642-901 FAILED (Update: PASSED!)

marco_feramarco_fera Member Posts: 34 ■■□□□□□□□□
I tried the exam today and I failed with a score of 777 icon_cry.gif
I made a lot of stupid mistakes, combined with BGP and IPv6 not fully understood.
I'll try again in 10-14 days.
The failure is my fault only, but I think the Official Exam Cert Guide covers many things inadequately: any suggestion on alternative study guides or sources?
Marco

Comments

  • KelkinKelkin Member Posts: 261 ■■■□□□□□□□
    What about the Self-study Guide by ciscopress ? I've been hearing that both the Self-study and Exam Prep guides together are good preps for the exam..
  • keenonkeenon Member Posts: 1,922 ■■■■□□□□□□
    if possible any cbts? you should review any topics that are lacking in the book .. i use the cisco website in the last few days before exam
    Become the stainless steel sharp knife in a drawer full of rusty spoons
  • tmlerdaltmlerdal Member Posts: 80 ■■□□□□□□□□
    When I was working on the old version of the exam, I found amazon's reviews of the books to be really helpful. Basically the book that comes with the CCNP Prep library by Clare Gough, was less than to be desired. But the CCNP Self-Study book by Catherine Paquet and Diane Teare was excellent.

    I ended up reading them both because I had a hard time getting through the BSCI test. If you read them in the right order, the one compliments the other well. My strong recommendation is to read the book by Paquet and Teare first, then follow it up with the one by Gough.

    Something else I used that I don't think was totally worth the amount of money I had to spend on it was the audio trainer from PrepLogic. Had plenty of time in the car while I was preparing for the test, and gave a decent lecture on some things.

    Here was another excellent resource I used for my studies:
    http://ccnprecertification.com/

    Also, this is another website I used and here is a link to a posting from someone with all the weblinks he used for the old CIT exam. There was a couple of links in it that were really better BGP material than what was covered in the books I think.
    http://www.tek-tips.com/viewthread.cfm?qid=1304290&page=1
  • NetworkGodNetworkGod Member Posts: 236 ■■■□□□□□□□
    Take your time and don't rush into things, make sure you take your time to understand subjects you were weak on.. icon_jokercolor.gif
    What one man can do another can do.

    (\__/)This is Bunny. Copy and paste bunny into
    (='.'=)your signature to help him gain world
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    - CCNA - CCDA - BCMSN - BSCI -
    - 70-270 -
  • marco_feramarco_fera Member Posts: 34 ■■□□□□□□□□
    Thanks for the tips!
    I'm back on the books...
  • mikej412mikej412 Member Posts: 10,086 ■■■■■■■■■■
    tmlerdal wrote:
    When I was working on the old version of the exam, I found amazon's reviews of the books to be really helpful. Basically the book that comes with the CCNP Prep library by Clare Gough, was less than to be desired. But the CCNP Self-Study book by Catherine Paquet and Diane Teare was excellent.
    I agree with all 3 of these! :D

    Check out the Cisco Press CCNP page to see what they'd like to sell you. I liked the reference sheets that had come with the old Cisco Press Flash Cards, so if the new ones you can buy individually now are like the old ones -- then they should be great for review before the exams.
    :mike: Cisco Certifications -- Collect the Entire Set!
  • networker050184networker050184 Mod Posts: 11,962 Mod
    I'm reading them both and the exam cert guide does leave a little to be desired as far as depth into topics. My plan is to go through the study guide first. Then read the exam cert guide to do final prep for the exam. The study guide also ends the chapters with lab scenarios which is good to make the info stick.
    An expert is a man who has made all the mistakes which can be made.
  • Ferret999Ferret999 Member Posts: 86 ■■□□□□□□□□
    I've said it a million times and I will say it again the Self Study Guide for BSCI is an absolutley brilliant book read it :D Also you are right as I have all the self study guides for CCNP they have published and the certification library then I can tell you that the cert guides are very light compared to the self study books you only have to look at the difference in the size of the books to see that.
  • CrunchyhippoCrunchyhippo Member Posts: 389
    Ferret999 wrote:
    I've said it a million times and I will say it again the Self Study Guide for BSCI is an absolutley brilliant book read it :D Also you are right as I have all the self study guides for CCNP they have published and the certification library then I can tell you that the cert guides are very light compared to the self study books you only have to look at the difference in the size of the books to see that.

    Pardon my ignorance, but what is the title(s) of the self-study book(s) you're referring to?
    "Computers in the future may weigh no more than 1.5 tons." - Popular Mechanics, 1949
  • networker050184networker050184 Mod Posts: 11,962 Mod
    Building Scalable Cisco Internetworks (BSCI) (Authorized Self-Study Guide), Third Ed. is the current edition of the study guide for the BSCI. Liked others have stated, its a very good book. Go here http://www.ciscopress.com/markets/detail.asp?st=44734 for all the suggested reading and titles.
    An expert is a man who has made all the mistakes which can be made.
  • marco_feramarco_fera Member Posts: 34 ■■□□□□□□□□
    BSCI re-taken and passed with 904!
    I took my revenge on BGP with a 100% sub-score.
  • joshgibson82joshgibson82 Member Posts: 80 ■■□□□□□□□□
    Congratulations, that is a great score.
    Josh, CCNP CWNA
  • impelseimpelse Member Posts: 1,237 ■■■■□□□□□□
    Congrats

    Raul
    Stop RDP Brute Force Attack with our RDP Firewall : http://www.thehost1.com
    It is your personal IPS to stop the attack.

  • mikej412mikej412 Member Posts: 10,086 ■■■■■■■■■■
    Congratulations! icon_thumright.gif
    :mike: Cisco Certifications -- Collect the Entire Set!
  • r_durantr_durant Member Posts: 486 ■■■□□□□□□□
    Congrats marco!! icon_thumright.gif
    CCNA (Expired...), MCSE, CWNA, BSc Computer Science
    Working on renewing CCNA!
  • shednikshednik Member Posts: 2,005
  • mikearamamikearama Member Posts: 749
    Nicely done, bro. Keep up the good work.
    There are only 10 kinds of people... those who understand binary, and those that don't.

    CCIE Studies: Written passed: Jan 21/12 Lab Prep: Hours reading: 385. Hours labbing: 110

    Taking a time-out to add the CCVP. Capitalizing on a current IPT pilot project.
  • romainromain Member Posts: 222
    Well Done ! icon_wink.gif
    CCIE R&S Candidate

    Dynamips Labs
  • joaquin48joaquin48 Member Posts: 2 ■□□□□□□□□□
    HI
    My name is Joe (Joaquin actually), I am a network engineer for a bank, and I have JNCIA-E (Juniper), Network+ , i-net+, and CCNA.

    I am working towards my CCNP's BSCI, probably I will attempt it in the next 4 to 6 week, probably less.

    I am using the Lammle's Sybex book, which is pretty good, but I will get the Cisco self study guide as well.

    What do you guys think? How would you compare this test with CCNA?

    Thanks,
    Joaquin

    *******************************
    JNCIA-E, network+, i-net+, CCNA
    i-net+, network+, security+, JNCIA-E, JNCIS-E, CCNA, BSCI (routing exam towards CCNP)
  • mikej412mikej412 Member Posts: 10,086 ■■■■■■■■■■
    joaquin48 wrote:
    How would you compare this test with CCNA?
    How Hard is the 642-901 BSCI?

    Hum.... while I'm here, maybe I'll update the subject line to reflect the happy news
    marco_fera wrote:
    BSCI re-taken and passed with 904!
    :mike: Cisco Certifications -- Collect the Entire Set!
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