ISCW Scheduled - Dec 22nd - UPDATE - PASSED!!!

I went ahead and scheduled my ISCW for Dec. 22nd, so I'm down to crunch time. I'm kind of nervous about this one...I've been studying quite a while on it, but for one reason or another, I just don't feel as confident on it. I'm going to hit the SDM hard in this last week as well as study up on some of the sneaky parts of VPN's and IPSec. I feel pretty comfortable with the general security stuff as well as MPLS and cable modem technology. I could be a bit stronger on DSL, particularly PPPoE and PPoA, so I'll brush up on those as well.

Wish me luck and any last minute study ideas? I'd really like Santa to bring me my ISCW!

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Comments

networker050184

Good luck!

Like always review the objectives and make sure you are confident on ALL of them. Cisco loves to ask a lot of questions on topics you don't think would be very important!

gorebrush

Man, a lot of people taking exams next week

Good luck!

mikearama

Hey, good luck rw. Sounds like you know what you're doing in the studying department.

mikej412

Good Luck!

jamesp1983

good luck!

NullCode

If you have been good this year maybe Santa will bring you an ISCW

.
Good luck mate!! I'm studying for ISCW too, so some tips after you take and pass the exam would be great.
GL

redwarrior

Well, I did tell him when I took my kids to see him...maybe that will help? (That and studying hard all weekend and having studied for a few months. LOL!)

Plazma

Good luck!

redwarrior

My exam is at 2pm, so my plan is to take off work at lunch, eat something healthy, and do some light reviewing until then. To tell the truth, my brain is about as burnt out as it's ever been. I took a study break last night and tried to play solitaire on my computer with just 1 card being pulled...I couldn't even do that!!! LOL! I'm definitely taking a break after this one!

I'm pretty nervous and at this point I have no idea if I'll pass or not, but at least I know I've studied like crazy. I'll post back after.

networker050184

You will do fine! Just relax and give it a shot. Once you get to the point where you can't look at the material anymore is when you know you are good and ready!

gojericho0

Good Luck!

gorebrush

redwarrior wrote:

My exam is at 2pm, so my plan is to take off work at lunch, eat something healthy, and do some light reviewing until then. To tell the truth, my brain is about as burnt out as it's ever been. I took a study break last night and tried to play solitaire on my computer with just 1 card being pulled...I couldn't even do that!!! LOL! I'm definitely taking a break after this one!

I'm pretty nervous and at this point I have no idea if I'll pass or not, but at least I know I've studied like crazy. I'll post back after.

Go keeeel eeeet

redwarrior

I always freak out before I take an exam...I think it's just my pessimism coming through!

I not only passed, but got a pretty respectable score - 937!

Oddly enough, I got a 55% on IPsec VPN technologies...I'm thinking that is because there was one tricky multi-part question that I completely forgot to answer several of the other parts and clicked the dreaded "next" button! (Note to self, ALWAYS, ALWAYS check to make sure you've answered everything *before* clicking NEXT!!!) I was pretty nervous about the remaining questions after that. I'm going to do the "beer and review" technique on that section anyhow. The funny part is that it was one of the areas I had more experience with. I have never touched the insides of an MPLS VPN beyond configuring the CPE side, yet I got a 100 on that. Go figure!

I'm taking a break to rest my brain over Christmas and hoping that Santa brings me some nice shiny new wireless books. Due to work demands, I'm being re-routed through the CCNA-wireless exam before I can come back for the other half of my PNCC!

mikej412

redwarrior wrote:

passed

Congratulations!

networker050184

Congarts!

Good luck on the Wireless. You are a better person than me to be voluntarily working with a technology with such a sketchy physical layer

gojericho0

Very Nice Score. congratulations and merry christmas!

JavonR

networker050184 wrote:

Congarts!

Good luck on the Wireless. You are a better person than me to be voluntarily working with a technology with such a sketchy physical layer

I second that! I freaking hate wireless and everything to do with it.

Good luck on the pass and enjoy your break

mamono

Congrats!

JohnDouglas

congratulations.

good to see all these passed posts. reminds me what i should be doing ... looking after me and the family.

lots of studying planned while i "work [on my future employability]" over xmas.

ITdude

JavonR wrote:

networker050184 wrote:

Congarts!

Good luck on the Wireless. You are a better person than me to be voluntarily working with a technology with such a sketchy physical layer

I second that! I freaking hate wireless and everything to do with it.

C'mon guys it isn't that bad, is it?

Oh, almost forgot...Congrats on the pass redwarrior.

networker050184

No its not that bad. Its just much easier when its hard wired!

ITdude

True but wireless can be fun too!

okay maybe not fun but interesting.

skrpune

Congrats redwarrior!!

Hopefully Santa will reward you well this year, you've worked your tail off and you deserve some goodies. Have fun celebrating your success!

redwarrior

It definitely is a bigger challenge to troubleshoot. It's also hard because, no matter what the actual cause is, to the end user, it just looks like wireless "doesn't work." So, no matter how many dragons you slay, if there's still one out there, to the user it looks like you ain't done squat.

The good part is that my bosses know that. I've already tracked down two very thorny wirless issues at our site that's running an autonomous infrastructure. 1. Mobility trust sucks. Don't use it unless you want problems since you never can really trust a client machine for anything. Use dhcp snooping instead to update your mobility table. 2. Dhcp snooping does not work if you are having dhcp requests cross a FlexWAN module in a 6509 and your WDS is a WLSM module in that 6509. In fact, FlexWAN modules are just a pain in general. Avoid them like they were mobility trust. 3. Cisco LEAP does not support the windows password reset feature. It will let you *think* you are resetting your passwword, but you're not and then when you try to connect, it doesn't give you a authentication error despite the fact that EAP authentication doesn't work...makes things fun.

LOL! Yep...wireless is a challenge, but then, you don't have people fighting you for jobs as often if no one else wants to deal with it. Besides, I get to do cool things like set up wireless bridges between trucks and buildings and block Iphones!

dynamik

I'm not sure how I missed this, but congratulations!

gorebrush

Congrats! s

kpjungle

Great xmas present, congrats

well deserved!

r_durant

Congrats on the pass!! Very nice score...

Met44

Well done, redwarrior!

GT-Rob

Congrats again on the pass Red! See, everyone agrees with me, wireless is smelly and lame :P