How to do well in CCIE Routing & Switching written beta exam?

Certification: Cisco CCIE Routing and Switching - Cisco Certified Internetwork Expert Routing and Switching

The CCIE Routing and switching written exam requires the professionals to have the ability to validate, configure and troubleshoot complex enterprise network infrastructure and have the understanding of the interpretation of those infrastructure components. The exam is a closed book where no outside reference materials are allowed. The exam has 100 computer based multiple choice questions to attempt within 2 hours. Passing this exam qualifies the candidate to schedule the lab exam. The topics that are included in the exam are listed below.

1.0.0 Network Principles

2.0.0 Layer 2 Technologies

3.0.0 Layer 3 Technologies

4.0.0 VPN Technologies

5.0.0 Infrastructure Technologies

6.0.0 Infrastructure Services

There are several aspects of CCIE written beta exams to be considered before taking the exams. The first and the foremost is the availability of the authenticate resources. These days various trainings and books are available for the CCIE exam. A wise choice must be made among those resources according to the comfort of the reader. Trainings from the Cisco vendor partners like Firefly, Fastlane etc. can be helpful. Besides various cisco training tools are available in the official website of Cisco in order to assist the candidate in the certification journey. But like good products, good trainings cannot be restricted to a certain vendor. Some of the books that can be really helpful for the exam are listed below.

Cisco Unified Computing System (UCS)
Implementing Cisco UCS Solutions
CCIE Routing and Switching Tech Seminar
Network Security Technologies and Solutions (CCIE Professional Development Series)
Cisco configuration guides
Interconnections: Bridges, Routers, Switches and Internetworking Protocols
Internetworking with TCP/IP Volume 1

First of all the learning the protocols and topics mentioned in the blueprint is essential. Hand written notes can be more helpful than typing since we can absorb the information more readily through writing notes manually. On the other hand it is easy to memorize various helpful network diagrams by drawing them on a notebook. Like any topic in the technical field there are more than one way of doing things in this exam too. One has to get prepared in every possible way and must have adequate knowledge of all the required topics in order to tackle the exam in a comfortable manner.

The main difference between the CCIE written exam and other Cisco certification exam is that you can mark the questions for review and come back later for verification. At the end of exam one can go back to any question that are marked for review before submitting the exam. This helps very much in case of confusion in many questions. It is better to go through the INE videos after getting the blueprint. These videos provide insight on the important topics to be covered. Though there is a belief that storage is not a very big part of the CCIE exam but in fact it carries utter importance in the exam. Various topics in the exam are related to the storage and therefore it is important to have a good understanding of this topic. INE storage videos can turn out to be helpful for the storage topic. Taking notes while going through the topics can be very helpful later.

Through the repeated theoretical as well as practical approach one should be clearly able to describe basic software architecture differences between IOS and IOS XE and their impacts and performances. The understanding of the network implementation and operation along with the evaluation of the proposed changes to the network is necessary. Troubleshooting is one of the most important topic that has to be covered anyhow in order to pass this exam. Troubleshooting includes the concepts of using various troubleshooting tools to debug and ping trace route with additional options and apply troubleshooting methodologies to diagnose the root cause of networking issue and design and implement valid solutions. The concepts of LAN Switching technologies, Addressing Technologies, VPN Technologies, Layer 2 multicast, and Layer 3 multicast is very essential to do well in the exam. The network security guide provided by Cisco technologies can be helpful to cover the network security topic for this exam.

During the exam it is very important to carefully read and re-read all the requirements and restrictions without tending to skip over words. There are lots of topics to be covered for the exam Therefore it is obvious to get confused as to which topics to read first and which later. Thus it is very good to make a complete schedule for the preparation period. Since we can review the questions at the end of the exam it is better to leave some confusing questions for later rather than wasting time trying to solve it. Everything in the internet cannot be relied upon. There is so much misinformation floating everywhere in the internet. Thus it is very wise to check for yourself what works and what does not and how the technology works. Adapting the scientific methods in the studies to build substantial understanding and trusting nothing without proper verification can be a very prominent step towards a better result in the exam.

There are no shortcuts to passing the CCIE written beta exam. To cover all the topics and do well in the exam one must have a clear planning and effective execution of the plan. Practical understanding of the topics through various wireframes must be build. Creating some tips and mnemonics can help memorize certain topics easily. Buying Cisco MDS 9216i switches and learning about its storage mechanism through physical demonstration can be incredibly useful. As a whole the exam is very challenging to attempt. But with sole determination and sound preparation anyone can do well in the exam.

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