failed switch exam, weird

tndfr

hi guys

failed switch today with 650. spent 30min on one lab!
the test was riddled with spelling mistakes and stuff that is inbelievably incomprehensible, sometime they are referring to labels that dont even exist on the diagram

all in all the exam seemed easy, after spending so much time on one lab, i just had to rush through the rest and i missed two complete labs......


in my exam breakdown result sheet, one section i had 0% in (probably the labs i skipped)....

how do you complain if you see spelling mistake, logically incorrect questions?

networker050184

Sorry to hear it man. There is a comment section on the exam for each question. If you feel something was wrong with the question then you can leave a comment there. It doesn't stop your clock while you comment though.

/usr

Other members who have had experience may be able to answer you more definitively, but register a complaint with Pearson VUE or Cisco. I'm not sure which you would need to go through in order to get a retake...or if you even could in this case.

Just go over your score report and think about which areas gave you the most trouble. Now that you've seen the exam, you'll be able to prepare a little better. Review, take it again and you'll get it the next time!

tndfr

i have booked it again for next week, lets see what happens....

i have only been studying for just over a months, i know i wasnt ready as such but ready enough to answer most questions on SWITCH topic.

it's been such a long time that i took my CCNA that i completely forgot that you cant go back and review questions either!!

/usr

Do you mind me asking what material you're using to prepare the exam?

tndfr

read Official Certification book back to back and read Foundation Guide (only selective reading). i also had to tackle few missing topics like ip sla, syslog and snmp with few different resources.
i also read the Command Reference Guide.

the one i am struggling with at the moment is Design, not that i dont understand it but i cant seem to find a good resource/book that covers it? have you got any idea?

CBT nuggelts is not that great(i love Jeremy though), the material is more entertaining than useful. i only watch it when i am tired or when i am doing something else.

tndfr

i am also contemplating buying Exam-Sim, but that makes me feel like a failure (not that i an not feeling that at the moment anyway)
do you guys recommend buying this at all.
i am literally kicking myself, when i was rushing though the questions, they all seemed so easy if i only had 30 seconds extra on each of them....

your advice is much appreciated.

Yahel

I can't give you any advice about buying that "thing" , because I have just started mine ccnp track but u said that u spend so much time on the lab. so that's probably the main reason why u failed, instead of spending extra $ on that, rather review everything, and go PASS that exam
At last you now know what to expect there so those 250$ worth it.

Good luck

Daniel333

Sorry to hear about not passing.

Personally I never go in expecting to pass the first time. Sometimes I take the exam to get a "Feel" for what I don't know. Sometimes I pass, sometimes I don't. But I am lucky the employer pays for it no questions.

Do your best to replicate the switching labs you ran into right now. Go fire up your lab.

Also, skim your book page by page. Highlight the concepts/question you saw and reread the sections.

What did you do for training on your wireless btw? Something you already have experience with or lab at home?

650 says to me you didn't pass one of the labs. Generally those are highly valued. I bet you, you were one lab from passing. Next time you are in there, that lab will be 3 minutes instead of 30.

You got this!

Here is my challenge to you. I did this the other night with a 6 pack.

Get your switches together, at least 4 of them. Fully mesh it with etherchannel. Add in, oh? 4-5 vlans. Set it up so it load balances at the core. Document it. Then set it so each switch it the root for each spanning tree instance. then ugprade your vtp version, mix up your VTP versions. See if you can break it. THEN upgrade to MST but all of 2 of your switches and place them in some random legacy modes RPVSP+?. Just screw around. Toss in some QoS for your workstation and limit everything else. Set a couple ports to authorize your workstations. and maybe unleash a DHCP attack against yourself. Capture the traffic while you do it with a span port. Just mix it all up, toss in the stuff you saw from the exam.

If you can do all that from memory you are certainly on track.

jovan88

networker050184 wrote: »

Sorry to hear it man. There is a comment section on the exam for each question. If you feel something was wrong with the question then you can leave a comment there. It doesn't stop your clock while you comment though.

I might actually start using this to flag those annoying questions which aren't on the blueprints. There is always a handful.

BroadcastStorm

The FLG is a very good resource, there's alot of info there to learn, curious with your study have you done alot of labbing for this exam?

/usr

I second the FLG. There is a lot of information in there that goes well into planning and preparation. It seems to cover all exam objectives quite thoroughly and I'm using it as my primary study resource. I'll let you know in a month or so how that worked out for me.

tndfr

i labbed quite a lot with the following (plus i vlaned a whole hospital in my time as a network techie)

-2800 (ipsec ios)
-3550
-2950
-2924
-1721

i just took my time with the first lab (doh!) which hindered my progress during the exam.

for the wireless i havent labbed at all, not much to configure on the SWITCH exam, just need to know how to configure layer 2 for WLCs and LAPs and AP and the theory behind the various components.

