[j-nsp] 13 Tips for Passing Juniper Lab Tests

[Joseph Soricelli]

Joseph Soricelli
CEO
Proteus Networks

703-980-3999
joe at proteus.net
www.proteus.net
Twitter - @proteusnetworks

On Jun 29, 2009, at 7:34 PM, Richard A Steenbergen wrote:

> On Mon, Jun 29, 2009 at 06:24:57PM -0400, Joseph Soricelli wrote:
>> In all seriousness part of my advice does include having a good
>> breakfast - in addition to getting a good night's sleep and arriving
>> early to the testing center. When I was proctoring these exams from
>> 2001-2005 I can't tell you how many people failed due to feeling
>> rushed (arrived at 8:55) or from a sugar crash, etc.
>
> In all seriousness (so I can't be accused of being a COMPLETE asshole
> :P)... Unless you live where the test is, you really do want to drive
> around the day before to figure out where everything is, especially
> where you're going to eat lunch.
 >>Yep, a little recon is always a good thing.
>
>> I agree that experience and hands-on time are critical to the exam. I
>> also like the tips about reading all of the steps before you start
>> typing and about asking the proctor for clarification.
>
> Agreed, I did come across a few questions which were extremely  
> ambiguous
> and required proctor clarification. And a couple junos cli bugs and
> crashing FPCs mid-test too, for that matter.
 >>Those are definitely NOT part of the exam. ;-) I will say that as  
soon as you even think you have a problem like that you need to notify  
the proctor so they can add time back to your exam (assuming it is a  
real HW problem)
>
>> I generally say that the JNCIP has a narrow topic list (really  
>> system,
>> IGP, BGP, Policy) but that you need to know those topics really well.
>>
>> When talking about the JNCIE, the topic list grows exponentially -  
>> and
>> you still need to know those topics really well. Important things to
>> be cognizant of include:
>
> What I noticed was that JNCIP followed the book VERY closely, while  
> the
> JNCIE lab seemed to diverge quite a bit more. There was one section on
> the JNCIE lab that was straight out of the JNCIP book, for example.  
> Also
> the general tone of the test changes, from a very direct "follow these
> instructions step by step" to an indirect "try to figure out what
> they're actually asking you to do based on the requirements without  
> them
> specifically stating what you need to do".
 >>LOL. Yeah, it can be hard to creatively say to build a L3VPN  
without explicitly stating "Build a L3VPN".
>
>> - The ability to make 3 different IGPs exchange routes with each  
>> other
>> across mutual points of redistribution in more than one place in the
>> network. Oh, btw, no routing loops or instability. ;-)
>
> And if you really do hit a snag on those IGPs, cheating with a couple
> static routes and/or turning on MPLS shortcuts to defeat those routing
> loops really can let you pass the test anyways. :)
 >>Yep, not recommended of course but always an option.
>
> -- 
> Richard A Steenbergen <ras at e-gerbil.net>       http://www.e-gerbil.net/ras
> GPG Key ID: 0xF8B12CBC (7535 7F59 8204 ED1F CC1C 53AF 4C41 5ECA F8B1  
> 2CBC)