CCNP - Passed BCMSN, there are new surprises!!!

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Passed BCMSN, there are new surprises!!!

depamo

2001-09-08, 4:08 pm

Finished my BCMSN and thought that it would be good for me to at least let everyone know that it seems to have changed a little.

The passing score is now 699 with a total of 64 questions in 1:30. I used the Cisco Press course companion and the Boson Pratice Exams to get ready for it. I didn't study too long but there were some omissions from the companion guide that I thought that some would like to know about.

There are troubleshooting questions in the test, not just regular troubleshooting questions, there are some real dozies!! One of mine was-

Under what conditions would packets be seen crossing into other VLAN's when two identical switches are connected together with a trunk between them?

Possible answers included some weird configurations and instances like constant pinging, constant broadcasts and different trunk connection protocols.

That and I also got pummeled with questions on 5K switches with reference to which slot certain devices go into, specific backplane speeds and the like.

On top of all that, I had questions about Cisco Management Software (similar to questions from the CCDA) but there were only two of these.

Overall for comands that I had to enter, I only had to enter two, both very basic - mls rp ip, set port duplex 2/1 full and such. Make sure that you both know and understand Multicast, it will get you if you don't.

Hopefully it is just that I used the course companion and not the certification guide. First exam that I didn't use the certification guide, never again!! Don't get me wrong, if there is a real-world question, I believe that I should be prepared but questions about management software were streatching it a little.

The bulk of the questions were similar in type to the Boson Pratice Exams, but Boson won't get you a passing grade!!

Anyhow, it is over, won't say what the score was but it was over 900.

peterd

2001-09-10, 1:48 am

Hi depamo,

well done!

By the sound of it this was a harder test than the one that I took a few weeks ago!

Regards
Peter

depamo

2001-09-10, 10:39 am

Yeah, I remeber reading your post, almost laxed off the last few days before the test because I expected it to be a little easier. You can imagine my surprise when I took it and I only had about 20 minutes at the end to spare.

Just a total shock, felt that the book only prepared you for about half of the questions on the test.

Mr-Big

2001-09-10, 1:47 pm

What material do you recommend for prepraring you the best? Cisco Press with a supplement of Boson test's? What about the Sybex book from Lammle? I am scheduled to take the BCMSN course in a week and I would like to know what book's I should purchase and read before I take the class...

Thanks

Steve_NTS

2001-09-10, 3:26 pm

Congrats! Thanks for the pointers, that is my next test to take.

Was there any ATM or ATM LANE questions on the exam?

rigoman3

2001-09-10, 4:48 pm

Passed BCMSN today. Thanks depamo on areas of interest to study. You were right on with lots of VLAN questions and Cisco 5k questions. Can't get too in depth but definitely know Multicasting, Spanning Tree, VTP and VLANs. 3 down, 1 to go (CIT)!!! Anyone know how hard this one is? Rigo.

depamo

2001-09-10, 9:55 pm

As far as the questions that I had on these topics, the depth of understanding was limited to knowing that VLAN's can pass over them, provisions are there. The questions were limited to knowing the IEEE and Cisco protocols that enable this. They were never directly the source of the question, they were more indirectly involved as part of a larger question like, which of the following is true and you get a list of protocols with their definitions.

cardshark

2001-09-11, 4:07 am

That test sounds a lot like the one I had back in December. (meaning those questions - I particularly remember the one about the info leaking across VLANs).

I really didn't have many surprises with it. I guess it just matters how you prepare. With the Cisco Press book from approx. September 2000, Bosun and Exam Passer exams I was able to cut off the stupid surprise questions that you'll never see in real life.

Good luck to everyone taking the test soon.

strikeattack

2001-09-11, 2:50 pm

Great posts... I have the test scheduled for 09-21-2001. I must say, I am a little uneasy regarding configuration of multicasting. I have read the book section on it, but I have never implemented multicasting in real life. Most of us typically deal with broadcast control and unicast routing. I'll let you know how the test goes.

depamo

2001-09-12, 12:56 pm

I guess that I need to tone down my typing. The multicast sections will test your knowledge of how it works. You will not be expected to setup anything (actually it is much easier to setup then to talk the theory). You will have to understand what each part is responsible for and how multicast IGMP users, CGMP switches, and PIM (or other multicast routers) routers create the multicast fabric routed/switched.

The book described this pretty well, at least well enough to take the test. The questions will be specific and there will be quite a few of them.

Overall the test isn't impossible, just some questions were not what I was expecting and took some time for me to think about it. From other posts where people were finishing in 30 minutes, I know that they couldn't have had the same questions that I did. So if you know the book pretty well, you will pass. You will have some nasty questions but you will get through it.

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