Switch seems to have a lot more trivia then Route

I'm not sure if it is just me or what, but studying for the switch exam has been a lot tougher than the route exam. The main reason I'm finding the switch exam tougher is it seems to have a lot of more random trivia like questions. Route on the other hand just had a lot of material to cover. The basics of the switch exam are not very difficult, but remembering all the little details and watching how things are worded is what makes Switch so tough.

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FloOz

Damn and I thought switch was going to be a lot easier based solely on the difference in book size. The Switch books looks tiny compared to the Route one.

wintermute000

defo what most of us think. There is a LOT of crap you'll have to memorise for switch. Conversely, the 'logic' in route is harder. aside from STP calculations / exact behaviour, most of switch is remembering feature X has effect Y. That was my takeaway anyway (I'm more furious they do not cover any nexus/fabric at all leaving us with happy fun times for our first nexus builds, and the bosses ask 'why do you need to go on a course aren't you a CCNP' AAARGH).

Jackace

wintermute000 wrote: »

defo what most of us think. There is a LOT of crap you'll have to memorise for switch. Conversely, the 'logic' in route is harder. aside from STP calculations / exact behaviour, most of switch is remembering feature X has effect Y. That was my takeaway anyway (I'm more furious they do not cover any nexus/fabric at all leaving us with happy fun times for our first nexus builds, and the bosses ask 'why do you need to go on a course aren't you a CCNP' AAARGH).

This has been my experience as well. Lots of just plain old memorization for this exam. Sure you can lab it, but there isn't usually much to lab. One good example is HSRP, VRRP, and GLBP. All 3 basically do the same thing, but have some slight differences or work slightly different. All you can really do is memorize those differences.

Danielh22185

This is also kind of in line with what I have heard from some CCNP guys at work. They have actually stated the test overall seems easier but Cisco gets you with being more tricky to REALLY test your knowledge. I guess they understand that Route is hard in its own because of the material and logic covered and use switch as a testament of what you really know.

sacredboy

As for me I find SWITCH and switching in general more easy that ROUTE and routing.

instant000

SWITCH seems to have more trivia. I did way more labbing when preparing for ROUTE than I did for SWITCH. Despite that, I put more time into SWITCH, due to the "trivia" aspect of it. Oh well, that is what flash cards are for!

Kory

Route seemed much more difficult for me. Maybe its just a matter of what I am used to working on, but I have always found (with the exception of the CEF stuff...ugh) switching to be easier material to grasp.

Master Of Puppets

I have trouble with SWITCH. I just don't find it interesting enough. ROUTE is awesome, I love the material, it's cool and I have a great time with it.

mworwell

I'm having trouble with SWITCH as wel. I was expecting it to be easier than ROUTE but that definitely hasn't been the case. STP is my arch-nemisis...as well as CEF.
It also doesn't help that I'm just not as interested in the switching concepts

Jackace

Now that I changed my learning technique to more of a memorization one instead of a labbing one I found that I was able to remember the details much easier. I have scheduled my exam for the end of the month so lets hope I pass the first time.

razar

This is interesting, I was expecting that id have to buy some switches to help me pass this, are people saying thats not the case? What's the recommended study materials needed for switch?

d6bmg

Really? I find switch syll to be much easier than the route - with lower versatility.

dmcneil330

The SWITCH topics are good. It's not understanding the material it's the exam question and how they are worded. Very vague and you have to really know each technology in and out to answer it. I guess not very different from most Cisco exams but nonetheless that's what makes this particular material difficult, at least for me. It is very trivia based. I wrote the exam earlier in May and failed. I felt prepared and labbed up everything. It's all the little details and there are tons of little details in switching.

f0rgiv3n

I learned the switching material pretty quickly because most of my experience has been at the LAN level. Route was a bit harder for me to grasp for some reason.

With that said: Switch was the hardest exam of the three for me!! I'd say it's more of a tricky exam than just trivia. They really make you sit there and go "wha?!?!" O_o So I agree with you!