Passed!

tha_dub

Passed yesterday with a whopping 977 out of 1000. I gotta say I was a little shocked. Probably 60% of the questions I just knew the answer or all the other choices were just a no go. About 10 were a close toss up between two options. The simulations as has been said previously have some bad pictures. There was one really bad question where a certain digit could have been a 3 or an 8 but it was so blurry I couldn't tell. Obviously this would have made me 100% right or 100% wrong. I wasn't too happy about that but I'm thinking I guessed right.

Study material:

CBT nuggets watched twice. The SDM stuff in there saved me. You need to know all of it. Go through the videos and then lab it yourself and make sure it works.
Cisco press guide
boson practice tests
LAB: cisco 2950, 3400 switches and 1841, 1811, and 2911 routers. (SDM) I don't know how many hours....

spd3432

Congrats. I've got it scheduled for next week. Were the problems with the blurry pictures in the sims due to the monitors? What type of equipment was at the test site -- old 14" CRTs or 20" flat screens?

tha_dub

It was a newer flat screen maybe 19'. I was really happy with this test center. I used to have to travel 4 hours each way and they had crap monitors and PC's. This place just opened about 4 months ago and everything is nice and new plus it's only an hours drive.

I don't think it's the monitor. It's the crap quality of the screen shots. I don't know if I'm stepping over the line but based on my score if it makes the most sense that it would be a certain number then assume it is.

Dakinggamer87

Congrats on pass!!

Legacy User

how long did it take you to prep for the test?

tha_dub

dmarcisco wrote: »

how long did it take you to prep for the test?

OHHHH Brother.... The better part of a year. I originally was on the voice track but after I passed the ccna voice the exams got redone and there was not really much in the way of study material. I decided to pick up the security just to have something to do in the meantime. I was on and off for a year until a couple weeks ago I started cramming because I just didn't want to look at it anymore. I'd say 3 months studying a few times a week should be good. If you still have a good handle on the CCNA R+S a lot of that will transfer over.

I've picked up the CCNA Voice 640-461 guide to start on now. I don't intend to write that exam as I already have a ccna voice but they've changed the track so much I'm going to assume I need to know it to move forward in the CCNP V track.

spicy ahi

Congrats on the pass! Voice is on my short list of certs that I'm deciding to challenge next.

hiddenknight821

Congrats! My turn is coming up in 4 weeks.

What resources did you find very helpful? I have Paquet Cisco Press book, and unfortunately, it didn't come with the Boson Exam Demo, so I plan to purchase the Ex-Sim Max once I'm done reading. I am reading the book from cover-to-cover, and did all the labs in the book so far. Do you think it is high likely that one can pass with the two resources I mentioned? I recently got my CCNA last December.

fadhil

congrats

petedude

hiddenknight821 wrote: »

I have Paquet Cisco Press book, and unfortunately, it didn't come with the Boson Exam Demo, so I plan to purchase the Ex-Sim Max once I'm done reading. .

I'm studying with the Paquet text (WGU Books24x7, baby!) and bought the PrepLogic exam. I also snagged a 2610XM from eBay and will likely get a 2611xm to go with it.

Looks to me like if you have the Paquet book, a test prep program and some way to demo SDM, you should be able to pass.

I also have the Exam Cram book and Bryant's book, and will likely need those to fill in for the Paquet cryptography stuff that didn't sink in.

hiddenknight821

@petedude: Sweet! Then I guess we are all set for the exam. So far, I'm not liking the IPS lab activities. I'm using GNS3 to do my labs as my actual routers do not support Advanced Security IOS. I regret buying the routers since I did most of my labs in GNS3. Maybe I ought to sell them asap.

As for the Books24x7, I despite it. Even if Coursesmart (which I like a lot with my iPad) has it, I would still rather buy the hard copy since I figured I may need this book for future reference.

tha_dub

+2 on the SDM practice. It's been said before but you need to know all the required steps to setup and tshoot VPN's, IPS, and zone based firewall in SDM.

Good luck!