TSHOOT FAQs & Tips

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 $250.

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 3 multiple choice questions (or 2 multiple choice questions and 1 drag and drop question) and troubleshooting 13 “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 http://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 athttp://www.cisco.com/web/learning/le3/le2/le37/le10/tshoot_demo.html. 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 only need to identify each problem without having to make the correct configuration. But you have to answer three types of questions:

+ Which device causes problem
+ Which technology is used
+ 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. In most cases you have to use the “show running-config” command to find out the wrong configuration.

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

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

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 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 trouble ticket. Does it clearly state in exam whether to use this topology (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.

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