first ONT exam having mainly studied from the exam guide and supplemented with online sources and was shocked and of course failed. The second time around, I went in armed with CBT Nuggets, Trainsignal videos, as well as more online reading and did fine. I think these exams just require studying from many different sources either to help solidify the concepts or to fully cover all facets of them...it's a whole new ball game from the CCNA.

Mrock4

Although I got a fair amount of multicast, I agree with mike that you don't need to devote a book to it for the BSCI. If you study the Multicast section well and apply what you read whether it be with Dynamips or whatever, you'll do fine. A lot of the multicast stuff (like all other BSCI material) is being able to read the routing table (mroute, in this case), and figure out what's going on from a glance. I labbed the hell out of multicast, and got the highest score on it out of all the sections, with the BSCI self-study guide as my only reference.