Passed ICND2 (finally)
My GOD. 10 months. 2 exams. Hardest thing I've ever done. I am not very good at studying, I have little attention span and my motivation can plummet faster than RSTP can converge.
ICND1 went really well. 3 months, staying late at work, weekends etc, I passed in January. ICND2 not so well. I was rocked by my grandfather's rapid decline in health (it was expected), ultimately ending in his death in March. In February we put our house up for sale, sold it, and bought a new one. We moved at the end of March. I found a new job in April and started in May as a voice engineer with a small ISP. You can imagine the shock to the system that was.
Set back after set back it was, and my own laziness did not help. I can make excuses but that's what it boiled down to. I was lazy. I lost my motivation too. Picking up the book was a real struggle, ICND1 was not like this. Anyway my new work wanted me to have it done (they use the fact most of their engineers are CCNA minimum certified as a selling point) by June, then July and August the 1st was the final date. I had to nail it. I studied like never before, working from home was far easier to put the hours in, for 2 weeks I basically ate, slept and drank ICND2. Labs, book, notes, commands, everything.
I was passing the CISCO Press exams quite easily but Boson no, I got around 60% first time, and the highest I could get was 81%. I was panicking, I felt much better prepared than my ICND1 exam, but I just could not pass this Boson exam.
Dreading it, I drove to the testing centre, an hour and a half away. It allowed me to reflect and clear my mind. Anyway I got there early, but their systems were down, so I didn't get to sit my test for an hour and a half! It had 'FAIL' written all over it. I breezed through, almost in a trance, answering the questions (which were much harder than ICND1) as best I could. BOOM. 920/1000. Couldn't believe it, punched the air and shouted 'YES!' thankfully I was the only one there. 10 months' work. Completed. Wow.
I used CISCO Press book, Boson labs, Boson practice exams, CBT nuggets and a bit of real life experience. I didn't get any config questions which was annoying as I felt that was my strong point, the show questions were easy for me, no questions on management/licensing, no questions on IPv6 either.
I thought it was much harder this time round. Definitely far meatier than ICND1, it isn't half and half as some bloggers lead me to believe, not at all. Brutal. Don't let me put you off, it may just be me being thick.
I'd like to thank the CCNA Study Group, really good to vent, ask questions, and see how everyone is getting on. Really helped me actually.
Love this forum, thanks guys.
