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Introduction

Tips for Taking Your CCNP Exam

The CCNP: Support test contains about 70 questions to be completed in 90
minutes. You must schedule a test at least 24 hours in advance (unlike the
Novell or Microsoft exams), and you aren't allowed to take more than one
Cisco exam per day.

Many questions on the exam have answer choices that at first glance look

identical--especially the syntax questions! Remember to read through the
choices carefully because "close doesn't cut it." If you get commands in the
wrong order or forget one measly character, you'll get the question wrong.
So, to practice, do the hands-on exercises at the end of the chapters over and
over again until they feel natural to you.

Unlike Microsoft or Novell tests, the exam has answer choices that are

really similar in syntax--although some syntax is dead wrong, it is usually
just subtly wrong. Some other syntax choices may be right, but they're
shown in the wrong order. Cisco does split hairs, and they're not at all averse
to giving you classic trick questions. Here's an example:

access-list 101 deny ip any eq 23

denies Telnet access to all

systems.

This question looks correct because most people refer to the port number

(23) and think, "Yes, that's the port used for Telnet." The catch is that you
can't filter IP on port numbers (only TCP and UDP).

Also, never forget that the right answer is the Cisco answer. In many

cases, more than one appropriate answer is presented, but the correct answer
is the one that Cisco recommends.

Here are some general tips for exam success:

Arrive early at the exam center, so you can relax and review your
study materials.

Read the questions carefully. Don't just jump to conclusions. Make
sure that you're clear about exactly what each question asks.

Don't leave any questions unanswered. They count against you.

When answering multiple-choice questions that you're not sure about,
use a process of elimination to get rid of the obviously incorrect
answers first. Doing this greatly improves your odds if you need to
make an educated guess.

You can no longer move forward and backward through the Cisco
exams except the CCIE written and the CCDA exam.

After you complete an exam, you'll get immediate, online notification of

your pass or fail status, a printed Examination Score Report that indicates
your pass or fail status, and your exam results by section. (The test ad-
ministrator will give you the printed score report.) Test scores are auto-

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