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Congratulations on your decision to earn your CCNP
certification! As a CCIE, I can tell you that Cisco
certifications are both financially and personally rewarding.
To earn your CCNP, you first have to earn your CCNA
certification. Then you're faced with a decision - take the
three-exam CCNP path, or the four-exam path? They're both quite
demanding, so let's take a look at each path.
The four-exam CCNP path includes the Building Scalable Cisco
Internetworks exam (BSCI), Building Cisco Multilayer Switched
Networks exam (BCMSN), Building Cisco Remote Access Networks
(BCRAN), and Cisco Internetwork Troubleshooting (CIT) exam.
The three-exam path combines the BSCI and BCMSN exams into a
single exam, called the Composite exam.
I'm often asked what order I recommend taking the exams in.
After earning your CCNA, I recommend you begin studying for the
BSCI exam immediately. You will find the fundamentals you
learned in your CCNA studies will help you a great deal with
this exam. You're going to add to your CCNA knowledgebase quite
a bit when it comes to OSPF and EIGRP, as well as being
introduced to BGP.
I don't have a preference between the BCMSN and BCRAN exams, but
I do recommend you take the CIT exam last. You'll be using all
the skills you learned in the first three exams to pass the CIT.
It's a very demanding exam, and it's a little hard to
troubleshoot technologies that you haven't learned yet!
The CCNP is both financially and personally fulfilling. Once you
complete your CCNA studies, take a little breather and then get
started on your CCNP studies. The more you know, the more
valuable you are in today's ever-changing IT job market.
About the author:
Chris Bryant, CCIE #12933, is the owner of The Bryant Advantage
, home of free CCNA and CCNP
tutorials! Pass the CCNA exam with Chris Bryant!
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