How to Prepare for an Exam

Preparing for any Cisco exam, including the Support related test (Exam 642-831), requires that you obtain and study materials designed to provide comprehensive information about the product that will appear on the specific exam for which you are preparing. The following list of materials can help you study and prepare:

• Instructor-led training ” There is no substitute for expert hands-on instruction under professional supervision. There are several places to receive training, including Cisco Partners such as GeoTrain, Online partners such as Vlabs, and third-parties such as Globalnet Training Solutions.

• Cisco Connection Online ” This is the name of Cisco's Web site at www.cisco.com. This is the best resource for updated Cisco training information.

• Test preparation questions ” You can find test preparation questions in this book, on the book's CD, available online from Que at www.examcram2.com, or at other good resources such as www. boson .com.

• Study guides ” Several publishers ”including Que Publishing ”offer certification exam preparation titles. Que Publishing offers the following:

  • The Exam Cram 2 series ” These books give you information about the material you need to know to pass the tests.

What This Book Will Not Do

This book will not teach you everything you need to know about computers, or even about a given topic. Nor is this book an introduction to computer technology. If you're new to Cisco routing or switching and looking for an initial preparation guide, check out www.quepublishing.com, where you will find a whole section dedicated to the CCNP certifications. This book will review what you need to know before you take the test, with the fundamental purpose dedicated to reviewing the information needed on the Cisco 642-831 certification exam.

This book uses a variety of teaching and memorization techniques to analyze the exam-related topics and to provide you with ways to input, index, and retrieve everything you'll need to know in order to pass the test. Once again, it is not an introduction to network support techniques.

What This Book Is Designed to Do

This book is designed to be read as a pointer to the areas of knowledge you will be tested on. In other words, you may want to read the book one time, just to get an insight into how comprehensive your knowledge of Cisco devices is. The book is also designed to be read shortly before you go for the actual test and to give you a distillation of the entire field of supporting Cisco routers and switches in as few pages as possible. We think you can use this book to get a sense of the underlying context of any topic in the chapters ”or to skim-read for exam alerts, bulleted points, summaries, and topic headings.

I've drawn on material from Cisco's own listing of knowledge requirements, from other preparation guides, and from the exams themselves . I've also drawn from a battery of third-party test-preparation tools and technical Web sites, as well as from my own experience with Cisco technologies and the exam. My aim is to walk you through the knowledge you will need ”looking over your shoulder, so to speak ”and point out those things that are important for the exam (exam alerts, practice questions, and so on).

The 642-831 exam makes a basic assumption that you already have a strong background of experience with the Cisco technologies and network terminology. I've tried to demystify the jargon, acronyms, terms, and concepts. Also, wherever I think you're likely to blur past an important concept, I've defined the assumptions and premises behind that concept.