Theory and Application: CCIE Routing & Switching Written Exam
To beat the first part of the one-two CCIE exam combo, you need to roll with the real-world punches.
by Scott Morris
4/26/2005 -- One of the things that sets Cisco’s CCIE certifications apart from many others is the combination of multi-part written qualifying exams and intense hands-on lab exams. Everything begins with the written qualifying exam, which consists of a large array of questions on both theory and application.
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#350-001: Routing & Switching (CCIE written) |
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| Vendor |
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Cisco Systems |
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| Status |
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Live, recently updated. Available at Pearson Vue and Prometric testing centers worldwide. |
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| Reviewer's Rating |
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"Not as evil as expected, but be prepared to demonstrate your knowledge through real-world applications. And know your exam blueprint!" |
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| Test Information |
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100 questions, 120 minutes. Cost: $300 (U.S.). |
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| Who Should Take This Exam? |
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Candidates for CCIE certification/recertification. |
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| Test Objectives |
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Click here |
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Even after you manage to defeat this grueling one-two exam combo and obtain the certification, your testing days aren’t over just yet! Many certification vendors have implemented recertification requirements of varying difficulty. With the Cisco CCIE program, this requires retaking a written qualifying exam in any of the tracks.
And thus begins my story … I passed my Routing & Switching CCIE back in 1999, so I was assuming a whole lot had changed since then! There’ve long been rumors about the “evil” things that lurk within this test, and I was out to debunk or face up to these challenges to get recertified.
I figure that without breaking the non-disclosure agreement, I can assure you that the current exam isn’t nearly as evil as it was six-and-a-half years ago. But that’s not to say it’s an easy exam, either! If it makes anyone who’s preparing for this exam feel better, even with my considerable CCIE experience, I managed to fail the exam the first time around. Go figure!
Exam Format
Like most of Prometric and Vue’s exams, these are computer-based and closed-book exams. Many questions have detailed exhibits to click on, and you’ll find a variety of questions presented to you.
You have 120 minutes to answer 100 questions. Many of them really require you to look at them, and look at them hard. Don’t pick or write the first thing that comes to mind. Make your choices carefully, and once you’ve made your choice, reread the question to see if it fits. I noticed many subtleties in the wording of both the questions and the answers that can throw you off target.
Areas of Knowledge
Cisco has broken down the networking theory into several areas you need to study for the exams; details can be found here. Cisco doesn’t release information about the point weighting of each section, though. Topics include:
- General Networking Theory
- Bridging and LAN Switching
- IP and IPv6
- IP Routing Protocols
- Quality of Service
- Wide Area Networking
- IP Multicast
- Network Security
- Enterprise Wireless Mobility
Not all the topics listed overlap with those covered on the hands-on CCIE lab, although some do. The lab exam moves through much greater detail in many areas, though. Here is a similar list on the lab exam topics.
Theory and Application
When I first sat down to the exam, I was really expecting something more like what I faced over six years ago. The old exam concentrated on a Vast Collection of Semi-Useless Knowledge. The new exam wasn’t like that at all, which was very nice. Many exam items definitely have a real-world feeling to them, based on the consulting I do.
Despite the recent beta and review process for this new version of the exam, there are still some technical problems. Some questions had “less-than-desirable” answers to them. Other questions had spelling errors. Apparently “discribe” (sic) is a new word, as it appeared frequently. What actually amused me about this is that the “Exhibit” functions of the computer-based tests are apparently tied into Microsoft Word, or some kind of word processing program with a spell-check feature, because the words were underlined with the telltale squiggly red line!
Overall, the exam has a much different feel than it used to. The questions centered on both a candidate’s general theoretical knowledge as well as the ability to apply that knowledge.
There are questions ranging from your ability to understand subnets and supernets (no, you couldn’t leave these things behind in the lower-level tests), to looking at diagrams and choosing how a packet will traverse the network. Many items require not just your knowledge of the protocols themselves but also to be able to apply them as the router would. As I tell all of my students preparing for the CCIE lab exam, “Be the router. Think like the router.”
Product Knowledge?
In general, the exam blueprint is a very helpful tool in giving candidates some idea of what topics will be tested on. Amazingly enough, while I frequently tell people to make sure to read these things and pay attention to them, I managed to avoid doing this myself. (Do as I say, but not as I do!)
Some topics on the exam deal with product functions and descriptions; look at the blueprint and you’ll see what I mean. My personal opinion is that these don’t belong on a high-end technical exam, but I’m more upset with myself for not reading the blueprint ahead of time and spending at least 30 seconds to become familiar with things that should have been easy points! My lack of foresight cost me $300 and 120 minutes of my life that I’ll never get back! So, read the exam blueprint.
The End
Like most things, if you don’t succeed the first time, try, try again! I just took the written exam again the other day and, thankfully, the result was different than my first attempt! I followed my own advice and took a little bit of time to peruse the blueprint and, at least, scoped out the things I clearly didn’t know about.
My second exam had a few new things on there which I still don’t know about! And despite doubling my score on the “Enterprise Wireless Mobility” section, it’s still pretty clear that I’m not an expert in that area. On the other hand, I’ve passed this exam so I don’t have to deal with it again for another two years!
Epilogue
For those of you who are taking this exam for the first time, the next thing you have to do is look at preparing for the CCIE lab exam, which you have to attempt within the next 18 months. If you’ve passed the lab, then you’re in the same boat I’m in—waiting two more years to get that e-mail reminding you to recertify!
Best of luck to all of you!
To see some sample questions, visit Cisco’s CCIE Web site.
Scott Morris, quadruple CCIE and Uber-Geek can often be seen traveling around the world consulting and delivering CCIE training. For more information on him check out www.uber-geek.net or for CCIE training check out www.ipexpert.com.
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