CHANGES IN CCNP EXAM

Over the past years, I have seen CISCO certifications evolved into more focused levels as well as the most coveted certification in the IT industry. Back then when I was still in college, CCNA exams were confined to the privileged ones because of its cost. Until it became affordable that it became a commodity in the IT industry. At that point, CCNA exams branched out into different specializations including CCNA security, CCNA voice and CCNA wireless which also paved the way for specialized CCNP and CCIE certifications. Apart from that, individual modules in each certification changes through the course of time. That includes the latest changes in CCNP exam.

The changes in the CCNP exams are reflected below:
1. 642-901 BSCI (Building Scalable Cisco Internetworks) - will be replaced by 642-902 ROUTE (Implementing Cisco IP Routing) – Last day to test is July 31, 2010 while ROUTE will be available March 10, 2010
2. 642-812 BCMSN (Building Cisco Multilayer Switched Networks) – will be replaced by 642-813 SWITCH (Implementing Cisco IP Switched Networks) – Last day to test July 31, 2010 while SWITCH will be available March 10, 2010
3. 642-825 ISCW (Implementing Secure Converged Wide Area Networks) and 642-845 ONT (Optimized Converged Cisco Networks) – both will be replaced by 642-832 TSHOOT (Troubleshooting and Maintaining Cisco IP Networks) – Last day to test is July 31, 2010 while TSHOOT will be available April 30 2010 and TSHOOT BETA will be available February 16-March 26, 2010

Adding TSHOOT is a good thing so that the aspiring professionals will be more competent in troubleshooting since most of the time the hardest part in networking will be the troubleshooting part. I am a CCNP professional and I agree to adding TSHOOT module in the CCNP exams. CBT nuggets, pass4sure and other materials may start coming up on the internet most likely this march when the new exam modules commences. Some people I know are trying to cram for the old modules since “cheat” materials are still readily available in the internet. I am a hypocrite to say that I did not ask for the help of those materials but I did not rely fully on those “cheats”. I made sure that I understand the concept of the modules that I am studying.

In one of the articles that I read, rumors say that multicast and ISIS will no longer be on the topics on the modules. Anyway, I haven’t seen any company yet implementing ISIS in my four years of experience in the networking industry. Let’s just wait for the blueprint to come up. It will be kind of interesting to see the blueprints for the new modules and although some stuff will be the same I am wondering what will be the additional topics and the deleted ones and where will they put vpn, qos and voice as well as wireless if they will be still on the modules.

They might have replaced ISCW and ONT with TSHOOT so that the aspiring CCNP professional will be more focused on switching and routing as well as troubleshooting them and in preparation for a more specialized higher certification which is CCIE routing and switching. Anyway ISCW and ONT will culminate in CCVP and CCSP, for voice and security focused certification. Since the original four exam modules has been totally decreased into three exams, I am wondering if the cost will decreased also. Most people would most likely hope for the cost to decreased.

For more information, please check this Cisco site for their IT certification and Career Paths
http://www.cisco.com/web/learning/le3/learning_career_certifications_and_learning_paths_home.html