Ryan82

Also recommend checking out David Hucaby's blog for some additional study material for the exam: Ponder the Network (and other things)

tndfr

Ryan82 wrote: »

Also recommend checking out David Hucaby's blog for some additional study material for the exam: Ponder the Network (and other things)

i looked at that but he doesnt cover design, FLG covers it quite well though, the style is not as good as hucaby's but in light of the circumstance it will do for now.....

tndfr

Daniel333 wrote: »

Sorry to hear about not passing.

Personally I never go in expecting to pass the first time. Sometimes I take the exam to get a "Feel" for what I don't know. Sometimes I pass, sometimes I don't. But I am lucky the employer pays for it no questions.

Do your best to replicate the switching labs you ran into right now. Go fire up your lab.

Also, skim your book page by page. Highlight the concepts/question you saw and reread the sections.

What did you do for training on your wireless btw? Something you already have experience with or lab at home?

650 says to me you didn't pass one of the labs. Generally those are highly valued. I bet you, you were one lab from passing. Next time you are in there, that lab will be 3 minutes instead of 30.

You got this!

Here is my challenge to you. I did this the other night with a 6 pack.

Get your switches together, at least 4 of them. Fully mesh it with etherchannel. Add in, oh? 4-5 vlans. Set it up so it load balances at the core. Document it. Then set it so each switch it the root for each spanning tree instance. then ugprade your vtp version, mix up your VTP versions. See if you can break it. THEN upgrade to MST but all of 2 of your switches and place them in some random legacy modes RPVSP+?. Just screw around. Toss in some QoS for your workstation and limit everything else. Set a couple ports to authorize your workstations. and maybe unleash a DHCP attack against yourself. Capture the traffic while you do it with a span port. Just mix it all up, toss in the stuff you saw from the exam.

If you can do all that from memory you are certainly on track.

Daniel, i admire your motivation, i must admit the design bit is boring the hell out of me but i am persevering, i did the lab again and it took me less than 10mins including verification and testing .
i think labbing for the SWITCH exam is much more involved (especially for lazy person like me) , with the ROUTING exam you can do pretty much everything in GNS3 with touching a single cable.... ca

creamy_stew

tndfr wrote: »

i am also contemplating buying Exam-Sim, but that makes me feel like a failure (not that i an not feeling that at the moment anyway)
do you guys recommend buying this at all.
i am literally kicking myself, when i was rushing though the questions, they all seemed so easy if i only had 30 seconds extra on each of them....

your advice is much appreciated.

Don't spend 30 minutes on any one lab

Remember, you get partial credit for each of the labs, so you don't have to fillfil all requirement to get some points on it.

If you're struggling with a portion of a lab, your time is probably better spent on another question.

Haven't taken switch, though.

tndfr

creamy_stew wrote: »

Don't spend 30 minutes on any one lab

Remember, you get partial credit for each of the labs, so you don't have to fillfil all requirement to get some points on it.

If you're struggling with a portion of a lab, your time is probably better spent on another question.

Haven't taken switch, though.

absolutely right, i remember when i was preparing for my CCNA exam two years ago everyone was telling me about this and the inability to go back and review questions, i completely forgot both golden rules! i am just labbing as crazy at the moment, luckily i have been blessed with plenty of kit to play with.

BroadcastStorm

tndfr wrote: »

absolutely right, i remember when i was preparing for my CCNA exam two years ago everyone was telling me about this and the inability to go back and review questions, i completely forgot both golden rules! i am just labbing as crazy at the moment, luckily i have been blessed with plenty of kit to play with.

You should nail this exam soon goodluck!!!

tndfr

BroadcastStorm wrote: »

You should nail this exam soon goodluck!!!

thank you for your support, i have started going through FLG more thouroughly, it is quite good but not an easy read (compared to Hucaby's book) ! i will let you guys know of the outcome next week.

BroadcastStorm

tndfr wrote: »

thank you for your support, i have started going through FLG more thouroughly, it is quite good but not an easy read (compared to Hucaby's book) ! i will let you guys know of the outcome next week.

Based on your inputs, make sure you're aware of the security features of L2/switching, then you're good to go, skip the one that you think you're already strong on FLG if you're booked in a few days.

It wouldn't hurt to be comforatble with AAA implementation on switching, as well IP SLA, just to cover your bases, now the QoS/Multi-cast or preparing networ for advance services made me pull my hair when reading the FLG, it was rather hard...

tndfr

BroadcastStorm wrote: »

Based on your inputs, make sure you're aware of the security features of L2/switching, then you're good to go, skip the one that you think you're already strong on FLG if you're booked in a few days.

