Chapter 20. Final Preparation

The first 19 chapters of this book cover the technologies, protocols, design concepts, and considerations required to be prepared to pass the 350-601 CCNP and CCIE Data Center Core DCCOR exam. While these chapters supply the detailed information, most people need more preparation than simply reading the first 19 chapters of this book. This chapter details a set of tools and a study plan to help you complete your preparation for the exams.

This short chapter has three main sections. The first section lists the exam preparation tools useful at this point in the study process. The second section lists the different types of questions you can encounter in the exam. The third and final section lists a suggested study plan now that you have completed all the earlier chapters in this book.

Getting Ready

Here are some important tips to keep in mind to ensure you are ready for this rewarding exam!

• Build and use a study tracker: Consider taking the exam objectives shown in the chapters and build yourself a study tracker! This will help ensure you have not missed anything and that you are confident for your exam! As a matter of fact, this book offers a sample Study Planner as a website supplement.

• Think about your time budget for questions in the exam: If you do the math, you will realize that on average you have about one minute per question. Although this does not sound like enough time, realize that many of the questions are very straightforward, and you may take 15 to 30 seconds on those. This way, you build time for other questions as you take your exam.

• Watch the clock: Check in on the time remaining periodically as you are taking the exam. You might even find that you can slow down pretty dramatically as you have built up a nice block of extra time.

• Get some ear plugs: The testing center might provide ear plugs, but get some just in case and bring them along. There might be other test takers in the center with you, and you do not want to be distracted by their screams. I personally have no issue blocking out the sounds around me, so I never worry about this, but I know it is an issue for some.

• Plan your travel time: Give yourself extra time to find the center and get checked in. Be sure to arrive early. As you test more at that center, you can certainly start cutting it closer time-wise.

• Get rest: Most students report success with getting plenty of rest the night before the exam. All-night cram sessions are not typically successful.

• Bring in valuables but get ready to lock them up: The testing center will take your phone, your smart watch, your wallet, and other such items. It will provide a secure place for them.

• Take notes: You will be given note-taking implements, so do not be afraid to use them. For example, I always end up jotting down any questions I struggled with. I then memorize these at the end of the test by reading my notes over and over again. I then always make sure I have a pen and paper in the car. I write down the issues in there just after the exam. When I get home with a pass or fail, I research those items!

Tools for Final Preparation

This section lists some information about the available tools and how to access the tools.

Pearson Test Prep Practice Test Software and Questions on the Website

Register this book to get access to the Pearson IT Certification Test Prep practice test software (software that displays and grades a set of exam-realistic, multiple-choice questions). Using the Pearson Test Prep Engine, you can either study by going through the questions in Study mode or take a simulated (timed) CCNP and CCIE Data Center Core exam.

The Pearson Test Prep practice test software comes with two full practice exams. These practice tests are available to you either online or as an offline Windows application. To access the practice exams that were developed with this book, please see the instructions in the card inserted in the sleeve in the back of the book. This card includes a unique access code that enables you to activate your exams in the Pearson Test Prep software.

Accessing the Pearson Test Prep Software Online

The online version of this software can be used on any device with a browser and connectivity to the Internet, including desktop machines, tablets, and smartphones. To start using your practice exams online, simply follow these steps:

Step 1. Go to http://www.PearsonTestPrep.com.

Step 2. Select Pearson IT Certification as your product group.

Step 3. Enter your email/password for your account. If you don’t have an account on PearsonITCertification.com or CiscoPress.com, you will need to establish one by going to PearsonITCertification.com/join.

Step 4. On the My Products tab, click the Activate New Product button.

Step 5. Enter the access code printed on the insert card in the back of your book to activate your product.

Step 6. The product will now be listed in your My Products page. Click the Exams button to launch the exam settings screen and start your exam.

Accessing the Pearson Test Prep Software Offline

If you wish to study offline, you can download and install the Windows version of the Pearson Test Prep software. You can find a download link for this software on the book’s companion website, or you can just enter this link in your browser:

http://www.pearsonitcertification.com/content/downloads/pcpt/engine.zip

To access the book’s companion website and the software, simply follow these steps:

Step 1. Register your book by going to PearsonITCertification.com/register and entering the ISBN: 9780136449621.

