Finally done
Forsaken_GA
Member Posts: 4,024
in CCNP
Passed BSCI about 30 minutes ago.
Score was 877. Not exceptional, but better than when I took it when it was still 642-801... that one I passed by the skin of my teeth.
Didn't score as well as I would have liked with multicast and ISIS, both were 75%. My BGP score was abysmal at 54%. All other testing domains were acceptable (85%+)
This exam is still hard. I began my CCNP a little over 4 years ago with the previous BSCI exam, and the damn thing was so hard that I didn't so much as look at Cisco material for another year. A few real life events transpired that kept me from getting back to my CCNP for another couple years. Early last year, I was faced with my CCNA expiring in April, so I busted my chops to pass BCMSN. Waiting so long meant that I would have to retake BSCI, and I left it for last for a number of reasons... chief among them being that I also have plans to finish CCDP and CCIP, and since BSCI is required for both of those, I wanted the maximum amount of time where my BSCI pass would be valid for them, in case I hit another long patch where I just can't study for exams. But I admit that part of the reason I left it until last was that I dreaded retaking it.
The current exam is much better than the previous one. I felt 642-801 was heavily slanted to EIGRP, and there were topics with EIGRP which the exam asked about but which were not covered in any of the study material I used. This taught me to pay close attention to the topics in the exam blueprint, and to reinforce my learning with white papers from cisco.com. The current exam's material is very evenly distributed, I didn't feel that they skimped on testing any one domain. I only spent about a month preparing for the current BSCI, as the majority of it was review for me, but the damn thing is still hard. I went at the exam with a respect for it, because I knew what I was in for. I finish most exams with half of my time left over. I had less than 15 minutes left for BSCI.
I didn't use the Cisco Press Exam Prep guide for this one like I did with the other 3 CCNP exams, I went for the Authorized Self-Study guide instead. I didn't feel like getting ambushed with questions asking about topics I'd never seen before again, and I wanted the most amount of material I could get my hands on. The Authorized Self Study guide covers the material well, just have to make sure to download the other appendixes from the Cisco Press website, as they cover some fairly relevant material. Anything I didn't feel was clearly explained enough, I used white papers from cisco.com to reinforce. I used Transcender as my exam simulation. Normally, when I can score 90% consistently with Trancender, I will beat the snot out of the exam, but in BSCI's case, I felt Transcender was a little lacking. It's still good prep material, but it's not as good an indicator that I was ready for the exam as it normally is.
All told, I am glad to finally be done with CCNP. After I take about a week off, I'll start studying for the CCDA. My goals for this year were to finish my CCNP by July, and I've beat that by two months, which should give me ample time to finish the CCDA and CCDP this year. Then I can spent the first half to 3/4's of next year working out the CCIP, after which it will be time for serious CCIE study.
For those of you preparing for the BSCI, I wish you the best of luck. Unless you work with routing protocols in a production network on a daily basis, this will likely be the hardest exam of the CCNP you'll face. Once you are past it, you can relax a little bit in knowing that while the other three exams might be challenging, they're not likely to be as challenging as the one you just passed.
Score was 877. Not exceptional, but better than when I took it when it was still 642-801... that one I passed by the skin of my teeth.
Didn't score as well as I would have liked with multicast and ISIS, both were 75%. My BGP score was abysmal at 54%. All other testing domains were acceptable (85%+)
This exam is still hard. I began my CCNP a little over 4 years ago with the previous BSCI exam, and the damn thing was so hard that I didn't so much as look at Cisco material for another year. A few real life events transpired that kept me from getting back to my CCNP for another couple years. Early last year, I was faced with my CCNA expiring in April, so I busted my chops to pass BCMSN. Waiting so long meant that I would have to retake BSCI, and I left it for last for a number of reasons... chief among them being that I also have plans to finish CCDP and CCIP, and since BSCI is required for both of those, I wanted the maximum amount of time where my BSCI pass would be valid for them, in case I hit another long patch where I just can't study for exams. But I admit that part of the reason I left it until last was that I dreaded retaking it.
