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So...  I took SWITCH this morning and was feeling pretty good about it.  Read the OCG, labbed it up, and did the  Boson practice tests.  I did fairly good on the Boson tests first run through and thought I was ready.

I had 3 sims during the test.  One of them through me for a couple of minutes but I am fairly confident the sims were not my problem.  I think my problem was with the questions overall.  They seem to hit on a bunch of points that I didn't think were important.  Turns our I was wrong.

For those of you who have recently taken this test what study materials did you use?  I need to re-group and get back on it.

Dammit, Cisco! This is not an acceptable certification path:

1. Study the Official Cert Guide
2. Take a bunch of practice tests
3. Get hit with questions on the exam that don't line up with 1 and 2

:no:

@Sofaking, join the club. There are a lot more guys besides you that have had Cisco yank the rug out from under them when they got to a cert exam since they introduced new exams. I think that, going forward, we still want to read the OCG and do the practice tests, but then also delve into some independent study on the syllabus topics, because any element of those topics is fair game.

The independent study would include:
1. Basics of the technology - read a wiki article on it
2. Cisco implementation of the technology - Cisco.com whitepapers about that tech
3. Cisco commands for that technology - Cisco.com IOS command lists

Then, we need to check for understanding with questions drawn not from the OCG but from the three areas, above. I'm almost done with CCENT stuff in terms of questioning, but I haven't put together a list of resources to read up on.

What we should do here is let others know what exam we want to take, and then we can pool our minds to come up with prep material from outside the OCG that we can all review *before* the exam and have a better shot at passing the first time through.

Good suggestions - Thanks Dean!

Here to help, mi amigo. Here to help.

perhaps it is a cash cow. that would be bad.

Quote from: ggnfs000 on February 28, 2017, 10:52:02 PM
perhaps it is a cash cow. that would be bad.

The live training classes would be more of a revenue stream for Cisco training partners, but the tests themselves have some very narrow margins. Test centers either have to be publicly supported or deal in volume to break even or make a small profit.

... Unless they decide to be one of *those* centers that allows for skimping on rules... :problem?:

Taking some advice from Dean:

Quote from: deanwebb on February 27, 2017, 03:29:30 PM
The independent study would include:
1. Basics of the technology - read a wiki article on it
2. Cisco implementation of the technology - Cisco.com whitepapers about that tech
3. Cisco commands for that technology - Cisco.com IOS command lists

Also, from reading other posts from people who have recently failed SWITCH the OCG and FLG are not enough for this test.  I guess I have been getting off easy so far by only having to use the OCG/FLG and labbing to pass my current certs  ;)

Here are all of the SWITCH Exam Topics along with links to their corresponding sections of the Catalyst 3750 Switch Software Configuration Guide, Release 12.2(58)SE:
**majority of the links are from this doc but not all of them: http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/switches/lan/catalyst3750/software/release/12-2_58_se/configuration/guide/3750scg.html

1.1 Configure and verify switch administration
• 1.1.a SDM templates
   • http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/switches/lan/catalyst3750/software/release/12-2_58_se/configuration/guide/3750scg/swsdm.html
• 1.1.b Managing MAC address table
   • https://ethernuno.wordpress.com/2015/11/09/ccnp-switch-300-115-part-1-1b-managing-mac-address-table/
• 1.1.c Troubleshoot Err-disable recovery
   • https://ethernuno.wordpress.com/2015/11/10/ccnp-switch-300-115-part-1-1c-troubleshoot-err-disable-recovery/

1.2 Configure and verify Layer 2 protocols
• 1.2.a CDP, LLDP
   • http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/switches/lan/catalyst3750/software/release/12-2_58_se/configuration/guide/3750scg/swcdp.html
   • http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/switches/lan/catalyst3750/software/release/12-2_58_se/configuration/guide/3750scg/swlldp.html
• 1.2.b UDLD
   • http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/switches/lan/catalyst3750/software/release/12-2_58_se/configuration/guide/3750scg/swudld.html