Step 2. Respond to the challenge questions.

Step 3. Go to your account page and select the Registered Products tab.

Step 4. Click on the Access Bonus Content link under the product listing.

Step 5. Click the Install Pearson Test Prep Desktop Version link under the Practice Exams section of the page to download the software.

Step 6. Once the software finishes downloading, unzip all the files on your computer.

Step 7. Double-click the application file to start the installation, and follow the on-screen instructions to complete the registration.

Step 8. Once the installation is complete, launch the application and select Activate Exam button on the My Products tab.

Step 9. Click the Activate a Product button in the Activate Product Wizard.

Step 10. Enter the unique access code found on the card in the sleeve in the back of your book and click the Activate button.

Step 11. Click Next and then the Finish button to download the exam data to your application.

Step 12. You can now start using the practice exams by selecting the product and clicking the Open Exam button to open the exam settings screen.

Note that the offline and online versions will sync together, so saved exams and grade results recorded on one version will be available to you on the other as well.

Customizing Your Exams

Once you are in the exam settings screen, you can choose to take exams in one of three modes:

• Study mode

• Practice Exam mode

• Flash Card mode

Study mode allows you to fully customize your exams and review answers as you are taking the exam. This is typically the mode you would use first to assess your knowledge and identify information gaps. Practice Exam mode locks certain customization options because it is presenting a realistic exam experience. Use this mode when you are preparing to test your exam readiness. Flash Card mode strips out the answers and presents you with only the question stem. This mode is great for late-stage preparation when you really want to challenge yourself to provide answers without the benefit of seeing multiple-choice options. This mode will not provide the detailed score reports that the other two modes will, so you should not use it if you are trying to identify knowledge gaps.

In addition to these three modes, you will be able to select the source of your questions. You can choose to take exams that cover all of the chapters, or you can narrow your selection to just a single chapter or the chapters that make up specific parts in the book. All chapters are selected by default. If you want to narrow your focus to individual chapters, simply deselect all the chapters and then select only those on which you wish to focus in the Objectives area.

You can also select the exam banks on which to focus. Each exam bank comes complete with a full exam of questions that cover topics in every chapter. The two exams printed in the book are available to you as well as two additional exams of unique questions. You can have the test engine serve up exams from all four banks or just from one individual bank by selecting the desired banks in the exam bank area.

You can make several other customizations to your exam from the exam settings screen, such as the time of the exam, the number of questions served up, whether to randomize questions and answers, whether to show the number of correct answers for multiple-answer questions, or whether to serve up only specific types of questions. You can also create custom test banks by selecting only questions that you have marked or questions on which you have added notes.

Updating Your Exams

If you are using the online version of the Pearson Test Prep software, you should always have access to the latest version of the software as well as the exam data. If you are using the Windows desktop version, every time you launch the software, it will check to see if there are any updates to your exam data and automatically download any changes that were made since the last time you used the software. This requires that you are connected to the Internet at the time you launch the software.

Sometimes, due to many factors, the exam data may not fully download when you activate your exam. If you find that figures or exhibits are missing, you may need to manually update your exams.

To update a particular exam you have already activated and downloaded, simply select the Tools tab and select the Update Products button. Again, this is only an issue with the desktop Windows application.

If you wish to check for updates to the Pearson Test Prep exam engine software, Windows desktop version, simply select the Tools tab and select the Update Application button. This will ensure you are running the latest version of the software engine.

Premium Edition

In addition to the free practice exam provided on the website, you can purchase additional exams with expanded functionality directly from Pearson IT Certification. The Premium Edition of this title contains an additional two full practice exams and an e-book (in both PDF and ePub format). In addition, the Premium Edition title also has remediation for each question to the specific part of the e-book that relates to that question.

Because you have purchased the print version of this title, you can purchase the Premium Edition at a deep discount. There is a coupon code in the book sleeve that contains a one-time-use code and instructions for where you can purchase the Premium Edition.

To view the premium edition product page, go to www.informit.com/title/9780136588504.

