Took the SWITCH exam finally

I took the test Monday morning, Passed 890/1000. Am I the only one who found ROUTE harder than SWITCH? Dot1x was the only part to give me any trouble.

Now on to TSHOOT, which is scheduled for Saturday morning.

Then since the CCIP is no more, I will either go for my CCIE R&S or DATACENTER.

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Comments

drkat

how fast are you doing the exams? I wanted to bang out the NP in 2 weeks - I'm pretty much ready for ROUTE but would need to review SWITCH

Vik210

Congrats for pass and good luck for Saturday!

Panzer919

It took me a while between ROUTE and SWITCH. I had a lot of work/family interruptions and it took me a while to get back in the groove. The only reason why I am taking the TSHOOT so soon is that I have had multiple people I work with who have taken it say that given what I know and the amount of troubleshooting I have done, it would be no problem for me to take it soon. I've been through the TSHOOT demo online and it's cake so I could imagine some more degree of difficult with the actual test but I think ill be fine.

NP in 2 weeks is (to me) VERY unrealistic. DO NOT underestimate ROUTE or SWITCH. Both are difficult, and combined with Cisco's wordsmithing can knock you on your backside. There is no reason to fly through the exams that fast.

NetworkVeteran

drkat wrote: »

how fast are you doing the exams? I wanted to bang out the NP in 2 weeks - I'm pretty much ready for ROUTE but would need to review SWITCH

I went from CCNA to CCNP within a month. It all depends on what you already know and how quickly you can absorb new material. If you know routing and switching well, I don't remember any particularly tricky wording or silly obstacles on the CCNP exams.

(Besides cramming Cisco's various network models.)

Now, if you're new-ish to networking, there's no way in Hell you'll do it that fast and learn it well enough / retain enough to succeed in job interviews.

There is no reason to fly through the exams that fast.

My reason was more money. I've said it before: I'm a mercenary.

The only reason why I am taking the TSHOOT so soon is that I have had multiple people I work with who have taken it say that given what I know and the amount of troubleshooting I have done, it would be no problem for me to take it soon. I've been through the TSHOOT demo online and it's cake so I could imagine some more degree of difficult with the actual test but I think ill be fine.

This is one of the few exams where many score 1000/1000. Have fun with it!

Good luck! I look forward to your "I'm a CCNP!" post in a week.

drkat

Yeah I been doing the network stuff for about 5 years now, I'm pretty well versed ( lots of provider stuff) and well sh** it's what I do day to day.. so I'll take a look

maybe a week is not a good goal but I'd say within 30 days.

MrBrian

Congrats on your pass! Yea, I too wanted to pursue the CCIP after the NP.. thought it would be a great transition to the IE.. still haven't decided what I'll study after the NP yet, but it will be something!

Concerned Water

lol @ networkveteran.

I wish I was a mercenary.

Danielh22185

Congrats on the Switch pass! I always like to ask people when they have passed what materials they used to study. If you dont mind me asking

Good luck to you with TSHOOT. I hear its pretty much a cake walk if you have prior experience and have passed Route and Switch already.

Panzer919

Danielh22185 wrote: »

Congrats on the Switch pass! I always like to ask people when they have passed what materials they used to study. If you dont mind me asking

Good luck to you with TSHOOT. I hear its pretty much a cake walk if you have prior experience and have passed Route and Switch already.

SWITCH Foundation Learning Guide, some spare switches at work (3550/3560/3750's), my old BCMSN Network Academy Lab Guide, CBT Nuggets and some of the free video's on Youtube, plus the experience I have in building and maintaining networks. It made me really nervous hearing all the horror stories about the exam but everything was fairly clear and all the labs worked.

wave

Panzer919 wrote: »

SWITCH Foundation Learning Guide, some spare switches at work (3550/3560/3750's), my old BCMSN Network Academy Lab Guide, CBT Nuggets and some of the free video's on Youtube, plus the experience I have in building and maintaining networks. It made me really nervous hearing all the horror stories about the exam but everything was fairly clear and all the labs worked.

This is good news. Cisco must have fixed the bugs/errors because I've ready plenty of posts about that. I'm taking SWITCH in a few weeks so this is reassuring!