Unfortunately Peter, having just written the Routing 2.0 and Switching 2.0
exams, I'd have to disagree. To pass the exams, Cisco Press is the best
source you can get if that's your only goal.
The old CCNP 1.0 exam series took a lot of heat for being ambiguous, poorly
worded, difficult to understand. Likely they were written by people with
technical knowledge that didn't have any experience writing. The new CCNP
2.0 exam series is straight forward, very little ambiguity, and the
questions seem to be word-for-word straight from the course material. I
think Cisco likely went in the opposite direction and hired people that knew
nothing about networking but could write. With a miniscule of knowledge
about multicasting, I read over one chapter the night before, skipped the
second on how to configure multicasting, and scored 100%. My third highest
section score was multi-layer switching, which I read over the morning of
the exam.
Cisco--are you listening?
I'm extremely disappointed in the quality of the questions on the exam. I'm
tinkering around with a Cat 5 and a 2924XL right now. It's been a year and
a half since I last touched a Cat 5 (I was quite proficient back then) but
I'm constantly accessing the help facility to get the correct format of the
command on the Cat 5 and as for the 2924XL? That's just plain ugly. I'm
used to the 1900 series IOS commands. "Trunk on". "Set trunk on". Who the
heck would think that a trunk command would be prefaced with "switchport"?
That's the last place I looked on the 2924XL.
It's now ungodly easy to become a paper CCNP - because I passed the exam and
yet I'm as awkward as can be navigating the switch. Yes I know the concepts
and theory... but it will take me a bit of time to get up to speed finding
my way around--and I'll be there in about two and a half weeks. THAT's when
I should be able to pass the exam--and not before. With the relative ease
of questions, with the fact that you don't have to apply the knowledge to
pass (just regurgitate), the CCNP certification won't be highly regarded in
the industry and it shouldn't be.
One thing I might mention--is that I'm disappointed in the exams--not the
Cisco Press material. Cisco Press's books are a great resource for finding
out how to do things. If the only goal is to pass the exam, Cisco Press is
the way to go. And that's truly disappointing.
What we do at CertificationZone.com... what I do at Sybex... that's such a
completely different philosophy. The focus there is on learning--having the
skills and knowledge to pass the exam. You've got to think because you're
not spoon fed. CertificationZone as a preparation source is just awesome
(but then again, I'm biased aren't I?)
If you're the type of person that wants to use the tests to determine how
well they've developed a skill set... CertificationZone and other 3rd party
publishers that publish quality material are the best source of study
material because you won't pass based on straight regurgitation. Moreover,
if you pass your CCNP exams based on 3rd party sources, in my opinion you're
more likely prepared "on the job" at "at the lab" if you're going for your
CCIE. It's funny that Cisco spends so much time worrying about the NDA when
really you can find the questions to the exam almost word-for-word in a
Cisco Press book.
Cisco... why not try hiring technical people that can write? Why not try
hiring people that can develop questions that require knowledge to be
applied to scenerios?
Cisco--are you listening?
-----Original Message-----
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]On Behalf Of
Peter Van Oene
Sent: Thursday, August 23, 2001 6:39 AM
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: RE: Best study materials to use [7:16946]
Cisco Press is just another publisher and in my opinion indicates no more or
less valuable text than any other publisher.
*********** REPLY SEPARATOR ***********
On 8/23/2001 at 6:10 AM Munzir Khan wrote:
>Cisco Press is always the best bacause it is more specific what you see in
>the real exams although some people read other books along with cisco press
>which are more users friendly and easy to pickup like sybex, examcram etc.
>
>CCDP is just an addition to CCNP where you see more about desgining
>networks
>and you have to give two additional exams CCDA & CID to obtain CCDP cert.
>
>Cheers.
Message Posted at:
http://www.groupstudy.com/form/read.php?f=7&i=17010&t=16946
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