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BCMSN pass
So my first cisco professional level exam. Studied for about 2 or 3 months. Sometimes seriously, sometimes semi seriously. I work a lot of overtime sadfully 
Passed with an 844. Got very high percentages 98-100% in all categories except wireless and VOIP. The scores there were very very bad. Like 16 percent or something on one of them. I guessed or answered quickly within 40 seconds on like the last 10 or so questions because I was running out of time. I got hung up on a lab early on which chewed up alot of my time but answered it correctly in the end. I don't know how the scoring works on these exams but I could not leave a lab unfinished and I'm guessing it probally scored me the pass as well. You definetely have to be more time conscious on these than the CCNA stuff which I finished with so much time to spare.
I'm pretty happy with the diffulculty level of the exams. THe only thing I am unhappy with is that the none of the cisco official material that I used accurately protrayed or went over what I saw on the exam in regards to VOIP, wireless, or QOS. You definetely have to rely on some kind of ancillary experience or material to ace these topics.
I used BCMSN self study and the offical exam guide. I also used the lab portifolo. I found the lab portifolo pretty useless because I just made my own labs. Both of the books were pretty useful but failed to adequately cover the topics I mentioned. I also found the practice exams and questions included with the official exam guide lacking. THey were basically not even useful and no were near as good as the stuff I saw included with the CCNA stuff. There are even no virtual lab questions.
Equipement used were 2 3550s, 3 2950s, and all my other stuff. Could have done everything with the 2 3550s and a 2950.
My advice crack open a QOS book or two and maybe grab a CCNA:wireless and CCNA:voice book as well if you want to make your life easier for this exam.
Onward to BSCI. This time more prepared because I expect the overlap as seen on this exam and I expect that the exam topics listed as needed don't accurately protray everything you need to know either.
Passed with an 844. Got very high percentages 98-100% in all categories except wireless and VOIP. The scores there were very very bad. Like 16 percent or something on one of them. I guessed or answered quickly within 40 seconds on like the last 10 or so questions because I was running out of time. I got hung up on a lab early on which chewed up alot of my time but answered it correctly in the end. I don't know how the scoring works on these exams but I could not leave a lab unfinished and I'm guessing it probally scored me the pass as well. You definetely have to be more time conscious on these than the CCNA stuff which I finished with so much time to spare.
I'm pretty happy with the diffulculty level of the exams. THe only thing I am unhappy with is that the none of the cisco official material that I used accurately protrayed or went over what I saw on the exam in regards to VOIP, wireless, or QOS. You definetely have to rely on some kind of ancillary experience or material to ace these topics.
I used BCMSN self study and the offical exam guide. I also used the lab portifolo. I found the lab portifolo pretty useless because I just made my own labs. Both of the books were pretty useful but failed to adequately cover the topics I mentioned. I also found the practice exams and questions included with the official exam guide lacking. THey were basically not even useful and no were near as good as the stuff I saw included with the CCNA stuff. There are even no virtual lab questions.
Equipement used were 2 3550s, 3 2950s, and all my other stuff. Could have done everything with the 2 3550s and a 2950.
My advice crack open a QOS book or two and maybe grab a CCNA:wireless and CCNA:voice book as well if you want to make your life easier for this exam.
Onward to BSCI. This time more prepared because I expect the overlap as seen on this exam and I expect that the exam topics listed as needed don't accurately protray everything you need to know either.
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/usr
Member Posts: 1,768
Congratulations!
In your opinion, do you think you could have gotten by with a 3550 and 3 2950's? I can pick up a 3550 and pass it off to work, but I don't know that I can justify buying two of them. -
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networker050184
Mod Posts: 11,962 Mod
Congrats!An expert is a man who has made all the mistakes which can be made. -
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hollow666
Member Posts: 50 ■■□□□□□□□□
Congratulations!
In your opinion, do you think you could have gotten by with a 3550 and 3 2950's? I can pick up a 3550 and pass it off to work, but I don't know that I can justify buying two of them.
You definetely could get by with just using one. I mainly used 2 just so I could do HSRP. Obviously the config is pretty easy so its not neccessary but I found it useful to go through all kinds of debugging and troubleshooting. 3650s would be even better so you could do private vlans. I got pretty good deals on 48 port 3550 POE models for like 200 each. -
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dynamik
Banned Posts: 12,312 ■■■■■■■■■□
Solid score for your first attempt at a pro-level exam. Congrats! -
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mikej412
Member Posts: 10,086 ■■■■■■■■■■
Congratulations!!
:mike: Cisco Certifications -- Collect the Entire Set!