SWITCH Plans – CCNP Passes!

Hey, so lots of great news in the Tweep and blogger community for those who beat the deadline of the old CCNP (BSCI, BCMSN, ONT and ISCW) exams that hit it’s payload today. Yesterday was your last chance to take these exams – if you missed them, you got to take the new CCNP track exams.

Congrats to: @TheParadiso, @aconaway, @ewiss, @Routemyworld, @bdwill, @nemisisgy, @lynxbat and Rofi Neron – Hope I didn’t miss anyone?

Oh! And my good buddy @jlgaddis !!

I also beat the deadline for the BSCI exam and it’s the only exam I have so far under my belt toward my journey to the CCNP.

So currently I’m working on SWITCH and plan to sit the exam the end of September, let’s see if I can stay on track with the goal.

The approach is simple -  use multiple resources, take notes, lab, ask when you dont understand something, dont lose focus and study every day or where and when you feel comfortable, easy enough? Ya OK!  I create a schedule (thanks @routemyworld for the idea) to help me with my target studies including number of pages and topics each day – it worked perfectly for my BSCI studies.

Firstly, I’m studying and going over old BCMSN material right now until the release of Chris Bryant’s new SWITCH material. Yes, I know some of you don’t quite like his material, but for me  – his method of teaching just works for me.  Asking why this first? For some reason, Chris’ method helps me grasp concepts and the basics while also learning the particulars and important points as well.

After that will be some labbing and then onto CiscoPress material. I’ve got the CP SWITCH Foundation (use this, not the official cert guide – see why among the many posts online) book in ebook format, but I’ve realized I’m not the best when it comes to reading on a computer. I’ll be ordering the hard copy soon.

The next steps will be some of this a that – between labbing, review and watching CBTs. I used Train Signal for BSCI (Chris Bryant) and that worked well for me. I’ve been told that he puts many folks to sleep, but not me, wonder if that makes me just as monotone as him? Hey, it works for me and so you have to stick with what works for you! Hopefully when I get to this point CBT Nuggets and Train Signal will have SWITCH CBTs published.

My labbing environment will consist of a combination of GNS3 bridging over to real 2950 (scooped up from @ewiss – Thanks!) and 3550 switches. The labbing material will more than likely be the old BCMSN lab manual from CiscoPress as well as some self-created labs and whatever else I can find. I’m still not sure on exactly how much labbing I’ll need for this exam, but regardless – we need to master the material and be ready for anything!

So I’ve been taking notes since I’ve started studying, I’m wondering if it would make sense to post the notes as a page or as posts, or both?  We’ll see

Just noticed that @aconaway blogged “Some Cisco Testing Advice” – A must read. Advice from a guy who’s got experience with every aspect of testing – from testing centers issues, failing due to exam blueprints and inaccurate matching study materials and his own personal study experience – both good and bad. Thanks Aaron!

That’s about all I’ve got today!

-Cheers!

@LBSources