It wouldn't hurt to be comforatble with AAA implementation on switching, as well IP SLA, just to cover your bases, now the QoS/Multi-cast or preparing networ for advance services made me pull my hair when reading the FLG, it was rather hard...

i have managed to lab most thing for that topic:
-IP SLA: i used the RTR command in my 3550 (does the same thing more or less, just different syntax)
-AAA: setup radius server with Tekradius and freeradius
-SNMP: PRTG for snmp traps and snmp get/set request covering v1 to v3
-Syslog: Kiwi
-Switch security: multiple workstations, VM based
-VACLs: same as above
-DHCP snooping: send unsolicited DHCP offers using the pcap SDK and c#

for most of the security stuff i managed to setup a span port, capture traffic with wireshark and resubmitt it via pcap library using c#, doing it this way i am able to simulate anything i want (switch, attacker, .1Q, .1P etc .....).

i still need to be more confident with the design bit of the exam, FLG is amazing for that.

Cucumber

tndfr wrote: »

hi guys

failed switch today with 650. spent 30min on one lab!
the test was riddled with spelling mistakes and stuff that is inbelievably incomprehensible,

Prefectly normal, the new exams are aimed at people from India and Pakistan, have you ever talked with some of those engineers? hehe

BroadcastStorm

tndfr wrote: »

i have managed to lab most thing for that topic:
-IP SLA: i used the RTR command in my 3550 (does the same thing more or less, just different syntax)
-AAA: setup radius server with Tekradius and freeradius
-SNMP: PRTG for snmp traps and snmp get/set request covering v1 to v3
-Syslog: Kiwi
-Switch security: multiple workstations, VM based
-VACLs: same as above
-DHCP snooping: send unsolicited DHCP offers using the pcap SDK and c#

for most of the security stuff i managed to setup a span port, capture traffic with wireshark and resubmitt it via pcap library using c#, doing it this way i am able to simulate anything i want (switch, attacker, .1Q, .1P etc .....).

i still need to be more confident with the design bit of the exam, FLG is amazing for that.

Wow this is some awesome labbing, goodluck

zerglings

tndfr wrote: »

spent 30min on one lab!

I spent 30 mins on my BCMSN sim as well! Damn STP!

Just keep practicing. You can do it!

shednik

You'll need to contact Cisco support for the exam. I had the same experience as you and spent a good 20 mins on one of the sims. I didn't run out of time luckily so I barely missed the passing mark on the test. I had a drag and drop with two answers that were literally identical and I needed to use one of them.

After opening a case with Cisco they reviewed and and I also let my systems engineer at cisco know about how bad the test experience was. He sent a few emails off vouching for me and I ended up with the confirmation that they found the issues I reported and are working to fix them. I also was given a voucher to re-take the exam, so I picked up an ebook of the foundations guide and am going through the sections I didn't score well on so I can hopefully still do well even with the crappy questions.

hope this helps

joe

tndfr

shednik wrote: »

You'll need to contact Cisco support for the exam. I had the same experience as you and spent a good 20 mins on one of the sims. I didn't run out of time luckily so I barely missed the passing mark on the test. I had a drag and drop with two answers that were literally identical and I needed to use one of them.

After opening a case with Cisco they reviewed and and I also let my systems engineer at cisco know about how bad the test experience was. He sent a few emails off vouching for me and I ended up with the confirmation that they found the issues I reported and are working to fix them. I also was given a voucher to re-take the exam, so I picked up an ebook of the foundations guide and am going through the sections I didn't score well on so I can hopefully still do well even with the crappy questions.

hope this helps

joe

thank you joe, this time if i encounter the same thing i will definitely complain, to be honest those spelling mistake and illogical questions didnt contribute to me failing but they were certainly distracting.... will let you know how it goes on wednesday.

tomaifauchai

Sorry for ya tndfr :S

This friday i attempt the exam, i hope the mistakes will disappear.

nicklauscombs

having just taken the SWITCH exam yesterday I can venture to guess we got similar SIM questions.... and yes the one you probably spent 30 minutes on had a LOT of configuration hoops to jump through... good luck on your next attempt though. i definitely think this exam was a lot tougher than ROUTE.

tndfr

nicklauscombs wrote: »

having just taken the SWITCH exam yesterday I can venture to guess we got similar SIM questions.... and yes the one you probably spent 30 minutes on had a LOT of configuration hoops to jump through... good luck on your next attempt though. i definitely think this exam was a lot tougher than ROUTE.

your absolutely right, the configurations were not exactly difficult but there was a lot of them (which also requires verifications at each step)....
i hope your went ok, so only TSHOOT left then?