By Brian Scheibe
If you’re studying for the Cisco 642-832 TSHOOT exam, here’s an inside look at the best way to study and understand what to expect by using the Boson ExSim-Max TSHOOT practice exam.
Hint: For each ticket, there might be an obvious problem, but it might not answer the question that is being asked. Look at every possible issue before answering the first question of the trouble ticket.
Each ticket in the exam has three questions, and these questions, simulating Cisco’s actual TSHOOT exam, follow a path; whatever answer you give to the first question determines the second question you receive, and whatever answer you give to the second question determines the third question you receive.
There are multiple problems, intentionally, in the Boson TSHOOT exam—it’s a troubleshooting exam, and the problems are the problem! They are designed to get you thinking critically, and they are representative of what you’ll find in Cisco’s actual TSHOOT exam.
Here’s a scenario to consider. The ticket you are working on says that pings are failing, so you immediately begin troubleshooting. You find an issue quickly, such as a device that is not receiving EIGRP routes. You consider that to be the main problem and answer the first question by saying that EIGRP is the problem. However, it’s possible that, even if a device is not receiving EIGRP routes, EIGRP is not the main issue in this ticket. If you answer the question with EIGRP and do not continue troubleshooting to ensure that EIGRP is the only (that is, the major) problem, you might be incorrectly answering the question. The answer you give to the first question in the ticket determines the next two questions that you are asked, so if the answer to the first question is incorrect, the answer to the remaining two questions will likely be incorrect as well.
In the scenario presented above, where you notice that a device is not receiving EIGRP routes, an EIGRP configuration problem is only one of many possible reasons why the device isn’t receiving EIGRP routes. To correctly answer the question and to be sure that you have done all the troubleshooting possible, you should continue thinking through the possible issues before answering the first question in the ticket. For example, you know that the device isn’t receiving EIGRP routes. Here are some questions to set you in the right direction:
• Is this an EIGRP configuration problem?
• Why is the device not receiving EIGRP routes?
• Could something else besides EIGRP be causing the pings to fail?
• Is this an authentication problem?
• Could it be a physical layer problem?
• Should you issue the Traceroute command?
The best way to correctly answer the question is to take your time with each ticket. Use the Boson TSHOOT 642-832 simulation as a study tool—answer the questions as you would if it were the actual exam, but then take the time to read through each explanation and go back and see why the issue discussed in the explanation is the issue and not what you might have originally thought.
I hope this helps you in your studies. Remember: What appears to be the actual issue might be just a small part of a bigger problem; continue troubleshooting until you’ve arrived at the root of the problem!