this is my review for taking the ccnp at encore exam. This is my experience taking it. I did not pass and. I wanted to list some of the reasons.
I think why some of the things that I was unaware of when I went in to to get tested and to take this test and. Unfortunately, If I'd known this in advance, I either would have not taken the test altogether. I would have studied a little differently, So a couple of comments on the on the exam so my exam was 105 questions. I had 120 minutes to complete those questions, So just over one minute per question, Which I found was really is really tight.
I mean. I took the ccna as well. I did not have that experience back then 105. Questions of considerable difficulty complexity.
You know in 120 minutes is: is it's it's pretty tough, And so in categorizing these questions? so about one-third of the questions were very complex. T were very long questions. So if you printed it printed them out, T would be like one page long. So t had the question and scenario. That's like four or five lines of text and then t had like a network layout with the routers and the subnets and the interface numbers and.
So that and then the actual answers, Usually four options and each answer. Um was probably also two lines of answer. So imagine having to read through that whole thing. That'll take you more than a minute, I would say, Probably more than two all together for those questions.
Um, You know, And and and and then you have to you know not just read but also think what is the right answer you know, And so it was difficult. It was difficult to to to even read through these questions. You know so one third of the questions was really long and another third of the questions was also pretty long, But not quite as you know, Without the network layout it was just a more complex question and then there was the the last third of the Questions which was pretty simple in terms of the the length of the question you know, Could still be a difficult question, But you know doesn't take you a long time to read through one or two lines or one three, Four, You know one one, Two or Three lines all right. So that was an issue for me because the the time I ended up.
I think I didn't even answer the last two questions or so because by the time I only had like 10 minutes left - I was you know. I was seeing , I still have you know, Maybe 15 questions or something and - and I was the last the best about the last 15 questions. I was really flying through those questions and really just trying to see. If I could trying to see if it was a question that I could immediately spot the right answer to you know, But more often than not it was, You know it was.
It was not a question that simple but obviously because I can't I can't go back in questions - I was trying to get to the last ones because it could be that the last ones were actually the ones that I was really confident about. You know. So there's definitely a time issue with with these, With this exam, And there's also another issue that was the the type of questions, So it is expected to have some level of difficulty and complexity, Of course,. But I did come across questions that were not from the not from the encore course so and how I know that is because so what I used to study was, I used the cisco learning network space, Which is like it's a you get a code.
You buy a code and then you get these guides, These learning guides, And so I had access to the implementing and operating cisco enterprise network core technology student learning guide. That's what I used to study for this. I also used the labs at cllngciscocom, So I did those as well and then I also got the boson practice tests the bosom practice tests are pretty good, But t don't cover everything and there's actually quite an emphasis on the automation and on the e e M applets that it's there's there was more complexity to those questions than was in the official learning guide, And I did have an issue I I remember so I don't remember hardly any of the questions of course, Because this all goes by so fast. But I do remember one question in particular that I knew at the time I hadn't I hadn't ever read this. You know and I read through the whole learning guide for encore.
So, Even if I didn't know an answer, Even if I wasn't really confident in an answer, I knew if I'd read about it and this thing that I that this question I knew I had not read, And it was about vrfs and about exporting routes between vrfs And so I knew that I hadn't read that and after the exam I went to check in the in the student learning guide and I also have access to the nrc student learning guide and it was in there. It was in the nrc. It was not in the encore, So t're testing people on narcy content, Not just on encore and I this was really one of the only questions that I remembered, But I'm sure that there was more that there was more nrc questions in there off the Top of my head, I would say my impression - was that there was probably about seven or so on the roundabout like like about you, Know: seven an rc questions in the encore exam and that certainly contributed to my my failing grade . There was also another question that I specifically remember of that: was about other cisco services and products.
It was for the productsbrella and see if I can find that here so different security products, That cisco has right and sobrella and p4e ftd. These things were not in the encore, T were not in the encore. T were t're actually not even in the nrc course official learning guide either if you search for them in the with the search, Magnifying glass thing, It's nothing appears for those for those cisco, Services that t t did ask about in the exam. So those were two questions, Two specific questions that I remembered that were not in the. That was content that was not in the encore official student learning guide.
So was that the only reason I didn't pass no, But it certainly was a contributing factor, And I was not not happy about that. Particularly not happy about the lack of time and the having the nrc material, Content in in the encore exam because when I go in for an encore exam, I wanna get tested on the encore content which t in their own student Learning guide, I read through the whole thing and you know I I would expect that t're not going to ask me about things that are part of a different course. I don't remember that happening in ccna but it happened here with this with ccnp encore. Um so there's there's that and I'd say: there's you know a big emphasis on automation, Eem applets know your commands stuff, That's not in the student learning guide, Even I would say to be able to answer those questions accurately. You probably need to have on-the-job experience using those using those commands or have like a you know, A setup at home, But not just use the cisco labs, Because that's what I did and it did not cover everything that t then asked in terms of automation. Um, So that's my experience, I personally, I'm not a fan of the exam because, First of all, It's not exactly cheap.
So if you fail it it's I don't know and unless your your employer is going to give you a raise, Particularly for for passing this for having this ccnp certification, I wouldn't go. I mean personally, I'm not gonna go for it again, Because of my experience, . If I had years and years of on-the-job experience with automation and with cisco and with the things that you know, The the encore covers, But also there's so many so many different services that it covers.
Really it's not so much about routing and switching anymore. It's about it's about their other products, It's about the sd access xd when and if you're, Not so much into that. If you know that you're not going to be using that anyway in your environment it's, It may not be worth it. I don't know. Um so my experience is wasn't very positive because I went in for an exam and I ended up kind of being tested for two. You know I mean encore and an rc and it's not like the encore. Isn'T already. You know enough.
It's fine! It's not too much, But if you then add also narsi, That's a lot. That's a lot to know for one exam. So that's why I say unless you have on the job experience where you do this day in and day out with the automation and all these, This functionality of the router. You know router redundancy and the ddm vpns, And and all that you know if it's not something that you work with every day, Just studying it. I don't think I don't think it's enough.
So that's my experience with it and I hope that giving you a little bit of insight on you, Know the time constraints and the questions that are actually from the nrc that that that did appear in the exam as well. That that that can help other people, Because I wish I had known about that in advance. So good luck to you all the CCNP exams and I hope that my insight was able to help you a little bit.
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