Failed the CCNP Route 300-101

I took, and failed the CCNP Route exam today. Quit two of the sims early because I was running out of time, and felt really unprepared for some of the other questions. Back to the drawing boards.

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PCTechLinc

Ouch man, that really sucks. You have a game plan for another attempt?

joshuamurphy75

Not yet, I'll try to figure out a plan tonight. I think it would be best to break apart the PDF file from the Cisco site saying what might be covered, and make myself a schedule out of it.

PCTechLinc

If you haven't already, check out the Cisco forums to see what others are saying about the exam. Last I checked (few months ago), a lot of people were complaining about the content on the exam not matching the objectives list or OCG (same issues with CCNA Security exam). You might have to go into some CCIE-level studying.

dontstop

I've just started my planning here

ande0255

What seems most important is to extract necessary information as quickly as possible to start eliminating answers as wrong.

The fact there is more than two simulators makes my brain hurt, I hope all that labbing pays off on my exam day at the end of this month.

Good luck next time, hope it wasn't so overwhelming, if it is as bad as INE Practice + Multiple Sims than yikes. Big time.

joshuamurphy75

Yeah, I read the official cert guides 3 times, took notes and googled everything on them, then skimmed the applicable parts from the TCP/IP books, and reviewed by watching the Skill-Soft course videos. I think I'll ignore official cert guide this time around, and print a copy of the exam objectives, looking each one up in the CCIE books, and lab them pressing the "?" key as often as possible to learn the obscure features. I'm not about to say that the stuff in the exam was not on the objectives, just that the level you need to know it is much higher than the training materials led me to believe.

dontstop

Another tip might be to take all of the show commands you have determined are relevant for what you are learning and understand each and every line from a describe perspective. For example, right now if someone asked me what every line of `show int` meant I could describe a few but I'm sure I'd miss a few lines or not understand what certain timers mean or do. I think this is the kind of depth that Cisco is looking for, for instance I just looked at the command then and noticed I have no idea what "watchdog 0" means. This is the kind of thing that would eat me in the exam.

I think this level of curiosity is what Cisco is demanding.

ande0255

I think its the luck of the draw on questions, as you can be tested on any array of technologies under the blueprint topics, the only 2 security questions on the test, that is 10% off your grade immediately.

I've seen this with ICND2 exams where one that I failed I came away asking wtf just happened, while the next one half the questions I knew the answer before I finished reading the question.

At this point I just want to pass the ROUTE, I have had enough fun labbing and learning, I just want to validate that the last 5 months of grinding after work all night on studying / labbing wasn't for nothing.

I fully expect it to take more than a first try, but damn would I love to walk away from the first attempt with a Pass grade, my head might explode with joy.

MAC_Addy

Best of luck next time! It happens to most of us. What I typically do is this: if you remember the questions you could not answer, write them out and search Cisco's documentation on that particular subject. That will help reinforce the weak areas that you encountered.

ande0255

I am currently going through the entirety of Topic List one as its a lot of misc stuff I actually did not know, and then in 30 minutes I'm going to sun bathe for a few minutes before INE practice exam take 2.

Last time I got 33%, and actually did pretty good I thought given the complexity of the questions, hoping that score improves a lot though I still have some ground to cover with SNMP, Netflow, IP SLA, and soon to be more I'm sure

The "Network Principles" I scored 0% on, so I am hoping with all that I'm learning today (can't believe how much I don't know from there), that score will rise dramatically.

That and my days of digging into OSPF LSA types and Routers until I about fell out of my labbing chair.

ande0255

Well my score went up 7%, funny thing is I got 0% on "Network Principles" yet again, I so hate this exam right meow.

For the record, I have gone through Section 1 of the ROUTE blueprint, and googled and read RFC's on "Network Principles" all day, and 0%, that is unbelievable.

I felt really good about the grade I'd get too, funny how Cisco related exams can kick you so hard in the balls over and over, back to the drawing board myself x_x

PCTechLinc

ande0255 wrote: »

Well my score went up 7%, funny thing is I got 0% on "Network Principles" yet again, I so hate this exam right meow.

Maybe you should go relax with a liter cola.

ande0255

Oh after work / study all day follow by a 90 minute INE brain killer I just passed right out for 3-4 hours, now onto his video explanations of why I am a failure at ROUTE - Then do it all again tomorrow!

DCD

The sims are the bigest part of the exam. What are your percentages for the exam?

snokerpoker

Keep your head up! I failed the switch exam the first attempt. I felt like that exam was one of the most difficult cert exams I have ever taken. As others have said the sims are a huuuuuge part of the exam.

Keep studying and you'll get it. Good luck!

ande0255

You felt SWITCH was harder than route? Are currently CCNP R/S certified or are climbing thd ladder as well?

Are you currently CCNP R/S certified?

joshuamurphy75

Got a plan together for the re-attempt. Going the slow and steady routeto keep from getting behind on my college classes.

Read the following

Routing TCP/IP Volume I (finishing today)
Routing TCP/IP Volume I Second Edition
Routing TCP/IP Volume II
Routing TCP/IP Volume II Second Edition
SNMP MIB Handbook by Walsh
Essential SNMP by Mauro & Schmidt
NTP RFCs 1305, 5905
Review PPPoE, GRE, DMVPN, EVN, NAT64, NPTv6, SLA and NetFlow from Cisco's web site
Implementing Cisco IP Routing (ROUTE) Foundation Learning Guide
Re-read, CCNP Routing and Switching ROUTE 300-101 Official Cert Guide
Re-watch the SkillSoft videos

I often am not home when I'm studying, so I ordered a PCI to 8 DB-9card for my computer, and set up remote desktop, so I can follow along with routers and Wire-Shark while reading. It's overkill, but it's fun, and anything extra I learn will come in handy when it's time for the CCIE.

ande0255

It's hard to say what tripped me up on Friday with the ROUTE exam, I felt a flash back to the CCNA, when your looking at two answers thinking what the hell is the difference between those two except wording?

I wish I could give one example that was mind boggling to me, and really kicked my in the sack, but I don't want to break the NDA so I'll let future ROUTE candidates hopefully not ever find it.

The only thing I can think of is study how to do the sims faster, brush up on the few questions I didn't genuinely know the answer to, then it will be an entirely different exam next time that I'm not prepared for the oddly worded answers for

Good luck on your next try!

Danielh22185

I will say it again. Don't skip or speed through sims. Learn them. Get as much possible information you can squeeze out of them to understand what they are looking for so you have a plan on your next attempt. I don't think any of us can say with certainty how exactly the exams are weighted but I think we can all agree Cisco wants you to nail every one of the SIMs. So with that said if you find yourself struggling, don't give up. Use the time. Multiple choice questions are trivial and you can don't need the exam exposure time to re-strategize your approach for those.

Good luck with the next attempt!

ande0255

Oh there is so much I want to say, and having to keep deleting my words to not break the NDA, but there is a myriad of ways that Cisco throws gotchas into that exam, it definitely doesn't stop at the Sims