I recently (last Friday) wrote and passed the TCP/IP exam. This was my fourth exam and definitely one of the hardest I've taken. I scored 780. I don't have an extensive background in computers or networking and I'm a math-phobic, so I was happy just to pass, although I wish I had done better. I think I probably got tripped up by some of those famous Microsoft 'trick questions.'
For preparation, I used the New Riders book and the Transcender (both were very helpful although the book could use some editing). I also used a lot of material out of TechNet. For subnetting, I did a lot of practice questions (these and the subnetting table allowed me to score well on that section of the exam). The outline of the exam provided on the Roadmap CD is an accurate list of topics to expect.
Many people on the list have mentioned being pressured for time on this one. That wasn't a problem for me. I went through the exam in about 30 minutes and had plenty of time to work on the more challenging questions and go over all of my answers again thoroughly.
My strategy on the exam included memorizing a subnetting table, the IP address classes and some other general information and doing a brain dump on paper immediately before I wrote the exam. I never once used the calculator and I found that the subnetting table was adequate for all the subnetting questions that I encountered (and I apparently got every one right).
For the multiple rating questions, I answered each one 'e'(doesn't meet the requirments and doesn't work) and then marked it. I went back through these after I had gone through the test one time and changed only two of them to 'a.'
One of my greatest concerns prior to the test was the point-and-click and write-in-the-answer questions. From what I've already read on the list, I'm beginning to suspect that everybody is getting the exact same ones on every test. I received three:
None of these were really difficult,but I didn't feel like one of the point-and-click questions allowed you to pinpoint the answer accurately enough.
There were a few freebie questions on this exam, but for the most part, each question did more than ask you to regurgitate information. Many questions integrated more than one topic and expected you to have a solid understanding of all of the concepts. This was especially true of the troubleshooting questions. You can memorize trivia until it comes out your ears, but it's of no use unless you're able to put it all together in a coherent way.
My biggest downfall? I had a few horrible, convoluted questions involving printing in heterogenous environments. The one that really gave me problems involved a unix machine, an NT machine, TCP/IP and DLC and who can print to who doing what...ARGGGH! A few questions had more than one plausible answer and there were several that looked like obvious trick questions. Before tackling this test, make sure you spend some extra time on sections of the books that cover heterogenous environments (ie: unix, netware). There was a big emphasis on this on my exam.
All in all though, this exam wasn't nearly as bad as I thought (or rumors on the list had led me to believe)! I expected horrible exhibits and most of them were actually pretty similar to what was on the assessment. I thought that the subnetting questions were the easiest part of the exam. I had five questions on SNMP and they were very straightforward. Know how telnet and ftp work. Make sure you understand NetBIOS and Host name resolution thoroughly (I memorized these and wrote them down before the exam).
Here are my stats for the exam:
Installation and Configuration 75%
IP Addressing 60%
Subnet Addressing 100% (Yay!)
Implementing IP Routing 75%
IP Address Resolution 100%
Host Name Resolution 50%
NetBIOS Name Resolution 75%
Connecting to a Heterogeneous Env. 60%
Implementing the SNMP service 100%
Performance Tuning and Optimization 100%
Troubleshooting 83%