CCNP - Passed 604-503 !

Author

Passed 604-503 !

Justin2112

2001-11-19, 10:30 am

Thanks to all that participate in this forum for your help and suggestions on the routing exam ! There are some good tips on this site.

Something happened to me that never happened before. I looked up on question 45 and saw I had four minutes left on the test ! ( Total 61 Q's ) I did the best I could [ while freakin' out ] and made it to Q #60. The clock actually stopped at Q 60, but it let me finish the question. Finished the test with a 720/690. Hmmmmm let's see; I probably squeezed by that with by a question or two.

So . . .the lesson learned. Cisco does not only test if you can answer, but how quickly you can solve a problem. I just about learned the hard way. ( Funny, 75 minutes sure seems like a long time ), but it really isn't.

I used Cisco Press, both the BSCN book and the exam guide. I made flash cards of the commands ( and which prompt they were issued from ).

Good luck to all;

On to Remote Access !

-Justin

haseeb_eng

2001-11-19, 12:40 pm

congratulations

Certaddict

2001-11-19, 6:26 pm

Congrats!!

Same thing happened to me last time when I was taking my Support paper. I was on my second last question and the time stopped and allowed me to finish off the entire exam.

Way to go!!

CHUD

2001-11-19, 9:50 pm

good job...i'm going to start studying for routing here soon!

Justin2112

2001-11-20, 1:15 pm

You all are sure a bunch of friendly folk here ! I have never been in a forum where there is this much support of the fellow tech - Seriously ! Thanks to all for your support. Ordered my Remote Access Cisco Press book this morning

-Justin

butchie_t

2001-11-21, 9:27 am

Justin2112,

How long have you been studying for this test. And what did you use. I have the 503 course material, Cisco test prep and Sybex. I'm sure that is a bit of overkill but it works for me. An did you use any testprep material (Boson or Transcenders) and would you recommend one over the other. Thanks in advance for your answers.

Justin2112

2001-11-21, 10:00 am

Butchie,

Hey - no prob. I studied for the test for about two months. I used the Cisco Press exam guide and the BSCN book. I must have read the OSPF and BGP chapters like 4 times each before I really grabbed the concept. NBMA gave me some trouble, but I was able to weed it out and make sense of it. Also, I went over hte exam outline and made sure I understood all the objectives.

The test that comes on the CD ROM with the Cisco Exam guide was helpful, the questions were not the same as the test, but the concepts and 'phrasing' was similar.

I did have access to a pair of 2500's at work and I spent the final two days before the exam going through commands and seeing what prompts they were issued from. As I mentioned before, I made a ton of flash cards with the commands and what each did.

Honestly, the biggest factor that helped me was ( and this may sound strange to you ), was convincing my sub-contious mind that I could pass the test. The human mind is very powerful, and most of the time, a person never reaches their true potential. Even though I ran out of time, I honestly believe I passed the test because I BELIEVED I could.

Hope this helps - I know it's not the usual answers seen here.

-Justin

The Ghost

2001-11-21, 10:52 am

What a nice success story.

I like threads like this.

butchie_t

2001-11-21, 1:27 pm

Justin2112,

That's just what I was looking for. Thanks! I know the feeling about test motivation. There comes a time when you just cannot study anymore and get anything good out of it. Dimminishing Returns, I believe it is called. It is at that time when ya' just gotta convince yourself that you know what you need to know and take the plunge. You would not think that committing to a test can be so psycologically hard, but it sure can be. Congrats on the pass BTW. It is not hard for me to believe and understand where you are coming from.

OSPF I have a pretty good grasp on and BGP is getting there, NBMA I will work on as well. Thanks for the pointers. I should be ready sometime around Dec/Jan timeframe as long as I don't get distracted in any way. Happy Turkey Day and thanks again.

B.T.

Justin2112

2001-11-26, 2:32 pm

Butchie,

I am just glad I can share and help. After all, part of being successful is helping others be successful w/o breaking the rules : )

Good luck on BSCN !

Justin

Soray

2001-11-26, 8:14 pm

good job

k3bab

2001-11-27, 5:51 pm

congrats

i passed last month with 752/690

i was close for time also but my last 10 questions were easy ones like why is rip no good because its classful etc

grayscale

2001-11-28, 6:34 pm

I agree that this thread is nice...justin, you're one of the few that I've run into that describes adequately what studying for this exam has really been like (for me anyway). I also had to read both Cisco Press books over and over...they're excellent but they're infuriating in a way, since practically every single sentence matters. It's so easy for your eyes to skim over a crucial piece of information as you're trying to absorb this mountain of material. Considering how thorough you seem to be in your training, I think you're one of those who will do yourself and the certs proud in the industry (and yes, I have definitely met paper-whatevers, even on the order of CCIE, as unbelievable as that seems).

Sigh...now all this being said, I haven't written it yet (I'm just about to, tomorrow in fact).

Pretty nervous considering how difficult I've found the studying (even with 3 years' worth of experience as a network analyst, I might add), but I just thought I'd add my congratulatory 2 cents.

mariolombardo

2001-11-29, 12:19 am

Congratulation on passing...

I sat for it the other week, finished with about 10 minutes to spare. I kept a good on the time and basically answered the questions as quickly as possible.

