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TSHOOT FAQs & Tips

May 7th, 2018 Go to comments

TSHOOT is one of the three exams in the CCNP certification. The TSHOOT exam is a chance for you to review your knowledge about ROUTE & SWITCH exams and test your troubleshooting skill. From the comments here and other places, this article tries to summarize all the TSHOOT frequently asked questions to save you some time. Please feel free to ask anything that you are unclear about TSHOOT so that all of us can help you. I will update this article frequently to bring you the newest information about this exam.

1. How much does the TSHOOT Exam 300-135 cost? And the passing score of TSHOOT?

It now costs $300.

The passing score of TSHOOTv2 is 846/1000

2. Please tell me how many questions in the real TSHOOT exam, and how much time to answer them?

Unlike other Cisco exams, the TSHOOT exam tests your ability to troubleshoot the problem so in this exam you have to solve about 6 – 7 multiple choice questions, one small sim (called simlet) and troubleshooting 12 “tickets”. Each ticket is a problem about a specific technology used in Cisco routers or switches.

You will have 135 minutes to answer them. If your native language is not English, Cisco allows you a 30-minute exam time extension (165 minutes in total).

3. Am I allowed to study the topology used in the real exam and where can I find it ?

Yes, you are! Because the purpose of this exam is testing a candidate’s ability to troubleshoot issues, not to understand a complex topology so Cisco publicizes the topology used in the real TSHOOT exam. You can find the topologies at https://www.networktut.com/share-your-tshoot-v2-0-experience.

To save time on the exam, and to better understand the topology used in all of the trouble tickets, you should spend time familiarizing yourself with the topology used in the exam.

4. Where can I find the demo of this exam?

There is a very good demo of TSHOOT exam published by Cisco and you can find it at http://www.cisco.com/web/learning/le3/le2/le37/le10/tshoot_demo.html (update: The demo has been removed from Cisco website). But notice that the topology in this link is not the topology used in the real exam. This demo is also a good practical topology and we also explained about the configuration of this demo in four articles: Frame Relay Point-to-Point SubInterface GNS3 Lab, EIGRP over Frame Relay and EIGRP Redistribute Lab, VLAN Routing and HSRP IP Route Tracking.

5. During the exam, we must only identify the problem or we must also make the correct configuration?

We are only allowed to choose the solution for the problem. We are not allowed to make any changes on the routers and switches. You cannot enter global configuration mode (config)# either. You have to answer three types of questions in each ticket:

+ Question 1: Which device causes problem
+ Question 2: Which technology is used
+ Question 3: How to fix it

6. Can someone please tell me in the real exam it gives the ticket names just like in this site (for example “Ticket 1 – OSPF Authentication “) or is it going to say ticket 1 , ticket 2 only?

It only says ticket 1, ticket 2 only so you have to use your troubleshooting skill to figure out where the problem is. This is also the purpose of this exam.

7. Please give me some guideline when using the TSHOOT simulator.

Below is some guideline when using the TSHOOT simulator in the exam.

demo_TSHOOT_1.jpg

demo_TSHOOT_2.jpg

7. Can I go back in the TSHOOT exam?

As shown in the above question, you can press “Previous Question” to go back to previous questions in the same ticket only. If you press “Done” button then you can’t come back to this ticket anymore.

Note: In TSHOOT 300-135 (TSHOOTv2), the “Abort” button no longer exists. That means you cannot cancel a ticket after choosing it. You have to complete that ticket before moving to another one.

8. Can we take TSHOOT exam before the ROUTE or SWITCH exam?

Yes, you can. There is no order to take these exams. But the TSHOOT exam tests your skills to troubleshoot router & switch errors so I highly recommend you to take the ROUTE and SWITCH exams first. The TSHOOT exam is very good to review your knowledge of what you learned in ROUTE & SWITCH.

9. Can I solve the tickets in any order I want, for example, I solve Ticket 8 first, then Ticket 3, Ticket 1…?

Yes, you can solve them in any order until you click Done button. After clicking Done you cannot go back to this ticket again. Also notice that when you entering a Ticket, you have to solve it (answer all 3 questions) before moving to another ticket.

10. As I see there are 3 topologies in the exam. My question is to how to find which topology to use when doing a troubleshooting ticket. Does it clearly state in exam which topology to use (layer 2 or layer 3, for example)?

In the exam, it doesn’t say clearly which topology you need to use. But a reader on networktut.com has shared this tip:

“There is no really best way to choose which topology to use.
This is my style:
Most of the time I was using the IPv4 topology as it contains most of the nodes with ip addresses and in the cause of your troubleshooting and you discovered that you need more details on the ASW1 & 2 switches that is when I used the Layer 2 topology except for the IPv6 topology.
Any node on IPv4 topology that is in Layer 2 topology have same configuration irrespective of where you click on the nodes.
Study all tickets here and use the following elimination style below:
List out all the trouble ticket on the white little board you will be giving and tick each ticket as you answer them because this will let you know which tickets are remaining to look out for.”

11. In the exam can I use “traceroute” or “tracert” command?

According to some reports, “tracert” commands cannot be used on Clients but “traceroute” command can be used on DSW1. But of course you can use “ping” command. According to some candidates’ reports on the exam, maybe you should not believe too much on the output of the traceroute command in the exam.

12. Please let me know in the exam can we issue “pipe” commands such as: sh run | section eigrp; sh run | begin router?

No, you cannot use “pipe” commands in the TSHOOT exam.

13. Does each ticket state it is an IPv4 or IPv6 issue?

Yes, it does! But it does not clearly state that. Please read each ticket carefully, if it states like this “loopback address on R1 (2026::111:1) is not able to ping the loopback address on DSW2 (2026::102:1)” then surely it is an IPv6 ticket. Otherwise it is an IPv4 ticket.

Update: In the current exam, you have to click on the “Ticket” button (located at the right-side of your screen in the exam. It is also the last button) to see if it is an IPv4 or IPv6 ticket. The general “Scenario” button does not tell you if it is an IPv4 or IPv6 ticket. Please check this picture to clearly understand of how to identify IPv4 or IPv6 ticket.

14. Why in each ticket I only see the same description, same wording, either ticket 1, 2 or 3. How can I see the difference or the problem of each ticket?

The descriptions of each ticket are very identical to each other. In general the very long description can be summarized “Client 1 cannot ping the 209.65.200.241” (for IPv4 ticket), that’s all! So you have to use your troubleshooting skill to find out where the issue (it is also the meaning of this exam – TSHOOT). The only obvious difference among the tickets is the statement “loopback address on R1 (2026::111:1) is not able to ping the loopback address on DSW2 (2026::102:1)”, which indicates an IPv6 ticket.

15. Why don’t I see any questions and answers on networktut.com? I only see the explanation…

Because of copyrighted issues, we had to remove all the questions and answers. You can download a PDF file to see the questions at this link: https://www.networktut.com/questions-and-answers

16. How can I join the Premium Membership on networktut.com?

You can join the Premium Membership on networktut.com at this link. After the registration you can login via this link.

If you have any questions about the TSHOOT exam, please don’t hesitate to ask. All of us will help you!

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