Siiigh ... Missed the BCMSN again

[Tommouse]

Yep, missed it again. I improved 20 points with reading a whole new book and studying my ass off. I'm thinking it's time to take a class on test taking or something, as the knowledge is rattling around up there, it just can't seem to make it out into the test. That said, I'd sure like to not pay another 150 to try this again, and was hoping one of you kind folks would know of a promo code.

Thanks!
-Tom

 

[mcmilljb]

Originally posted by: Tommouse
Yep, missed it again. I improved 20 points with reading a whole new book and studying my ass off. I'm thinking it's time to take a class on test taking or something, as the knowledge is rattling around up there, it just can't seem to make it out into the test. That said, I'd sure like to not pay another 150 to try this again, and was hoping one of you kind folks would know of a promo code.

Thanks!
-Tom

Their promo expired 3 weeks ago. If you plan to take it before aug 27, you can save $31 buying a voucher. It's always good to watch them as you get close to exam time because when some of their vouchers get close to expiring, they drop in price quickly. The best deals I ever saw were $89 for 642-xxx exams, and $200 for CCIE written exams.

What areas are you scoring poorly on? Maybe you need a break for a while to let your brain catch up.

 

[jlazzaro]

yes, what were your percentages? i second the above comment...got stuck on ISCW a while back, switching pace to BCMSN/BSCI really helped out.

im not sure what the policy is anymore, but after the third fail you need to wait 6 months before re-taking.

 

[Tommouse]

1st try - Oct 08
Implement VLANs - 80%
STP - 33%
Inter-VLAN routing - 60%
Gateway redundancy - 100%
Wireless clients - 50%
security features - 71%
support for voip - 66%

2nd try - Dec 08
lost sheet ...

3rd try - Aug 09
Implement VLANs - 77%
STP - 60%
Inter-VLAN routing - 66%
Gateway redundancy - 88%
Wireless clients - 70%
security features - 50%
support for voip - 62%

So if this was SAT style, where you take the best from your career of tests I would be good ... but no such luck.

The reason for the big gap between try 2 and 3, was due to scheduling as things are silly busy at work, and don't look to be slowing down anytime soon. So fitting in a retake is going to be tough as well.

Oddly enough I scored best on the section that I don't do in my day to day job (L3 redundancy features) ... and poorly on what I do day to day: VLANs/Routing/VoIP/Sec. That really bugs me, and seems completely backwards. Common sense would say I would rock the stuff I'm that familiar with, but the results say otherwise.

The real kicker is that I feel I know the material, and if given a blank sheet of paper and told to "explain X" I could do it, but that's not the format of these tests :

I'm playing with the idea of just skipping it for now and starting BSCI, but not passing this is already eating at me, and I can't imagine having to face my (apparent) Goliath last. That and I'd like to finish what I start, and not go off on a tangent.

 

[spidey07]

The tests take it a little farther than what you would do day to day and make sure you know the features, protocols and commands. You seem a little weak in STP, that's crucially important and those questions are pretty tough even if your an STP expert. It really tests if you understand exactly how the protocol works.

 

[Tommouse]

STP was one of the area's I studied the heaviest. I went deep into RSTP and MSTP, and there was nothing on the test about those two in particular. They did throw a sim at me asking to load balance across trunks with stp - not something I do day to day. Quite frankly I didn't know it cold, and was in the process of working it out, but with the time pressure I had to leave it only partial functional as I didn't want to run out of time. Which is what happened on my first attempt. So yes, I now know I need to have that part of STP down as well and I will next time. But I'm just worried that I will then flounder in another area where I previously did well/ok on, resulting in another F

Edit - am I allowed to divulge that about the test btw?

 

[James Bond]

What's your lab like?

I'm getting ready for my BCMSN now.

 

[Tommouse]

I don't exactly have a lab per say. I was poking around on the production network at work (3750s and 3560s), just refamiliarizing myself with the show commands I would need and the configs. But I think for this next go round I should utilize a dedicated lab. So I'll probably toss 3 3560's on my desk and go at it that way. This isn't exactly practical though, because I know if I had to pay out of pocket for these things I would do it another way, but since they're not being used at the moment, someone might as well get some use out of them.

 

[spidey07]

You really should have some gear you can play with, be it a lab at home or a small lab at work. This will really let you play around with the protocols and understand just what is going on. I've mentored no less than 10 CCNPs. I will help you, but you have to be able to play (use debugs, monitor state changes, etc).

STP is actually one of my specialties so I consider myself a true expert at it. I don't lie when I say the STP questions are pretty damn hard and test true understanding. But it really is that important in switched networks.

If you want dig up my recertification thread from 2007. I'm not bragging, I know my shit and barely passed.