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SWITCH - Pass and Thoughts
Well, I passed SWITCH this week so I guess that I’m going to be officially hanging out with the network big boys for a little bit. 
I started preparation last year but between holidays, work, and life, I had a bit of a gap in there. Overall I would estimate that I spent 3.5 solid months.
Used the following material:
Cisco Press SWITCH Foundation Learning Guide
Cisco Press SWITCH Quick Reference Sheets
Cisco Press SWITCH Portable Command Guide
Cisco Press SWITCH Video Mentor series (Huckaby)
CBT Nuggets SWITCH Series
Various PDFs from PacketLife (First Hop Redundancy, 802.11, 802.1x, STP, VLANS)
BOSON SWITCH ExamSim
(I skipped all of the VoIP/QoS sections for obvious reasons!)
A couple of quick thoughts on preparation:
The Portable Command Guides are awesome! I’m hoping that we see the line expanded to include some of the voice topics at some point.
First time using the Video Mentor series (again, they weren’t available for the CCVP). I found that while they certainly aren’t complete, they worked well for reinforcing a topic. I would watch them in bed right before I fell asleep, and then try to type all of the commands up in notepad the next day from memory.
The BOSON ExamSim was nice for gauging overall progress. I used them just a few weeks before the test and was able to figure out which subjects I need to spend more time on during final preparation.
Also labbed up everything, almost to the point of obsession! I was lucky enough to have a project delayed which left me with 5 3560s piled up in my office for a few months so I was able to setup a lab at work for lunch breaks / late nights, in addition to the home lab.
Overall I thought that the exam was tough but pretty fair. I did run into a couple of questions that were clearly worded wrong to the point where I had to “guess” what they were trying to ask based on the answers. Also had to sweat it out a bit because I ended up spending 50+ minutes on a single question. Time goes by in a blink. If I had to do it again I certainly would have spent less time drawing out the scenario on the dry erase board.
On to ROUTE!
I started preparation last year but between holidays, work, and life, I had a bit of a gap in there. Overall I would estimate that I spent 3.5 solid months.
Used the following material:
Cisco Press SWITCH Foundation Learning Guide
Cisco Press SWITCH Quick Reference Sheets
Cisco Press SWITCH Portable Command Guide
Cisco Press SWITCH Video Mentor series (Huckaby)
CBT Nuggets SWITCH Series
Various PDFs from PacketLife (First Hop Redundancy, 802.11, 802.1x, STP, VLANS)
BOSON SWITCH ExamSim
(I skipped all of the VoIP/QoS sections for obvious reasons!)
A couple of quick thoughts on preparation:
The Portable Command Guides are awesome! I’m hoping that we see the line expanded to include some of the voice topics at some point.
First time using the Video Mentor series (again, they weren’t available for the CCVP). I found that while they certainly aren’t complete, they worked well for reinforcing a topic. I would watch them in bed right before I fell asleep, and then try to type all of the commands up in notepad the next day from memory.
The BOSON ExamSim was nice for gauging overall progress. I used them just a few weeks before the test and was able to figure out which subjects I need to spend more time on during final preparation.
Also labbed up everything, almost to the point of obsession! I was lucky enough to have a project delayed which left me with 5 3560s piled up in my office for a few months so I was able to setup a lab at work for lunch breaks / late nights, in addition to the home lab.
Overall I thought that the exam was tough but pretty fair. I did run into a couple of questions that were clearly worded wrong to the point where I had to “guess” what they were trying to ask based on the answers. Also had to sweat it out a bit because I ended up spending 50+ minutes on a single question. Time goes by in a blink. If I had to do it again I certainly would have spent less time drawing out the scenario on the dry erase board.
On to ROUTE!
CCNP:Collaboration, CCNP:R&S, CCNA:S, CCNA:V, CCNA, CCENT
Comments
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JaCkNiFe
Member Posts: 96 ■■□□□□□□□□
Congratulations and thanks for the overview! It's great to see so many success stories regarding the SWITCH exam.Lab on! -
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vinbuck
Member Posts: 785 ■■■■□□□□□□
Congrats man....noteworthy achievement. What are your thoughts on Boson ExSim? Been contemplating which practice exam to get throughout the CCNP and haven't been able to get a lot of feedback on how well the content of Boson's practice exams match the content of the actual exams.Cisco was my first networking love, but my "other" router is a Mikrotik... -
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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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Chris_
Member Posts: 326
Congrats, good to see some almost positive remarks about this exam!Going all out for Voice. Don't worry Data; I'll never forget you
:study: CVoice [X] CIPT 1 [ ] CIPT 2 [ ] CAPPS [ ] TVOICE [ ] -
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down77
Member Posts: 1,009
Congrats! I'm glad to hear the portable command guide worked well for you. I heavily debated on picking them up for my attempt a month ago.CCIE Sec: Starting Nov 11 -
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pitviper
Member Posts: 1,376 ■■■■■■■□□□
Thanks Guys!MississippiGuardsman wrote: »What are your thoughts on Boson ExSim? Been contemplating which practice exam to get throughout the CCNP and haven't been able to get a lot of feedback on how well the content of Boson's practice exams match the content of the actual exams.
I think that the Boson test mirrored the content and difficulty of the exam rather nicely. I chose the single SWITCH test instead of the CCNP package to try them out but I’m definitely going to pick them up for ROUTE and TSHOOT.
Did you try the demo on their site? You can download the exam environment and some smaple questions.CCNP:Collaboration, CCNP:R&S, CCNA:S, CCNA:V, CCNA, CCENT -
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hermeszdata
Member Posts: 225
Congrats!JohnCurrent Progress:
Studying:CCNA Security - 60%, CCNA Wireless - 80%, ROUTE - 10% (Way behind due to major Wireless Project)Exams Passed:
CCNA - 640-802 - 17 Jan 2011 -- CVOICE v6 - 642-436 - 28 Feb 2011
2011 Goals
CCNP/CCNP:Voice -
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mikej412
Member Posts: 10,086 ■■■■■■■■■■
Congratulations!!
:mike: Cisco Certifications -- Collect the Entire Set! -
Optionsvinbuck
Member Posts: 785 ■■■■□□□□□□
Thanks Guys!
I think that the Boson test mirrored the content and difficulty of the exam rather nicely. I chose the single SWITCH test instead of the CCNP package to try them out but I’m definitely going to pick them up for ROUTE and TSHOOT.
Did you try the demo on their site? You can download the exam environment and some smaple questions.
I did try the demo (for ROUTE) and I liked it. I used Transcender for my previous Cisco and Microsoft exams and was very pleased since I passed those exams. I just haven't heard anything either way on any practice exams other than Boson and I haven't heard much on them. It's good to get a firsthand report of how well it prepared you for the exam. I've using the ROUTE FLG and the OCG to prep as well as multiple lab sources, so I expect to use the Boson ExSim as a way to drill down on the details before I take the exam. My path to the CCNP is taking much longer than I had originally anticipated so I'm really trying to take my time and nail down all the core concepts in depth so I have a solid base to build on when I get ready to tackle the CCIE mountain.Cisco was my first networking love, but my "other" router is a Mikrotik...
