CCNP in a week - R&S

Discussion in 'General Cisco Certifications' started by BraderzTheDog, Dec 22, 2013.

  1. BraderzTheDog

    BraderzTheDog Kilobyte Poster

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    Merry Christmas to all!

    I hope the holidays are serving you well, I would like to ask you the following question...

    Seeing as the new year is almost upon us, we find ourselves looking back at what we have / haven't done and make goals for 2014. Well... I'm doing the same and i'm a bit dissapointed I haven't got my CCNP R&S yet.

    Hence, I'm thinking of taking a week off in Jan to study Route and Switch and then take them both on Friday and the following monday. I will be self studying for 7 hours a day (basically 9 - 5 with breaks inbetween).

    Planning to use the following resources: CBTnuggets CCNP vid's, the knowledge gained from watching these backed up with the switch and route books. Followed by the Cisco CCNP lab guide (I have the lab kit already at home).

    TSHOOT - I will probably take a few week after.

    So what do you think? I do come for a fairly experienced background doing alot of whats in the exam daily in project and design work. So its not a blank sleight, I'm just building further on what I already know.

    Does this sound achievable and more importantly... I am looking to build on my skills that I already have so I can do my job more efficiently + be more valuable as an engineer in the job market.

    Let me know your thoughts :)

    Happy Christmas!
    Brad.
     
    Certifications: CCNA R&S, CCNA-SEC, CCSA, JNCIA FWV, MCITP, MCTS, MTA, A+
  2. Cunningfox

    Cunningfox Byte Poster

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    It purely depends on how familiar you are with the material and how much you do day-to-day. Some of the Route stuff focus on redistribution/pbr and stuff you wouldn't normally come across.

    With CCNP, Route is the biggest hurdle you have to overcome, most switch stuff you can come across in a lot of places but how many companies run EIGRP, OSPF, RIP and BGP (not to mention IPv6 variants) and customise it all with redistribution, route maps, prefix lists and similar. Depending on your starting point, even after getting through it after a hardcore week and passing the exams I'd been concerned how much you'd actually retain say 4-6 months later.

    Good luck if you go for it.
     
    Certifications: CCNP, CCNA, MCP
    WIP: ??
  3. bbel121

    bbel121 Bit Poster

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    My experience ( and I had a networking background too) was it took me a month for each of the CCNP exam. I woudl basically read a chapter a night(as reading multiple chapters a day it information overload). Once I was done the book in about 10 days or so, I woudl then do all the labs. That woudl take about 5 days as I would do maybe two labs a day or so. Then I would do one of the practice exams. I would print off the stuff I got wrong and reviewed those topics until I knew them inside and out. That might take another week or so. Thus I was generally reading withing 30 days as life would get in the way here and there and delay me a bit.

    Tryign to do it in a week might be able to be done if you don't really care about retaining the information. Well, atleast that is how my brian works. Maybe you can retain data like that. Possibly my CPU is flawed :)
     
  4. Josiahb

    Josiahb Gigabyte Poster

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    BEST. TYPO. EVER.

    I'm afraid I have nothing meaningful to add but this did make me giggle!
     
    Certifications: A+, Network+, MCDST, ACA – Mac Integration 10.10
    BraderzTheDog likes this.
  5. BraderzTheDog

    BraderzTheDog Kilobyte Poster

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    Hahahaha!

    Thanks for the advice also! :)
     
    Certifications: CCNA R&S, CCNA-SEC, CCSA, JNCIA FWV, MCITP, MCTS, MTA, A+
  6. jonny7_2002

    jonny7_2002 Byte Poster

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    I'm not being funny or anything but is there a need to rush it? if you rush it may be able to pass the exam but you wont 'really' know it?

    My general rule of thumb is....
    CCNA R&S/ ICND1 and ICND2 = 4-6 months PER EXAM
    CCNA Specialist exam = 2-3 months of study (Videos/Reading/Labbing)
    CCNP Exams = 3-6 months PER EXAM (Videos/Reading/Labbing/Reading some more/then some more labbing)
    CCIE Exams = Havent got a clue but most people I know say 3 years !!! :o (dont think the wife will put up with that one....???)

    My exam route to my current level was as below:
    ICND1
    ICND2
    CCNP Switch
    CCNP Route - FAILED :-(
    CCNP Route
    CCNP TShoot
    CCDA
    CCNA Security
    CCNA Voice
    CCNA Wireless - Booked for next Saturday 15/02/14!!
    CCNP Security SECURE (the new version SISSP or whatever it is will be my next plan!

    The CCNA is the start therefore I spent more time on those to make sure my foundations were right as if they are not then the rest of the certification 'house' will fall down!

    CCNP I passed relatively quickly in my eyes (looking back) and knowing what I know now, I was not a CCNP level engineer when I passed them! Although the stuff I learnt was good, the experience over the preceding couple of years was the key to feeling/believing and being recognised as a CCNP level engineer!

    The CCNA specialist exams are relatively easy when you 'come down' from the CCNP level as some of the stuff you have already covered in the NP exams and generally if you are an NP you would be in a networking job and have a little experience in the subject matter - Wireless/Security/voice etc etc.


    My certification travels have led me to believe that passing an exam is the easy bit... after passing if you are lucky enough to be in a networking job then its the preceding months and years that will teach you the majority of the stuff you need to know. the certs just give you a very good insight and the ability to learn it a damn site quicker than someone who does not have the cert under their belt. Basically, it opens the door!!

    Either way, this is my opinion and the way my brain thinks and can learn! each person is different and learns at their own pace, whether that be doing the study in a week or a year.

    I will add, although the Cisco world is pretty amazing on its own, I found that as soon as I ventured out into other vendors such as HP/Brocade/Huwaei/Juniper, the 'world' got a whole lot bigger and I started to question some of the Cisco kit (mainly for their price). Other kit is just as good for certain requirements!

    Hope I haven't bored you lot too much! Good luck with your cert travels!

    Cheers
    Jon
     
    Certifications: CCNA R&S, CCNP R&S, CCDA, CCNA Voice, CCNA Wireless & CCNA Security
    WIP: CCIE V5 (when its out)

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