Is SWITCH really that bad?

wbosher

I've read a couple of threads on this exam and quite frankly it's scaring me a little. It seems that this is a pretty brutal exam.

I've just started reading the OCG but haven't got into the meat of the book yet, still reviewing CCNA topics.

For those who have recently sat the exam, what are you experiences? I'm thinking that maybe I should do the ROUTE exam fist if SWITCH is really bad. The problem is I already have the resources and hardware to do this one.

I've got the following:

OCG
CBT nuggets

2x 3550
1x 2950
1x 3524

What are your thoughts on this?

NetworkVeteran

wbosher wrote: »

I've read a couple of threads on this exam and quite frankly it's scaring me a little. It seems that this is a pretty brutal exam.

The CCNP exams aren't brutal. They reserve that for CCIE candidates.

Whether the SWITCH or ROUTE exam is more difficult depends more on what you've had more experience working with. For me, the SWITCH was five days of studying. I expect the ROUTE to be about ten days of studying. If you know the basic configuration procedures and troubleshooting commands well, you should make quick work of any professional-level sims.

SharkDiver

Ok, just to give some perspective, very few people will pass these with 5 or 10 days of studying. I studied the SWITCH materials relentlessly for 5 months and the ROUTE materials relentlessly for 5 months and the TSHOOT materials for 1 month.

I thought the SWITCH exam was very hard, but I think most of that was the OCG not really hitting all the topics, and spending alot of time on things that weren't on the exam.

Someone may say they thought the SWITCH exam was a breeze, but that wasn't my experience. I would say the SWITCH exam was the hardest exam I've ever taken, by far.

wbosher

You not filling with confidence Sharkdiver.

I'm in no rush, I've got about 2 years until my CCNA expires. Sounds like i better start now...

SUBnet192

I passed switch fairly easily, somehow the concepts were clear and simple for me. Route is being a pain in the ... right now. I am finishing the INE Route bootcamp and I find the route topics to be harder to memorize. I think it's because there is a lot of theory for a few topics, vs switch which has same amount of theory but in smaller, easier to swallow, bits

wbosher

What study material did you use? I hear that the OCG is a bit light on content.

SUBnet192

For switch? The Cisco Press Hucaby book, and CBT Nuggets. (CBT first, then the book)

vinbuck

I hope i'm in the same category as you Subnet. I've found the SWITCH material way easier than ROUTE and it's taken me half the time to study it. I've built a pretty good labbing foundation, now i'm just trying to fill in all the little gaps to prepare for the 'Cisco Trivia Game' that accompanies every Cisco exam i've ever taken. I'm studying so much now as I'm in the last week of prep that i'm logging CCIE type hours...usually 6-10 hours a day at this point.

Set for next Thursday, March 22 so we will see.......

wbosher

Good luck!

vinbuck

wbosher wrote: »

Good luck!

Thanks, i never feel 100% ready but i'm at that point where I feel it's time to tango

Puffy

SUBnet192 wrote: »

For switch? The Cisco Press Hucaby book, and CBT Nuggets. (CBT first, then the book)

Hmm just a question, did you pickup the Boson EX-Sim exam or were the ones that came with OCG SWITCH book enough?

SUBnet192

Puffy wrote: »

Hmm just a question, did you pickup the Boson EX-Sim exam or were the ones that came with OCG SWITCH book enough?

No Boson... just a lot of lab work and reading.

bermovick

I studied about 4-5 months for route, and about 1 month for switch.

I think the problem with switch is that there's just not very much meat to the material - you don't really have to configure STP. It just works. Yeah, you can tweak it, but there's what? 4 chapters of STP I think (maybe 3).

I did ok on the switch test though (and broke my 'every cisco exam I get a lower score' trend I was starting to worry about).

Used the OCG (only), read through it twice in that month. Took the exam that comes with it and after the first horribly-low score I always get the first pass, I scored about 900 a couple days later, and scheduled the exam for the day after.

wbosher

I'm about 80 pages into the book (just skimming through at the moment), and it's almost all CCNA review. Have barely touched on anything new yet!

vinbuck

bermovick wrote: »

I studied about 4-5 months for route, and about 1 month for switch.

I think the problem with switch is that there's just not very much meat to the material - you don't really have to configure STP. It just works. Yeah, you can tweak it, but there's what? 4 chapters of STP I think (maybe 3).

I did ok on the switch test though (and broke my 'every cisco exam I get a lower score' trend I was starting to worry about).

Used the OCG (only), read through it twice in that month. Took the exam that comes with it and after the first horribly-low score I always get the first pass, I scored about 900 a couple days later, and scheduled the exam for the day after.

So how would you rate the practice exam engine that comes with the OCG as far as difficulty, content and simulating the exam with what you actually faced? I'm using both to prep, the exam that came with the OCG and the Boson EX-Sim MAX which I bought (well work bought it )

bermovick

wbosher wrote: »

I'm about 80 pages into the book (just skimming through at the moment), and it's almost all CCNA review. Have barely touched on anything new yet!

Yeah, you could just about skip the first half of the book, really. I didn't but since you never know, but wow... it was tough slogging through it.

bermovick

vinbuck wrote: »

So how would you rate the practice exam engine that comes with the OCG as far as difficulty, content and simulating the exam with what you actually faced? I'm using both to prep, the exam that came with the OCG and the Boson EX-Sim MAX which I bought (well work bought it )

You know, I've never really had a major problem with any of the OCG version of the boson exams. Yeah they get questions wrong (I've submitted a few errors I found), but they tend to grill you more on if you understand what's in the book. And if you can understand what's in the book, then the test isn't so bad.

One thing - you know the 10-minute rule for sims? Yeah, totally ignore that for switch (well, ... maybe not TOTALLY). I think I spent 30-35 minutes on a sim

Puffy

Nice, so the OCG SWITCH book isn't as bad as alot of ppl say it is. Probably won't pickup the boson exams again. A bit off topic here; what are your thoughts on TSHOOT? I've heard that once you know your SWITCH and ROUTE, then it's not necessary to study for the TSHOOT.

bermovick

Yeah. I really didn't to be honest. I started going through its OCG (I'd ordered the 3-pack of OCGs), but only got a couple chapters in before my 2 weeks ran out (had to wait 2 weeks for next paycheck to book exam)

wbosher

bermovick wrote: »

Yeah, you could just about skip the first half of the book, really. I didn't but since you never know, but wow... it was tough slogging through it.

I did think about doing that, but it's been over a year since I did CCNA so thought I'd better refresh my memory.