For it is two down, two to go...

mariolombardo

2001-11-29, 12:21 am

BTW, I used a combination of stuff to prepare for it...

-Cisco Exam Certification guide
-Course notes
-Exam Cram
-Boson test....which was the BEST tool to guide me on test what I had read.

Justin2112

2001-11-29, 9:40 am

Mario and Grayscale;

Thanks for the Congrats. My study technique is down pat - now I just need to figure out a way to not let the clock beat me come test time. I think the Switching exam is also 75 min. I imagine the best way is not not over-think the question, which I may have been guilty of when I did my 604-503. ( or just not paying attention to the clock !!! )

Currently dug in hard on Remote Access - not quite as overwhelming as BSCN. 3 to go !

-Justin

" May Success overtake you like a swift Eagle "

peterd

2001-11-29, 9:47 am

Hello Justin,

Be aware that you shouldn't think of any Cisco exam as being easy. I thought Switching was hard to study but I found the exam was a piece of cake, where BCRAN was really easy to study and the exam very hard (for me, at least).

I have a habit of checking the clock every few questions or so, just to make sure, but I was bowling along on Switching, glanced at the clock/number of questions and I only had half a dozen questions left with something like half the time still available.

Regards
Peter

mariolombardo

2001-11-29, 3:43 pm

Justin,

You basically hit the nail on the head...if think too long at the questions, your stuffed. If you're think too much at the question, you are prepared enough. The first exam I did, switching I had failed because I wasn't prepare enough, got the second time. I think it was a reality check as to how hard the CCNP exams are compared to the CCNA. So I studied my heart out for the routing, using as many books as I could get my hands on. If I didnt know the question, I took an educated guess and moved on quickly. I think that is the key. Managed to get 851 for the routing, which I'm quite happy about. Currently looking at doing the BCRAN in a week or so. Will post how I go....

Grayscale,

I know what you mean that every sentence counts. I had read and reread the books, and each time I had noticed something different. I think it is good to have more that one book, because seeing the same subject described slightly different helps with the exams.
I used the BOSON exams heaps. When I got a question wrong in the practice exam, I reread the part in the book and found that I had missed "critical" words. I learnt to read the WHOLE question properly and the look at all the answers.

For the BSCN, you will need to know OSPF, EIGRP and BGP stuff well. Good luck!

Lt8r Mario.

sidodgers

2001-11-29, 5:57 pm

quote:
Originally posted by mariolombardo
Justin,

You basically hit the nail on the head...if think too long at the questions, your stuffed. If you're think too much at the question, you are prepared enough. The first exam I did, switching I had failed because I wasn't prepare enough, got the second time. I think it was a reality check as to how hard the CCNP exams are compared to the CCNA. So I studied my heart out for the routing, using as many books as I could get my hands on. If I didnt know the question, I took an educated guess and moved on quickly. I think that is the key. Managed to get 851 for the routing, which I'm quite happy about. Currently looking at doing the BCRAN in a week or so. Will post how I go....

Grayscale,

I know what you mean that every sentence counts. I had read and reread the books, and each time I had noticed something different. I think it is good to have more that one book, because seeing the same subject described slightly different helps with the exams.
I used the BOSON exams heaps. When I got a question wrong in the practice exam, I reread the part in the book and found that I had missed "critical" words. I learnt to read the WHOLE question properly and the look at all the answers.

For the BSCN, you will need to know OSPF, EIGRP and BGP stuff well. Good luck!

Lt8r Mario.

I'd like to re-emphasise that last paragraph of Mario's. My experience with the BSCN part of foundation was that there were a LOT of OSPF questions. I wouldn't be able to put a percentage to it, but it was huge. Probably 1/3 of the test was gimmes like 'why is RIP crap' and 'what routing protocol should you use in a large network with point to point subinterfaces', 1/3 was the sort of thing you could get right easily if you thought about it, and 1/3 was brain breaker type stuff that would melt your head if you thought about it for too long.

For the routing exam, my greatest prep. aid was Jeff Doyle's pair of books, Routing TCP/IP volume 1, and Routing TCP/IP volume 2. They tend to go into far greater detail than is required for a 'mere' CCNP certification (mere, yeah right...) but if you learn and understand maybe 80 to 90 percent of the material, you'll find you have no problems at all. Also, Jeff Doyle's style is such that it's easy to understand. These books come highly recommended.

It's good to see people here actually helping each other out, too, like everyone else has said. The majority of message boards and mailing lists i'm on are more destructive than constructive, and that's not a very fun learning environment...

If you've got any other questions about this stuff, i'd be more than happy to answer them either here, or by email (au dot com dot megalink at sid; spam filter, reverse it).

Mario, great to see another aussie here too. Not too many of us around

Cheers,

Sid

Justin2112

2001-11-30, 5:53 pm

Posted by Peterd : " Be aware that you shouldn't think of any Cisco exam as being easy. "

Did I imply that ? They are everything but ! I have taken 4 Cisco exams, passed three, two of which only passing by a question or two.

I am here to share my experience and also call on the experience of others because we all share a common goal, right ?

In order for a person to be successful, that person must GIVE to others that which he/she desires. Anything I can share will any of you - I will (while adhereing to the Cisco agreement ).

Santa will be packin' some Cisco Press books in his sliegh for me this year

Take it easy all -

Justin

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