1.3 Configure and verify VLANs
• 1.3.a Access ports & 1.3.b VLAN database & 1.3.c Normal, extended VLAN
   • http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/switches/lan/catalyst3750/software/release/12-2_58_se/configuration/guide/3750scg/swvlan.html
• 1.3.c voice VLAN
   • http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/switches/lan/catalyst3750/software/release/12-2_58_se/configuration/guide/3750scg/swvoip.html

1.4 Configure and verify trunking
• 1.4.a VTPv1, VTPv2, VTPv3, VTP pruning
   • http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/switches/lan/catalyst3750/software/release/12-2_58_se/configuration/guide/3750scg/swvtp.html
• 1.4.b dot1Q & 1.4.c Native VLAN
   • http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/switches/lan/catalyst3750/software/release/12-2_58_se/configuration/guide/3750scg/swtunnel.html
• 1.4.d Manual pruning
   • https://www.packet6.com/ccnp-switch-manual-pruning/

1.5 Configure and verify EtherChannels
• 1.5.a LACP, PAgP, manual & 1.5.b Layer 2, Layer 3 & 1.5.c Load balancing
   • http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/switches/lan/catalyst3750/software/release/12-2_58_se/configuration/guide/3750scg/swethchl.html
• 1.5.d EtherChannel misconfiguration guard
   • http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/switches/lan/catalyst3750/software/release/12-2_58_se/configuration/guide/3750scg/swstpopt.html#52777

1.6 Configure and verify spanning tree
• 1.6.a PVST+, RPVST+, MST & 1.6.b Switch priority, port priority, path cost, STP timers
   • http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/switches/lan/catalyst3750/software/release/12-2_58_se/configuration/guide/3750scg/swstp.html
   • http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/switches/lan/catalyst3750/software/release/12-2_58_se/configuration/guide/3750scg/swmstp.html
• 1.6.c PortFast, BPDUguard, BPDUfilter & 1.6.d Loopguard and Rootguard
   • http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/switches/lan/catalyst3750/software/release/12-2_58_se/configuration/guide/3750scg/swstpopt.html

1.7 Configure and verify other LAN switching technologies
• 1.7.a SPAN, RSPAN
   • http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/switches/lan/catalyst3750/software/release/12-2_58_se/configuration/guide/3750scg/swspan.html

1.8 Describe chassis virtualization and aggregation technologies
• 1.8.a Stackwise
   • http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/switches/lan/catalyst3750/software/release/12-2_58_se/configuration/guide/3750scg/swstack.html

2.1 Configure and verify switch security features
• 2.1.a DHCP snooping & 2.1.b IP Source Guard
   • http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/switches/lan/catalyst3750/software/release/12-2_58_se/configuration/guide/3750scg/swdhcp82.html
• 2.1.c Dynamic ARP inspection
   • http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/switches/lan/catalyst3750/software/release/12-2_58_se/configuration/guide/3750scg/swdynarp.html
• 2.1.d Port security
   • http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/switches/lan/catalyst3750/software/release/12-2_58_se/configuration/guide/3750scg/sw8021x.html
• 2.1.e Private VLAN
   • http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/switches/lan/catalyst3750/software/release/12-2_58_se/configuration/guide/3750scg/swpvlan.html
• 2.1.f Storm control
   • http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/switches/lan/catalyst3750/software/release/12-2_58_se/configuration/guide/3750scg/swtrafc.html

2.2 Describe device security using Cisco IOS AAA with TACACS+ and RADIUS
• 2.2.a AAA with TACACS+ and RADIUS & 2.2.b Local privilege authorization fallback
   • http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/switches/lan/catalyst3750/software/release/12-2_58_se/configuration/guide/3750scg/swauthen.html

3.1 Configure and verify first-hop redundancy protocols
• 3.1.a HSRP & 3.1.b VRRP & 3.1.c GLBP
   • http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/switches/metro/catalyst3750m/software/release/12-2_58_se/configuration/guide/3750metro_scg/swhsrp.html

I hope someone else will find this helpful - Best of luck to anyone studying for this exam!!

That's a great list! If you would like, please copy it and paste it into a new "labs and guides" topic with the title including the test number and title, as that helps with the search engine results for material like this.