BGP is evil..

I swear to bog, if I'd had any say in the RFC that defined BGP, I would have insisted that it use TCP port 666.

So I went in to take BSCI today. It is, without a doubt, the hardest exam I've ever faced. It makes the CCNA look like a high school math test.

Really, this exam should be called Bulding Scalable Cisco Internetworks with EIGRP. Lots, and lots of EIGRP.

I'm not gonna tell you how many routersims I got, I'll just say they involved configuring a routing protocol, nat, and redistribution. Know your stuff.

My prep materials were mainly the Cisco Academy Curriculum v3, the Sybex book, Transcender, and alot of routers. These were enough to teach me the basics. I could count the number of 'easy' questions if I'd had one arm amputated and two fingers chopped off on the other hand. And I'd still have fingers left over. This exam not only tests your knowledge of the subject matter, but your analytical ability.

Oh, did I pass?

Yeah, 917. But it sure made me work for it.

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Comments

Webmaster

BGP is something else indeed, sounds like you killed it though, congrats!

Really, this exam should be called Bulding Scalable Cisco Internetworks with EIGRP. Lots, and lots of EIGRP.

I didn't get much EIGRP myself, too litte imo actually, I think it has a lot to do with how you answer the initial survey.

keenon

lol.. at least u passed the test congrats .. i hope to shooting that bull in the next month or so

Drakonblayde

I'd say a good third of my questions were EIGRP, with the remaining 2/3's split pretty evenly between ospf and bgp, with a few isis and miscellanous BS like ip6 thrown in here and there.

And I'm not sure the survey actually does effect your question selection. For starters, I lied and said I didn't know anything in the hopes that maybe I would influence it

And from what I know of Sylvan at least, the test is downloaded either the day of or the night before, that's why you have to give them some notice if you reschedule. What I don't know is if it's downloading the entire question database (doubtful, be easier just to keep it locally), a big subset of questions which your survey could potentially influence, or just your questions, regardless of what you put on the survey. I'd think for security and integrity reasons, the last one makes the most sense... the worst your risking compromise on via dishonest people is one set of questions instead of your entire question base.

Dunno though, it'd take someone from cisco or a testing center to answer for sure.

Ricka182

congrats!

Ten9t6

Congrats....when I took it a few years ago...BGP was hit really hard..

Webmaster

Drakonblayde wrote:

or just your questions, regardless of what you put on the survey. I'd think for security and integrity reasons, the last one makes the most sense...

Makes sense indeed and you are probably right. But I took the beta exam about a year ago and the 'real' thing several months after and I thought I noticed how the survey influenced my question set, cause I deliberately choose different answers (uhmm... different routing protocol skills...).

Drakonblayde

I got a little annoyed, they asked me the BGP synch rule like 3 different ways. I was like 'alright already, I know it, sheesh, move on!'

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention in the initial post, the ? on the sims worked just peachy. I dunno about tab completion, because I don't use, I use the short forms of the commands, which also worked just fine.

Yozh

congrats!

That test wasnt easy, but if you take your time and prep the right way its a snap.

and yeah the tab and ? works well on the sims.