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George Stefanick - CWSP Journey, Post#1 - 5/15/2010
Saturday, May 15, 2010 at 1:55PM George Stefanick - CWSP Journey, Post#1 - 5/15/2010
Hello,
Welcome to my little spot on the web. I will be joining my counterparts John, Rick and Darby in the "CWNP or BUST" challenge!
For those of you who know me. Im a busy guy with a non-stop life style. I have an aggressive cert path the next 2 years. I was in pursuit of my CCNP but that was derailed when the track was upgraded as I was sitting the (BCMSN). So I gave it some thought, and decided it was time to finish out the CWNP (CWNE) track. Then that was derailed with the cert upgrade! gezzz cut me a break!
So back to the drawing board. Goal is to nail the CWSP (3 months) then change gears to the CCNP track (9 – 12 months) then return when CWNP has the DP and AP complete to finish out my CWNE. THEN on to the CCIE Wireless.
EXAM OBJECTIVES –
I think all to often folks who study for particular certifications think they can just buy the OFFICAL guide and all of LIFES questions and examples will be contain within! Cisco Press is notorious for this behavior. This is actually not the case. In fact, the authors of the books you and I read don’t have access to the questions on the exam! They are contracted by publishers to write about specific topics. With that being said, you are at the mercy of the author and his dictation of the material.
Thus why I like to read other “on topic” related material. For example, if this week Im reading 802.1X EAP types. I will not only read the CWSP, but I will also read other supported material from other authoritive perspectives. This other perspective often is the glue that pulls all the pieces together!
OK back to the CWSP objectives. I cant tell you how many times I’ve helped others with their studies and they would just glance over the objectives! BIG MISTAKE. We are here to PASS the exam while also retaining the correct knowledge to be applied in the field. You need to understand the objectives, especially for the CWSP.
Did you know 50% of the weight on the CWSP is on security design and architecture. The next heavy weight is Monitoring and Management at 25%. These two areas alone are 75% of the exam weight. Guess where my focus will be !?
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The following chart provides the breakdown of exam PW0-204 as to the weight of each section of the exam.
Wireless LAN Security Subject Area % of Exam Wireless Network Attacks and Threat Assessment 10% Monitoring and Management 25% Security Design and Architecture 50% Security Policy 5% Fast Secure Roaming 10% Total 100% |
THE PLAN –
The plan is to hit the CWSP objectives hot and heavy the next few weeks. Having been around the certification circuit more then once I will leverage various authored material around the CWSP objectives. I will also use the CWSP flash cards and various white paper material.
OFFICAL CWSP STUDY GUIDE –
Implementing 802.1X Security Solutions for wired and wireless networks:
Ive already completed a “quick” read of the CWSP and feel very comfortable with the content. It also helps I’ve had 10 years of hands on experience. Im going to sit down this week and focus on specific topics, which I will blog about next week.
Since CWNP is offering FREE exam retakes, I may just do some recon and schedule the exam in 2 – 3 weeks to see where I am …
Reader Comments (4)
Great to hear you're on your way George! I totally agree with you about studying around the objectives on not just studying the exam guide. Its sooo important. I am starting an online class with Wireless Training Solution's Rick Murphy next week. I hope it will reinforce a lot of the security knowledge I already have. I can tell already there are some weak area's I need to brush up on. Keep it up and hope to see you pass :-)
Chris -- Would love to hear about the class. Perhaps you can do a little write and share your experience ?
George, Outstanding post on the Option43 video and the key hiearchy. I have the CWSP PWO-204 in my sites as well and I find that sticking to the study objectives seems to reveal something new or something I overlooked every time I go back re-read a chapter in the guide. Having built 3 campus wide WLAN's so far, I found that the security component of WLANs to be one of the most challenging elements to gain a really clear picture of.
Keep up the good work, I'm looking forward to more of your posts
Thanks Wayne!