Hello guys,
I plan to start my CCNP preparation… My objectif is to get it before february 2020.
I plan 3 hours per day for study and labbing… Do you think is it possible to get it before that day or shall I wait until the new release of cisco exams.
PS: I just get my CCNA and I am totally motivated to get the CCNP…
Hello Nabil
If you’re motivated right now from the momentum you’ve achieved by getting your CCNA, then don’t wait, go for it! Keep in mind that any exams you pass between now and February 2020 are still valid and can be used towards your “new” Cisco certification.
Now passing the SWITCH, ROUTE, and TSHOOT exams before February is not impossible, it is quite a feat. No need to stress yourself too much as you can pass one or two of these before February 2020 and then pass one additional exam of the new sort afterwards. Take a look at Cisco’s Certification Migration tool, that tells you if you have already passed one or more exams, what you need to achieve in order to get the new certification.
The easiest exam between the three (in my opinion) is SWITCH, so I suggest you get that out of the way, and then go for either ROUTE or TSHOOT before February, and then you only have to take one of the new enterprise exams to complete your certification.
I hope this has been helpful!
Laz
Hi Laz,
Thanks for your feed back. CCNP Switch contains some subjects related to CCNP Route …
So in my opinion it’s always better to start by CCNP Route…
Definitely ti will go for it starting next week… I have put 2 months for CCNP route preparation…
Thanks for your feed back
Hi,
Be aware that there are MANY things you will not find in the certified guides or even in the configuration guides; like on my exam I had questions relating to STP, requiring me to explain STP timers, but not hello time, forward time or max age timers; the question was about bridge_transit_delay, media access delay, transmit halt delay. I also had questions about StackWise regarding switch states (waiting,initializing,progressing,ready and provisional state) You will not find any information about that in the certified guides (I do not why these books are “certified guides” as they are useless as such)
IF you want to base your learning on CCNP Switch Certified Guide by David Hucaby - you are just wasting your time and money. I know the book cover to cover - did not help my with my exam. Even reading Catalyst 3750 Configuration Guide did not help me either. Additionaly there are many things in the Hucaby’s Guide that are just wrong, like the author claims, that if you have a port attached to a vlan and if you remove the vlan from the switch later and does not change the vlan on the port to one that still exists on the switch, the port GOES BACK TO DEFAULT VLAN!!! Which is not true as far as I know…
They are question on the exam where actually there is no right answer yet there is no option “none of the above” in the answer list. Had this regarding VTP configuration - (check this out: https://www.examtopics.com/exams/cisco/300-115/view/53/ - last question) All of the switches run VTP version 3, two switches are servers and one is client. But NONE of the vtp servers are primary, which can be seen when running “sh vtp status” and checking the ID of primary server. I tried the answers with my home lab - none of them were right.
But … what can you do as Cisco will not tell you where you were wrong. There were few other questions that I had a daubt about as well, but since I do not know where I did wrong, I can’t challenge Cisco at all; they just do what they want.
If you look at different trainings - say Kevin Wallace - do not believe when they say that Switch exam will not require you to configure AAA authentication or alike, cause this is left for security path; I had that on my two exams and I have to configure AAA port based authentication from scratch; I also had to configure VACL’s
Summing up - you need alot of other sources and alot of work is waiting for you. CCNA was like a walk in the sun for me, CCNP - quite opposite (because of the fact that I believed that Cisco Certified Guide is enough to pass an exam and it is not; it is at the best 20% of what you have to know at the most)
Hi,
Thanks for the information… I have started my 301-101 preparation…
Do you have any tips based on your experience
Thanks
Working on my CCNP too starting with ROUTE. I definitely think it is do-able. I try for 2-3 hours a day after work.
Hello,
What other study resources do you recommend besides NetworkLessons ?
Sorry for my english grammar.
Hello Juan
Take a look at this section of the forum. There are several suggestions as to content that you can use for this purpose. If after going through these you require more guidance, we are here to help.
I hope this has been helpful!
Laz
Hi everyone,
Hopefully I am almost finished with my CCNA-journey. This Saturday I’m taking my ICND2 exam, right before Cisco’s deadline… 
Of course I have been wondering when I wil pass, whether I should start studying for CCNP. Or is it necessary to have relevant work experience for that? Of course, I understand that relevant work experience will certainly help but is it possible to do it without?
Hello Marit
I wish you success in your exam on Saturday!! As for continuing with CCNP, my suggestion is that you go right into your studies directly. Work experience, although very helpful, is not a requirement for getting your CCNP. Studying with labs, and lessons is more than enough to be able to pass the necessary exams. Much of what you have learned for CCNA is a fundamental foundation for CCNP, so having the CCNA content fresh in your mind gives you a head start in your preparation for CCNP. If you “take a break” for a few months, you may find that you will require more of a review to get back up to speed with everything, resulting in you requiring more total study and preparation time overall. It’s often hard to get back into a habit of preparation for the exam if you’ve taken a long break.
I hope this has been helpful!
Laz
Thank you very much Laz!
I passed! 
Thanks a lot for all of your help Laz and also Rene of course. Without your great website and your work here it would have been so much more difficult to grasp all the concepts and technologies (I am not a huge fan of Cisco’s own training materials… ). Keep up the good work!
Hello Marit!
Congratulations! Excellent job, this is a great achievement. We wish you success in your continuing certification journey, and we hope we can be of help in the future as well!
Looking forward to continuing to support your progress!
Laz