Forgot to send this yesterday... I'm debriefing myself the same day I passed this test (my second CCNP test-BSCN/Routing 2.0 was first), so the information I share is fresh in my head. I hope it helps some folks out there. This is kind of long... The Breakdown: 64 questions, 75 minutes, need 699 (on a scale of 300-100) to pass. It took me 53 minutes, and I'm a slow test taker. Section Analysis (number of questions, difficulty, etc.): CGMP- a few; easy questions Cisco Fundamentals- a few; easy basic router type of questions Multicast- some; wasn't as hard as Boson. PIM, definitions, IP-MAC conversion, etc. Multilayer Switching- some; wasn't as hard as Boson. Config., etc. Spanning Tree- lots of questions; not too bad. States, root bridge, timers, etc. Switching Interconnectivity- some; they make you think Troubleshooting- a few curve balls Trunking- lots of questions; some really make you think. Negotiation, encapsulation, vtp, etc. Vlan Operations- lots of questions; not that bad Types of Questions: 1) Theory, where you have to pick the best 2 or 3 answers of the bunch. 2) What command do you use to do xxx. These were straight multiple choice, with 1 free form type in the command question. Other folks get 1-2 more from what I heard. I had IOS and set-based switch commands. 3) Drag & drop "matching" style- kind of fun. 4) Several "which switch would you choose in this situation" types of questions (Boson is good prep for this). 5) Other product related information, but not really extensive. Resources: 1. I used Cisco Press BCMSN-CCNP by Karen Webb. It is bread and butter for the test and keeps you focused on what you need to know for the test, rather than having to dig around multiple sources (I hate that). It's very nicely written and understandable. 2. Supplemental resource to further explain things that you don't fully understand from the above is Clark & Hamilton's CLSC-CCIE Cisco Press book. I used this for reference during my studies, not for reading cover to cover. It's a very fat book, that's why. I do use it for real-life work stuff and it's a wonderful Bible. Practice Tests (do after you think you're done studying for the test): 1. Boson (I bought test 2 of 2). Each of 4 quizzes in test 2 had about 51 questions, so test 2 had 204 total questions. Some questions stressed the same stuff, but that's ok so I can retain and take each quiz just once. Test 1 or 2 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 3. Boson vs. Colt vs. The Real Thing: I took Boson BCMSN Test #2 quiz A, B, and C and got 77, 75, 69, and 79 (in that order). I took Colt "BCMSN post assessment" and got 48/63 (passing score 47-ouch!). I studied in between tests to go over what I messed up on. But on the real thing I got 912 (passing score 699). So I passed by a very comfortable margin. Misc. Comments: There is no such thing as too much studying! I taught an internal CCIE study group switching class the night before my test. Prepping for that helped me prep for the test, and vice versa. Some questions really make you think and apply what you learned; others are simply recalling things by rote (those of course, are the easy ones). I was grateful that the questions were succinctly written. They didn't take that long to read compared to Boson tests and Routing 2.0 test. That was nice. But sometimes I wondered if I was reading too much into it because of the brevity. Test wasn't as hard as Routing 2.0, but that's because of my experience and familiarity with the switches (the set kind, not IOS). The things I had to work at the most were multicast and multilayer switching, because the theory was new for me. The moderate stuff was more familiar (spantree, vtp, etc.). But don't forget to study the easy stuff too because I had to do "eeny meeny miny mo" between 2 choices several times during the test! I had to work at the IOS switches too because I don't use them. And all those quirky commands on the set switches that I don't use either. I noticed the questions were in "chunks" (e.g., the multicast questions were all in a row toward the end). I like that; Routing 2.0 was the same way. I was unsure about alot of my answer selections as I progressed through the test (which got easier toward the end, like Routing 2.0), and was wondering right from the very beginning if I was going to make it. I did :-) Scary Moments: Had to re-download the test at Sylvan's. My name was grayed out on the computer (couldn't be selected), so I started the test 30 minutes late. But that was ok. When I got to question 45 out of 64, I clicked next to advance to question 46. The computer hung a bit and I heard the hard drive making noises for what seemed like an eternity. We were having stage 3 power alerts today (cold/rainy & lack of online power plants) in San Jose and I had visions of me losing my test and having to go through it again on another day. But question 46 came up and I continued. After I answered question 64 (last one), I hit next and saw "test report printing out". I thought, oh no, where's the Congratulations message? Oh shxx. But then I clicked next and saw the Congratulations! Is it me or does anyone else get hyper after a Cisco test and then "crash"/want to go to sleep 2 hours later? And this is only for CCNP (vs. CCIE)! I'll post to the list as I continue the road to CCNP. For my info. on Routing 2.0, refer to previous post from 10/20/2000 "BSCN/Routing 2.0: Here's the Gouge..." - Jennifer Mellone _________________________________ FAQ, list archives, and subscription info: http://www.groupstudy.com/list/cisco.html Report misconduct and Nondisclosure violations to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
