642-501 SECUR Guidance from people who have taken this exam

I registered for this exam back on December 18th and the last day it would allow me to take it is on February 2nd, 2006. I've read the Cisco Press book, gone through the six LearnKey CDROMs, and have a little hands-on experience over the last three years with Cisco routers (took the CCNA three years ago and have to renew by the end of February 2006). I have two questions for those of you who have passed this exam...

1) Any other thoughts or helpful suggestions?

2) How were the sims? What was the exam like?

You can private message me if you'd like.

Thanks,

Chris
HHHTheGame

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HHHTheGame

OK, 39 views and no one at all has contacted me? Come on people. SOMEONE must have something to give on this exam.

mikej412

HHHTheGame wrote:

SOMEONE must have something to give on this exam.

Um, Best wishes and good luck!!

I take it this afternoon.

germangiant (Mike) said it was easy in a previous post - "Post subject: Passed 642-501 SECUR"

EricO

I took it back in december. Be prepared to analyze router/firewall configurations and discern how AAA is configured. It wasn't that difficult, but I studied for around 10 hours non stop.

HHHTheGame

OK, THERE'S some input.

Thanks!!!

mikej412

.... fully caffinated and ready to test... and the testing center doesn't have an internet connection.... rescheduled for tomorrow morning at the backup test center. sigh.

HHHTheGame

LOL, sorry to hear that! Hope that doesn't happen to me. I took a half day of vacation from work to take the exam!

mikej412

mikej412 wrote:

germangiant (Mike) said it was easy in a previous post - "Post subject: Passed 642-501 SECUR"

He was correct.

I can only wonder how high my score would have been if my regular test center had its internet connection yesterday -- I was in the zone... I was ready! I drank beer last night rather than studying anymore for this exam.

I was embarassed by the simplicity of the SIMs.... all my studying, all the possibilities, and that was all they gave me for sims? Heck, I could have talked an MCSE through the sims over the phone.

But enough comments lest I anger the Cisco exam gods...... as I may need their blessings next week for the other 2 retiring exams I have scheduled....

HHHTheGame

Congrats! You never said what your score was! Or will that anger the Cisco gods as well?

mikej412

HHHTheGame wrote:

Congrats! You never said what your score was! Or will that anger the Cisco gods as well?

Not my highest scoring test, but close...955. But this was my first morning test... it was a new test center for me... the monitors weren't as large and bright as my old test center, and the sun was shining into someones eyes somewhere outside of my windowless test room.

On my 2nd sim I tried twice to exit without solving it -- kept hitting the next button, but the "are you sure" saved me. I tried to slow down after that....

I finished in 40 minutes, so I probably missed something by not pacing myself and re-reading the question and all the possible answers. Those simple single sentence questions probably lulled me into a false sense of security.

It was definitely nice to get back to technical trivia tests after the DESGN and ARCH tests (especially that darn DESGN test).

Speaking of the ARCH test -- the barn cat that tangled with the coyote and was in surgery while I was taking my ARCH exam is fine! It looks like she will recover 100%. The stiches are out and the collar thing is off. She's been my Security study partner for the last month, as I've been nursing her back to health (and making sure she didn't pull or rub any stiches out).

HHHTheGame

OK, that's over with. Got a 911. I think I messed up one of the drag and drops. It was my last question, and I just wanted to finish because I was pretty confident I did well. DAMN!

Oh well, on to the VPN exam.

mikej412

Congratulations

I smacked down SECURE and CSPFA.... and I'm thinking CSIDS may exact its revenge today - depends on how much GUI admin software trivia is on the exam.

Since this is the last day to take this retiring exam, I'll be happy to squeek by with any old passing score.

Now I wish I had won that sensor on eBay....

mikej412

<--- number of points I missed it by.

My first certification exam failure

Since I'm all studied up for the old exams, I guess I'll CSVPN & CSI next week, and then worry about going from Intrusion Detection to Intrusion Prevention -- 642-532 -- but at quick glance it looks familiar.

Perhaps its time to take a night off from studying

and reduce that beer backlog in the fridge

and catch up on some sleep

determinedgerman

Congratz on your passes HHH and Mike!!!!!