Assessing Exam Readiness

Before you take any Cisco exam, we strongly recommend that you read through and take the "Self Assessment" included with this book. It will help you compare your knowledge base to the requirements for obtaining the CCNP certification and help you identify parts of your background or experience that might need improvement, enhancement, or further learning. If you get the right set of basics under your belt, obtaining Cisco certification is that much easier.

After you've gone through the "Self Assessment," you can remedy those topical areas where your background or experience might not measure up to that of an ideal certification candidate. You can also tackle subject matter for individual tests at the same time, so you can continue making progress while you're catching up in some areas.

After you work through this Exam Cram 2, read the supplementary materials, and take the practice exams in Chapters 14 and 16, you'll have a pretty clear idea of when you should be ready to take the real exam. Although we strongly recommend that you keep practicing until your scores top the 70% mark, a goal of 75% would give you some margin for error in a real exam situation (where stress plays more of a role than in practice situations). When you hit that point, you should be ready to go. If you get through the practice exams in this book without attaining that score, however, you should keep taking practice exams and studying the materials until you get there. You'll find more information about other practice materials in the "Self Assessment," along with even more pointers on how to study and prepare. But now, on to the exam itself!