Aaron Adams’s Blowhard Blog

Today is day two of taking the CCNP BCMSN exam simulator, published by Cisco Press, which I assume is somehow related to Cisco, the company who makes the hardware and software against which I am being tested for certification.

This particular question simulates a switch that needs to have a particular port set as a trunk with an encapsulation mode of 802.1Q. Here’s my simulation session:

Hm, that’s interesting. The encapsulation isn’t auto because I set it to be 802.1q in the previous command. I know that to be true because I’ve been configuring switch trunks for years now, and the simulator didn’t object..

What does the Show Me Mode of the test have to say?

Whaddya know… It says to do exactly what I just did! Without the error message.

So how did the simulator grade this particular question? After all, the simulated switch says I don’t have the encapsulation set right, but the Show Me Mode says I do.

The question was graded as correct.

I ask again… Does anyone test this stuff before they sell it? Obviously something is broken. Additionally, the simulator can’t keep up with my typing for some reason. It skips and jumbles characters I’ve entered all the time. I literally have to type at hunt-and-peck speeds so the simulator can keep up. That’s bullshit. I purchased this book and the CD to provide a learning experience and test preparation, not a pain in my ass with broken simulators and questions with answers that don’t make sense. And I’m only through chapter 5.