The current exam is much better than the previous one. I felt 642-801 was heavily slanted to EIGRP, and there were topics with EIGRP which the exam asked about but which were not covered in any of the study material I used. This taught me to pay close attention to the topics in the exam blueprint, and to reinforce my learning with white papers from cisco.com. The current exam's material is very evenly distributed, I didn't feel that they skimped on testing any one domain. I only spent about a month preparing for the current BSCI, as the majority of it was review for me, but the damn thing is still hard. I went at the exam with a respect for it, because I knew what I was in for. I finish most exams with half of my time left over. I had less than 15 minutes left for BSCI.
I didn't use the Cisco Press Exam Prep guide for this one like I did with the other 3 CCNP exams, I went for the Authorized Self-Study guide instead. I didn't feel like getting ambushed with questions asking about topics I'd never seen before again, and I wanted the most amount of material I could get my hands on. The Authorized Self Study guide covers the material well, just have to make sure to download the other appendixes from the Cisco Press website, as they cover some fairly relevant material. Anything I didn't feel was clearly explained enough, I used white papers from cisco.com to reinforce. I used Transcender as my exam simulation. Normally, when I can score 90% consistently with Trancender, I will beat the snot out of the exam, but in BSCI's case, I felt Transcender was a little lacking. It's still good prep material, but it's not as good an indicator that I was ready for the exam as it normally is.
All told, I am glad to finally be done with CCNP. After I take about a week off, I'll start studying for the CCDA. My goals for this year were to finish my CCNP by July, and I've beat that by two months, which should give me ample time to finish the CCDA and CCDP this year. Then I can spent the first half to 3/4's of next year working out the CCIP, after which it will be time for serious CCIE study.
For those of you preparing for the BSCI, I wish you the best of luck. Unless you work with routing protocols in a production network on a daily basis, this will likely be the hardest exam of the CCNP you'll face. Once you are past it, you can relax a little bit in knowing that while the other three exams might be challenging, they're not likely to be as challenging as the one you just passed.
Comments
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Forsaken_GA
Member Posts: 4,024
And as an update, wow, it seems my testing center and Cisco are *really* in sync. The preliminary results said results validated within 72 hours, and if it's completing a certification to give 10 days for it to be entered into the tracking system....
an hour and a half after I pass the exam, I receive the email from Cisco asking me to confirm my address for certification kit fulfillment. My status is showing as CCNP certified, and I can download my logo's.
Now that's service! -
whatthehell
Member Posts: 920
Congratz and best of luck on future tests!
2017 Goals:
[ ] Security + [ ] 74-409 [ ] CEH
Future Goals:
TBD -
miller811
Member Posts: 897
CongratsI don't claim to be an expert, but I sure would like to become one someday.
Quest for 11K pages read in 2011
Page Count total to date - 1283 -
networker050184
Mod Posts: 11,962 Mod
Congrats!
Finishing the CCNP after about a year of working on it for me felt so good. I can't imagine the feeling after four years!An expert is a man who has made all the mistakes which can be made. -
ColbyG
Member Posts: 1,264
networker050184 wrote: »Congrats!
Finishing the CCNP after about a year of working on it for me felt so good. I can't imagine the feeling after four years!
Same here.
Congrats! -
Forsaken_GA
Member Posts: 4,024
Yeah, I essentially had to hit the reset button for CCNP last April, and it took almost 13 months to the day from finishing BCMSN to finishing BSCI.
It's a relief to be finally be caught up to where I should have been 2 years ago at the latest, now I can move forward instead of treading water. -
dynamik
Banned Posts: 12,312 ■■■■■■■■■□
Forsaken_GA wrote: »It's a relief to be finally be caught up to where I should have been 2 years ago at the latest, now I can move forward instead of treading water.
That's a great analogy; I felt the same way after wrapping up my MCSE (yea, yea, I know they're not comparable
)
So, have you set a lab date yet?
