Here’s the scoop:

• CCNP will now be three exams, ROUTE, SWITCH, and TSHOOT
• Exam price will increase from $150.00 to $200.00 per exam
• ROUTE and TSHOOT courses (typically 1 week Cisco official courses) are now supplemented with e-learning material (nearly 8 hours for ROUTE and 9 hours for TSHOOT) which is exam material
• Classes / Exams are becoming even MORE real-world (TSHOOT class is 92% hands-on)
• New ROUTE and SWITCH exam is available in March, TSHOOT is available in April.
• BSCI exam can substitute for ROUTE or vice versa
• BCMSN exam can substitute for SWITCH or vice versa
• ONT and ISCW exams can substitute for TSHOOT until end of July (ONT/ICSW exams expire then…BSCI and BCMSN are no longer offered after July 31, however can substitute for ROUTE / SWITCH for their entire 3 year expiration period).
• New CCNP exams now prepare you more for the CCIE R&S

I think this update is awesome…anything that maps to a more real-world environment is great! Less exams are also a good thing. Cisco has removed much of the CCNP overlap with CCVP (QoS is virtually gone, which is all the ONT exam really was in the first place).

However, Cisco recommends I skip both of these and wait for the TSHOOT. Surely the content that was in the ISCW and ONT will be moved to the “new” SWITCH and ROUTE exams, and my concern would be that my CCNP overall would feel a bit “disjointed” if I went the route they suggest.