Passed the CCNP ROUTE exam today; Exam takeaways

Day 1238 on my Cisco study chain resulted in a pass on the CCNP ROUTE exam.  Scored a 941 out of 1000.  I was given 50 questions and needed a 790 to pass.  I was given 120 minutes and I finished with about 30 minutes to spare.  Looking back, I should have slowed down a bit in the labs, but from my first CCNA exam attempt (when I ran out of time with 3 questions to go and missed passing the test by 7 points), I push myself to work quickly.  Too bad Cisco doesn't allow us to go back through the test to see if we would like to change an answer.

On the major topics, I did pretty well:

Implement an EIGRP based solution: 93%
Implement a multi area OSPF network: 100%
Implement an eBGP based solution: 100%
Implement an IPv6 based solution: 100%
Implement an IPv4 or IPv6 based redistribution solution: 89%
Implement Layer 3 Path Control solution: 100%

But...

Implement basic teleworker and branch services:  0%

So, that 0% is super embarrassing.  Obviously, it wasn't a major part of the exam, but I gave away points on my overall score by missing those questions.  The only questions that come to mind had to do with GRE tunnels.  To be honest, I did not spend much time on GRE tunnels (obviously!) and most of the materials (including Cisco Press ebooks) did not make this a focal point at all.  So, I felt blindsided by those questions.  I gave them my best shot, but I completely tanked on those questions.

Some of the lab/simlets are goofy.  For example, not all the routes will show up on a remote router, but the pings will work both directions.  There was also a line in another scenario that said "it needs to respond to a ping and telnet", but when I ran the telnet command to test, the telnet command failed and wasn't an option.  So, either I misunderstood how to test the telnet or I misconfigured the redistribution.  The traceroute followed the correct path, but maybe I missed something.  Either way, I think that's why I scored an 89% on the redistribution section.

The main takeaways from my CCNP ROUTE experience:

• Focus on EIGRP and OSPF.  Theory and implementation.  There are a couple of simlets for both protocols.
• BGP was not covered as much as I expected.  All theory; no simlets.
• There is a Policy Based Routing (PBR) simlet, so have a solid understanding of ACLs and route maps because there are questions where you read through a section of a router config and need to explain what the route map does to the traffic.
• Not a lot of IPv6, but 
• Lastly, know your stuff when it comes to GRE!

Overall, I feel like it is a fair exam and (other than the GRE section) I felt prepared for everything I was tested on.  And while I would have loved to score a 1000, a pass is a pass!

I'm gong to spend the next few weeks learning about GRE while starting my CCNP TSHOOT prep.  Gotta keep that chain going...