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Forsaken_GA
Member Posts: 4,024
Tenative schedule is to take CCIE written in January, 2011 and to take the CCIE lab later that year, though I'll move that up if I can. Really depends on how much time it takes me to run through the design stuff. I'm not expecting the CCDA to be difficult for me, from looking over the exam blueprint, it's all stuff I deal with at my current job. ARCH looks a little more intimidating, and how much time I take to pass that will probably determine my pacing. If I run through CCDA and CCDP in a couple of months, it's not outside the realm of possibility that I could finish the CCIP by the end of this year, though I'm not planning for that. I'm also seriously debating going ahead and taking the QoS exam before I do either of the design certs. Since I just passed ONT last month, the material is still more or less fresh in my mind, so it might be a good idea to get it out of the way. My only concern with that is that by the time I get to a point where I need to know it again, I'll have to relearn it all over again, so I might just go ahead and hit the design certs, and then hit QoS first in the CCIP track so I can see how good my retention of the material is.
Part of me wants to jump into CCIE studies right away, but I feel that going the design route and then doing CCIP will give me a much better foundation, not to mention time to build up my CCIE lab. The cash I've been putting aside for the gear and study material I'll need for the CCIE turned into my emergency fund, and I don't feel it's prudent to expend a large amount of cash until the economy recovers to a point where I'm not spending each month wondering if this is the month the company decides layoffs have to come. Right now, we're ok. They're not looking to drop anyone, instead payroll is just being reduced through attrition. So when we start hiring again, it'll be a good sign that I can start buying brand name cola again -
mikej412
Member Posts: 10,086 ■■■■■■■■■■
Congratulations!
You can -- start reading Doyle's Routing TCP/IP Vol 1 & 2. And then check out the CCIE suggested suggested reading list -- that should keep you busy through next year.Forsaken_GA wrote: »Part of me wants to jump into CCIE studies right away
:mike: Cisco Certifications -- Collect the Entire Set! -
Forsaken_GA
Member Posts: 4,024
Congratulations!
You can -- start reading Doyle's Routing TCP/IP Vol 1 & 2. And then check out the CCIE suggested suggested reading list -- that should keep you busy through next year.
Yup, that list has been on my amazon wish list for a good while, along with a few other books that were recommended. Both the Doyle books, along with the Lan Switching Guide and the Halabi book are slated for purchase next month. -
Sepiraph
Member Posts: 179 ■■□□□□□□□□
Congrats. Personally I studied using Cisco Academy + their lab portfolio doing all their labs on dynagen as the main study + lots of internet reading which I find was quite sufficient. -
Mrock4
Banned Posts: 2,359 ■■■■■■■■□□
Congrats! As said already, definitely pick up TCP/IP Vol I/II. I have only glanced at Vol II so far, but Vol I is outstanding. Definitely in my top 3 list of technical books.
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APA
Member Posts: 959
networker050184 wrote: »Congrats!
Finishing the CCNP after about a year of working on it for me felt so good. I can't imagine the feeling after four years!
I'll second that... One year for working on my CCNP as well and it was a great feeling
Well done for sticking at it over 4 years...that sure is dedication!
Best wishes for whatever you choose to conquer next.... please don't make me wait 4 years to see another passed thread from you though
CCNA | CCNA:Security | CCNP | CCIP
JNCIA:JUNOS | JNCIA:EX | JNCIS:ENT | JNCIS:SEC
JNCIS:SP | JNCIP:SP -
Forsaken_GA
Member Posts: 4,024
Nah, part of my problem was a job change midstream that I had to drop what I was doing and learn and relearn a whole bunch of stuff in order to get up to speed (Linux sysadmin).
An even bigger problem was my World of Warcraft addiction.
Once those two things got cleared up, I found myself with plenty of time to study once again! Already have the CCDA book, plan to start in on it over the weekend at work, and try to pass it by the end of May so I can move on to finishing the CCDP. I'm actually really looking forward to the CCIP, as it looks like it gets more in depth with it's subject matter, as opposed to the jack of all trades the CCNP tries to prepare you to be. -
rossonieri#1
Member Posts: 799 ■■■□□□□□□□
Congratulations Forsaken_GA,
well done!!!the More I know, that is more and More I dont know. -
Agent6376
Member Posts: 201
Forsaken_GA wrote: »An even bigger problem was my World of Warcraft addiction.
I'm with you on this. Once this is out of the way, you really realize just how much time that it sucked away from your life/studies/career.
