Changes in the CCNP exam

The Cisco Certified Network Professional (CCNP) exam is used to gauge a network professional's ability to architect, implement, operate and troubleshoot LANs and WANs in enterprise environments. It also justiifes their ability to work collaboratively with specialists on advanced security, voice, wireless and video solutions.

This article will review the CCNP certification and outline some of the recent changes announced from Cisco regarding updates to the exam structure.

Overview of the CCNP Prerequisites

The CCNP certification as outlined above is designed for candidates with at least one year of networking experience. Examinees that pass the CCNP exam will have proven that they possess the demonstrated skills required in enterprise roles such as network technician, support engineer, systems engineer, network engineer and network administrator.
Prerequisites for candidates that wish to take the CCNP exam include the Cisco Certified Network Associate - Routing & Switching Certification (CCNA).
The CCNA can be obtained by taking the single 640-802 CCNA EXAM which runs about 90 minutes in timed length and covers 45 to 55 questions or you might opt to take the separate 640-822 ICND1
Interconnecting Cisco Networking Devices Part 1 and 640-816 ICND2 Interconnecting Cisco Networking Devices Part 2 exams.
Passing the 640-822 ICND1 exam singly will give the examine the Cisco Certified Entry Networking Technician (CCENT) Certification. This exam runs 90 minutes in total time and has 40 to 50 questions and is offered in English, Japanese, Chinese, Spanish, Russian, Korean, French, Portuguese.
The 640-816 ICND2 Interconnecting Cisco Networking Devices Part 2 exam runs 75 minutes and is also about 40 to 50 questions and is offered in English, Japanese, Chinese, Spanish, Russian, Korean, French, Portuguese.
Upon completion of that second exam the examinee gains their CCNA.
Additionally, any of the Cisco Certified Internetwork Expert (CCIE) exams outlined below can also be used as a prerequisite for the CCNP.

• CCIE - Cisco Certified Internetwork Expert - Service Provider Operations Certification
• CCIE - Cisco Certified Internetwork Expert - Routing & Switching
• CCIE - Cisco Certified Internetwork Expert – Security
• CCIE - Cisco Certified Internetwork Expert - Service Provider
• CCIE - Cisco Certified Internetwork Expert - Storage Networking
• CCIE - Cisco Certified Internetwork Expert – Voice
• CCIE - Cisco Certified Internetwork Expert – Wireless

Below is an outline of the Cisco Career Certification Map-

[NOTES FROM THE FIELD] - The Trainsignal family of professional computer training suites offers a number of study and training solutions for the CCNP exam and the prerequisite exams.
Below are all the links to Trainsignals exam preps for the current CCNA and CCNP exams

• Cisco CCENT Training
• Cisco ICND2 training

The two of these together can get you to your CCNA certification. If you're looking to take the in one shot CCNA you could just use the CCNA total solution and to achieve your CCNP, the Train Signal CCNP Training Package is also available.
You can choose the entire suite or order the training separately via the individual components:

• BSCI Training
• Cisco BCMSN Training
• Cisco ISCW Training
• Cisco ONT Training

CCNP - Present Tense

To begin with, the Cisco certifications are valid for three years. With that being said and some of the exams from the current CCNP track are about to be changed over.
Presently you become CCNP certified by passing the following exams:
642-901 BSCI - Building Scalable Cisco Internetworks

• Exam Number: 642-901
• Associated Certifications: CCNP , CCIP and CCDP
• Duration: 90 minutes (50-60 questions)
• Available Languages: English, Japanese

642-812 BCMSN - Building Cisco Multilayer Switched Networks

• Exam Number: 642-812
• Associated Certifications: CCNP , CCIP and CCDP
• Duration: 90 minutes (50-60 questions)
• Available Languages: English, Japanese

642-825 ISCW - Implementing Secure Converged Wide Area Networks

• Exam Number: 642-825
• Associated Certifications: CCNP
• Duration: 90 minutes (50-60 questions)
• Available Languages: English, Japanese

642-845 ONT - Optimizing Converged Cisco Networks

• Exam Number: 642-845
• Associated Certifications: CCNP
• Duration: 90 minutes (50-60 questions)
• Available Languages: English, Japanese

These exams are still available to test out on through July 31, 2010.
After that time they will be completely retired.
[NOTES FROM THE FIELD] - The 642-892 Composite BSCI and BCMSN Exam can be taken instead of the individual 642-901 BSCI and 642-812 BCMSN exams.
The 642-892 exam is associated with the CCNP , CCIP and CCDP certifications.
The duration of the composite exam is 90 minutes and is taken over 50 to 60 questions.
This exam will also only be available for candidates to test on until July 31, 2010.

The one constant in the certification world is change

Beginning on March 10, 2010 some the replacement exams for the CCNP certification are expected to be available.