CCNP - Switch : Passed 934:1000

Just passed the CCNP Switch 642-813 exam. This test is a beast. I read that it was very hard and it was. I actually failed it by 31 points 2 weeks ago. I was worried that I would not be able to be prepared before the deadline. I studied for perhaps 6 solid months. Day and night. At home and at work. At times I thought I was starting to go nuts. I think I had an anxiety attack or two during these months. I really pushed boundaries of how much I could learn in a short time. I think if I gave myself a year instead of 6 months, I would've passed on the first attempt, and not be so stressed out. I put so much work into preparing for test exam that it barely feels like a victory.

I suppose that I should dive right into the Route exam, but I have a pair of free Juniper vouchers that are about to expire. Maybe I should go after JNCIA as a break from Cisco for a few weeks. Thoughts?

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omi2123

congratulations man!! I plan on starting my CCNP R&S jouorney in May. Did you use actual gear or packet tracer for your lab? Where did you get practice lab worksheet? Mind sharing? Thank you.

roberthock

Congrats! I am taking Switch 642-813 tomorrow, so I am cramming right now. Figured I would check here while I took a quick break...

fuz1on

Congrats!!!

Danielh22185

Node Man wrote: »

Just passed the CCNP Switch 642-813 exam. This test is a beast. I read that it was very hard and it was. I actually failed it by 31 points 2 weeks ago. I was worried that I would not be able to be prepared before the deadline. I studied for perhaps 6 solid months. Day and night. At home and at work. At times I thought I was starting to go nuts. I think I had an anxiety attack or two during these months. I really pushed boundaries of how much I could learn in a short time. I think if I gave myself a year instead of 6 months, I would've passed on the first attempt, and not be so stressed out. I put so much work into preparing for test exam that it barely feels like a victory.

I suppose that I should dive right into the Route exam, but I have a pair of free Juniper vouchers that are about to expire. Maybe I should go after JNCIA as a break from Cisco for a few weeks. Thoughts?

Congrats on the pass! I too can vouch for the difficulty of the switch test. I'd say go for the the JNCIA cert. I have heard when compared to Cisco tests they are a breeze. I will be doing the same too when I finish of NP. Route though I can tell ya from the hard time it gave me is rough as well. Maybe the new exam is a bit more organized but it too was a nasty evil beast!

Good luck to ya!

OfWolfAndMan

Awesome job man! Get the Juniper cert knocked out! That is... if they don't expire too soon. Reading material (and practice tests) are free on Juniper's website. Good luck!

theodoxa

Danielh22185 wrote: »

Congrats on the pass! I too can vouch for the difficulty of the switch test.

How is it compared to ROUTE? I'd always heard it was easier, but I've been seeing a lot of fails on here recently. For those who failed, was it the planning topics that tripped you up? What were your bad areas?

Thanks.

gorebrush

I thought the switching exam was more difficult than routing, for some reason I always used to find the Layer 2 a bit fuzzy compared to the deterministic world of routing... I also did fail the switching exam the first attempt I made (BCMSN.. this was 5 years ago...)

snadam

Congrats on the pass, and good luck on the JNCIA!!! With previous networking background, the JNCIA shouldn't be too bad. Get the fast track material, and you should be good to go. Don't forget Junos Genius app for ios/android too. If you're acing those questions, then you're probably good to go.

ccnpninja

Congrats!

Bryando

Congrats! Its always interesting to hear the story of what people went through. Glad it worked out.

bharvey92

Congrats. I found Switch easier than Route. Each to their own I suppose...

Danielh22185

theodoxa wrote: »

How is it compared to ROUTE? I'd always heard it was easier, but I've been seeing a lot of fails on here recently. For those who failed, was it the planning topics that tripped you up? What were your bad areas?

Thanks.

It's all based on where your strong suit is. Route for me had MANY new subjects I had never been exposed to, so grasping the topics took me more time and effort. Switch (the old exam) although I have not gotten a pass after 1 attempt I felt was easier as far as grasping the technology concepts however the test did seem to be written a bit more cryptic in the question / answer choices.

theodoxa

Danielh22185 wrote: »

It's all based on where your strong suit is. Route for me had MANY new subjects I had never been exposed to, so grasping the topics took me more time and effort. Switch (the old exam) although I have not gotten a pass after 1 attempt I felt was easier as far as grasping the technology concepts however the test did seem to be written a bit more cryptic in the question / answer choices.

Now that I took SWITCHv2...I felt I knew the material ROUTE threw at me (except for a few VPN questions and that's supposed to only count for 5%) better than the stuff SWITCH threw at me, yet did better on SWITCH]. I did find one question on SWITCH that had me scratching my head as to what they were asking, but I did eventually realize what they were asking. It was just written a bit like you said "cryptic".