Some exam topics

So. I'm not sure how to word this.

I remember 3 years ago or so when I took the Cisco network academy, the questions in it were pretty redicilous and not used every day. Why do they test on useless information? Do they still test on useless information?

I work with cisco products every day for the last 2-3 years, but I don't remember redicilous settings like the default cost of an ISDN link with OSPF. What order do the seven states of STP go in and what do they do?

How is the Cisco exam?

Will I get by using hands-on experience? I'm not concerned on factoids, I'm concerned on making it work.

I'm more set to CCSP PIX and CCNP routing CCNP switching than the CCNA.

I don't know why I'm freaking out about this. Maybe because I work with this stuff every day and it will hit so hard if I fail.

The practice exams seem a little bogus as well. A cisco administrator does not need to know this information every day to get by.

Cheers.

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Comments

Jiggsaww

hmmm...........thaz some food for thought.........i've only worked with routers for d duration of studyin for this exam and i've never worked with a live network before.........cuz this job sucks..........but from wat d others have said u get more worth from d simulators rather than d simple ques....

mikej412

noone wrote:

Why do they test on useless information? Do they still test on useless information?

What's useless to you now may not be useless to someone else, or to your next boss, or may make the next certification test (and bonus? and raise? and promotion?) easier.

Yes, they will still test on useless information that you don't need to know for your current job.

But yes, I've seen "certified individuals" that worked with the product for years every day -- and they could add, change, and delete users -- and that was their job for years. I sure wouldn't want them troubleshooting a critical production problem.

But, for one shining moment in their career, they were able to cram a bunch of factoids into their memory and spit them out mostly correctly during a certification exam.

Certification really only matters for some companies that use the certification as a bar that job candidates must jump over to even be considered for the job. Or maybe for Cisco business partners that must jump certain hoops (number of certified individuals) for certain partner status.

But my opinion -- the only difference certification makes is when you have 2 EQUALLY qualified (knowledge & experience) candidates for a job -- the one with the certifications shows that they they are willing to "go that extra mile" and also that they don't have a life and can work longer hours, so they get hired.

Jiggsaww

lol so basically u sayin that with certs........it say u don't have a life

mikej412

Hey, I thought I'd try out a new spin on the 2 equal candidates, hire the one with the cert argument.

Of course, the popular argument is that the certified candidate shows they can memorize a quantity of factoids for a short period of time, giving the impression that they have the capability to learn.

I'm starting to look at what a CCIE would take... hence my sudden realization of the true meaning of certification -- no life.

Oh, and while I'm back here -- some more answers/opinions to some of the original questions --

noone wrote:

How is the Cisco exam?

Will I get by using hands-on experience? I'm not concerned on factoids, I'm concerned on making it work.

I'm more set to CCSP PIX and CCNP routing CCNP switching than the CCNA.

I don't know why I'm freaking out about this. Maybe because I work with this stuff every day and it will hit so hard if I fail.

The exam is tricky -- makes you think, if you read the question correctly. Or it suckers you into jumping on the wrong answer if you aren't paying attention.

Hands-on experience will help with the sims -- up to a point. If you are working at an ISP doing IS-IS and BGP, you might want to brush up on the trivial stuff like RIP for the CCNA.

As for the factoids -- well, if you make the sims work, that's probably about 100 - 149 points (since someone once said they blew both sims but still passed, probably getting all the factoids right, so I'm just guessing here). You get 300 points for finding the test location and the testing computer and being able to use the mouse. So that leaves about 551 - 600 points worth of factoids. You wanna pass the test, you gotta know the factoids.

And the answer to the $65536 question -- why you are freaking out --
Because people who actually work with this stuff everyday, not only making it work, but also fixing it when it breaks, have taken and failed the CCNA exam. Its hard to be an Alpha Geek after blowing a "simple" certification exam.

Oh, nearly forgot -- yeah, there was a lot of redundant trivial informaiton covered (especially in the first 1.5 semesters) of the Academy course material -- and it isn't on the CCNA test.

Rather than going back through the Academy material, you might want to get one of the good CCNA Study Guides that's more focused on the CCNA test blueprint -- fewer trivial factoids to filter out. That, with your experience, should help you to stop freaking out about the test over silly things....

Now, the real things to freakout about are the pre-test jitters and test taking anxiety, and then the shock of finally seeing the real questions, and the time management issues, and the fear of a 3rd and/or 4th sim popping up on the test (2 seems to be the norm).

And a couple final hints -- I found that drinking beer afer studying helps counteract the doubled amount of caffine I've been consuming since starting my certification jag... And cruising certification forums to find other people freakingout more than you helps.