Assessing Your Readiness for the CCNP Support Exam

In addition to the general exam-readiness information in the previous section, other resources are available from some of the country's best Cisco Users Groups to help you prepare for the exams. Two Web sites come to mind: http://dfw.cisco-users.org/study_groups.htm and http://www.dcug.org/cugs.htm. One of my favorite troubleshooting websites is http://www.experts-exchange.com. Experts in virtually every field of computers are there to answer your questions and an easy to use search engine is available to search for previously asked questions. This is one of my favorite Web sites for researching hard to solve problems.

One last note: I hope it makes sense to stress the importance of hands-on experience in the context of the exams. As you review the material for the exams, you'll realize that hands-on experience with Cisco IOS commands, tools, and utilities is invaluable.

Onward, Through the Fog!

After you've assessed your readiness, undertaken the right background studies, obtained the hands-on experience that will help you understand the products and technologies at work, and reviewed the many sources of information to help you prepare for a test, you'll be ready to take a round of practice tests. When your scores come back positive enough to get you through the exam, you're ready to go after the real thing. If you follow my assessment regimen, you'll not only know what you need to study, but also know when you're ready to make a test date at Prometric or Vue. Good luck!