Chapter-Ending Review Tools

Chapters 1 through 19 include several features in the “Exam Preparation Tasks” section at the end of the chapter. You might have already worked through them in each chapter. It can also be helpful to use these tools again as you make your final preparations for the exam.

Learn the Question Types Using the Cisco Certification Exam Tutorial

In the weeks leading up to your exam, you should think more about the different types of exam questions and have a plan for how to approach those questions. One of the best ways to learn about the exam questions is to use the Cisco Exam Tutorial.

To find the Cisco Certification Exam Tutorial, go to http://www.cisco.com/ and search for “exam tutorial.” You can simply google “Cisco Certification Exam Tutorial Videos” also. The tutorial sits inside a web page with a video presentation of the exam user interface. The tutorial walks you through the different types of exam questions. The sample questions in this section are from the Cisco Certification Exam Tutorial, and they have nothing to do with the actual 350-601 CCNP and CCIE Data Center DCCOR exam content. You can expect to find the following types of questions on the exam:

• Multiple-choice, single-answer: The question has several possible answers but only one correct answer. In Exam, if you click Next on the multi-choice, single-answer question without clicking an answer, the testing software tells you that you have too few answers. Figure 20-1 shows an example.

• Multiple-choice, multiple-answer: The question has several possible answers, with a given number of correct ones. In Exam, if you select too few answers and click Next, you can see how the user interface responds. Figure 20-2 shows an example.

• Drag-and-drop: In the drag-and-drop questions, you can drag the answers to the obvious answer locations but then drag them back to the original location. (You might do this on the real exam, if you change your mind when answering the question.) Figure 20-3 shows an example.

• Fill-in-the-blank: In this type of question, you will find one or more blank answers that you must fill in. Figure 20-4 shows an example.

• Simulation: The question includes a description and a network diagram. You can click a network device and interact with it through a simulated command-line interface (CLI). On the simulation question, first make sure that you can get to the CLI on one of the routers. To do so, you have to click the PC icon for a PC connected to the router console; the console cable appears as a dashed line, and network cables are solid lines. (Note that the exam tutorial uses the IOS CLI, not NX-OS, but it is similar enough for you to get the idea.) Figure 20-5 shows an example.

• Testlet: The question includes a detailed scenario and a set of questions that you select and answer. On the testlet question, answer one multiple-choice question, move to the second and answer it, and then move back to the first question, confirming that inside a testlet, you can move around between questions. In Exam, on the testlet question, if you click the Next button, you will see the pop-up window that Cisco uses as a prompt to ask whether you want to move on. Testlets might actually allow you to give too few answers and still move on. After you click to move past the testlet, you cannot go back to change your answer for any of these questions. Figure 20-6 shows an example.

• Simlet: The question includes a scenario and a set of questions that you must answer based on interaction with a simulated network device. Make sure that you look at the scroll area. On the Sim question, make sure that you can toggle between the topology window and the terminal emulator window by clicking Show Topology and Hide Topology. Figure 20-7 shows an example.

Suggested Plan for Final Review/Study

This section lists a suggested study plan from the point at which you finish reading through Chapter 19, until you take the 350-601 CCNP and CCIE Data Center Core DCCOR exam. Certainly, you can ignore this plan, use it as is, or just take suggestions from it.

The plan uses two steps:

Step 1. Review key topics and DIKTA? questions: You can use the table that lists the key topics in each chapter or just flip the pages looking for key topics. Also, reviewing the DIKTA? questions from the beginning of the chapter can be helpful for review.

Step 2. Use the Pearson Cert Practice Test Engine to practice: The Pearson Cert Practice Test Engine can be used to study using a bank of unique exam-realistic questions available only with this book.

Summary

The tools and suggestions listed in this chapter have been designed with one goal in mind: to help you develop the skills required to pass the 350-601 CCNP and CCIE Data Center Core DCCOR exam. This book has been developed from the beginning to not only tell you the facts but also to help you learn how to apply the facts. No matter what your experience level leading up to when you take the exams, it is our hope that the broad range of preparation tools, and even the structure of the book, helps you pass the exam with ease. We hope you do well on the exam.