Congratulations and thanks for the input. I'll be attempting the BSCN in a
few weeks. Good success to you and all the others who are pursuing the
various cisco certs!!
Robert Lopez
Pfizer
Network Planning
-----Original Message-----
From: Jennifer Mellone [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
Sent: Friday, October 20, 2000 5:59 PM
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: BSCN/Routing 2.0: Here's the Gouge...
I'm debriefing myself within hours of passing this test (my first CCNP
test), so the information I share is fresh in my head. I hope it helps some
folks out there.
The Breakdown:
61 questions, 75 minutes, need 690 (on a scale of 300-100) to pass.
It took me 1 hour, and I'm a slow test taker.
Section Analysis:
Routing Principles (not so many questions)
Extending IP Addresses (not so many questions)
Configuring OSPF in a Single Area (tons of questions)
Interconnecting Multiple OSPF Areas (alot of questions)
Configuring EIGRP (not so many questions)
Configuring Basic Border Gateway Protocol (tons of questions)
Implementing BGP in Scalable Networks (not so many questions)
Optimizing Routing Update Operation (a few questions)
Implementing Scalability Features in Your Internetwork (a few questions)
Types of Questions:
1) Theory, and lots of it, where you have to pick the best 2 or 3 of the
bunch
2) Here's the config, and what does it mean, what does it do
3) Which config. accomplishes the following xxx
4) What command do you use to do xxx, and you select from a huge list in the
exhibit; know if you're in global mode, interface mode, etc.
5) Drag & drop "matching" style
6) Summarization related
7) Apply the theory you know to some situation, such as interpreting show
command outputs
Key Concepts to Study (theory and implementation):
Distance Vector/Link State, How BGP/OSPF/EIGRP work (e.g., updates, hellos,
opens), ip helpers, OSPF LSAs, Summarizing, BGP route selection criteria,
route reflector, next hop, prefix list, policy routing, redistribution (for
BGP/OSPF/EIGRP), basic show commands
Resources:
1. If you have the BSCN course material, that's great. Or buy Cisco Press
BSCN book when it comes out. These are bread and butter for the test and
keep you focused on what you need to know for the test, rather than having
to dig around multiple sources (I hate that).
2. Supplemental resources to further explain things that you don't fully
understand from the above are Doyle's TCP/IP Cisco Press book, ACRC Cisco
Press book, Halabi's Internet Routing Architectures Cisco Press book, and
Thomas's OSPF Cisco Press book (to view the show command screen outputs). I
basically used these for reference, not for reading cover to cover.
Practice Tests (do after you think you're done studying for the test):
1. Boson (I bought test 3, which has some lu lu's on there, especially quiz
D. Each of 4 quizzes in test 3 had 51 questions, so test 3 had 204 total
questions. Some questions stressed the same stuff over and over, but that's
ok so I can retain and take each quiz just once. Test 1, 2, or 3 can be
downloaded for about $30 each from http://www.boson.com/)
2. Free CCO/Colt (strange wording that will deflate your confidence if you
use that as a basis for your understanding, plus they don't give you the
answers; they just tell you which questions you answered wrong)
http://www.cisco.com/cgi-bin/front.x/wwtraining/colt/ColtLogin.pl
Misc. Tips: There is no such thing as too much studying! The questions
really make you think and apply what you learned; very few questions are
simply recalling things by rote (those of course, are the easy ones). Close
the books by 10pm the night before the test and watch ER :-)
I'll post to the list as I continue the road to CCNP.
Jennifer L. Mellone
Network Systems Consultant
CCNA, MCSE, MCP+I
Lucent NetworkCare Professional Services
(formerly International Network Services)
1213 Innsbruck Drive, Bldg. 1
Sunnyvale, CA 94089
Live Operator Paging Service: 800 467-1467
Pager Direct: 888 500-4514
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