I didn’t wait too long to get started on my next quest towards completing the CCNP. After I passed the BSCI exam on Saturday, I rested on Sunday and got back on it again on Monday. I actually received my BCMSN books last Friday and been itchin to crack open the books.

Well now I’m almost back into full swing. I’ve already read about two and half chapters of the Cisco Press Study Guide since Monday. I’m hoping I can get through all 800 or so pages of the book in under a month before I begin to re-read and do a “deep-dive” into each chapters.  I’m back on the drawing boards again in terms of my study strategy. My strategy from the last exam (although effective) just took way too long than I wanted. I’m hoping I can find a better strategy this time.

Of course, I will make another attempt to publish my study schedule on a separate page (see tabs above). I will try to be more concise and cleaner in my approach. The BSCI study schedule was a bit of a mess - I’m actually planning on updating it with some notes of my previous progress just for the benefit of those trying to compare their progress to mine.

And true to my style, I will continue the bulleted notes of my studies that you’ve been accustomed to seeing over the last year. I’m just not sure when I’m going to start publishing my notes. I want to complete the study guide cover to cover first and then maybe start my notes when I do the chapter by chapter deep dives. I haven’t quite decided on that yet.

As far as the materials I’ll be using, so far I have:

1. Building Cisco Multilayer Switched Networks (BCMSN) (Authorized Self-Study Guide) (4th Edition) by Richard Froom, Balaji Sivasubramanian, and Erum Frahim – This is going to be the primary text I’ll be using. It has some decent lab exercises at the end of each chapters similar to the ones from BSCI study guide.
2. CCNP BCMSN Official Exam Certification Guide (4th Edition) by Dave Hucaby – I bought this primarily for the practice test engine companion CD that comes with it. It has considerably fewer pages than the study guide but hopefully, it will help reinforce the topics I need to learn for exam purposes.
3. Cisco.com Documentation – This was an invaluable resource for me while studying for BSCI. I’ve printed pages upon pages of configuration guides, tech notes, white papers for individual technologies I covered. I have them all categorized and neatly compiled in 3-inch binders.
4. Dynamips/Dynagen - I’m not sure how much of it I will use but I’m going to try to get the interface from the emulated software to interface with the real switches.
5. Catalyst Switches:
   • 2 x 3550 Catalyst switches – I ordered them from Ebay and I shoud receive them any day now.
   • 3 x 2950 Catalyst switches – These are ones I’ve collected over the past year while studying for CCNA and BSCI.
   • 1 x 2924 Catalyst switch – I just bid on it on Ebay and happened to win. It was a decent price for adding a bit more complexity for lab topologies

Other things I’m considering getting, but haven’t decided on yet:

• CCNP Building Multilayer Switched Networks (BCMSN 642-812) Lab Portfolio  - I got the one for BSCI but I hardly used it.
• CBT Nuggets or Train Signal - It’ll depend how I feel about my progress during my readings. Price is also an issue.

The plan is to study 2-3 hours on the weekdays and 4-5 hours on the weekends. I’m pretty good with the weekday schedule, but the weekend schedule is pretty tough for me so I’ll see what comes of that. I’ve been tracking my study hours (using a stop watch) as well for the last few months and I find it helpful for assessing how I’m progressing. 

My goal is to attempt and pass the exam by the end of July – if not sometime in August. That gives me about 4 to 5 months. That is a tall order for me as we are expecting our second child in less than a month from now. There is no telling what my schedule is going to be like in terms of studying.