Failed ICND2, now what?

whizzer

Just got back from taking the 200-101 exam and failed with a 775. Needless to say, I'm a little frustrated. I feel like I know the material back to front, but I got bogged down with sims and topology questions. I had 16 questions left with 10 mins to go, and was still getting topology questions. I had to make a rough guess on the last 5 or so. I also got an SPT config that I'd never seen before.

That all being said, I feel like I was under prepared for the speed aspects of the exam. It's not enough to know the material, you really need to be fast (and correct) on the sim and topo questions. What practice tests are available to help with becoming faster with the test?

For the record, here are my scores.

LAN Switching 73%
IP Routing 79%
IP Services 67%
Toubleshooting 53%
WAN Technologies 75%

koz24

Sorry to hear the bad news. I would recommend the Boson practice exams as those are regarded as the closest to the real exam(they have Sims). I'd also say that if you're struggling with Sims, then perhaps spend more time labbing as the Sims are all about hands-on knowledge.

For practice with topology questions, the Odom Official Certification Guide Books were loaded with tons of topology questions. IIRC, the Odom books came with 2 ICND1, 2 ICND2, and 2 Full exams! Plus there were also the "Part Reviews" which had plenty of them.

Both the Pearson and Boson exams are harder than the real thing, imo. Don't just memorize those exams though, work on getting the concepts and then take the exams. You could take 1 Boson exam as a measurement to see where you stand, then study some more, then take the 2nd one, etc. Eventually you'll know exactly where your weak areas are.

whizzer

Thanks Koz. I'll look into those. I've done tons of work with Labs that I built with GNS3. The problem there is, I built it, so I know how it's configured back to front. What I really need is random labs thrown at me, so I can troubleshoot them from scratch. This is closer to what you find on the exams and a skill that I believe can be improved with practice, imho.

koz24

whizzer wrote: »

Thanks Koz. I'll look into those. I've done tons of work with Labs that I built with GNS3. The problem there is, I built it, so I know how it's configured back to front. What I really need is random labs thrown at me, so I can troubleshoot them from scratch. This is closer to what you find on the exams and a skill that I believe can be improved with practice, imho.

For this purpose, there is probably nothing better than the CCNA Simulator from Pearson. It comes with about 400 labs in exercise format. They are all prebuilt so you don't need to spend time setting up in GNS3/PT/Boson. You just hop from one lab to another. Really great product, imo. There are tons of labs there that are "Troubleshooting" labs. They walk you through the Cisco recommended way of troubleshooting.

It's expensive, but well worth the cost!

CCNA Routing and Switching 200-120 Network Simulator | Pearson IT Certification

JohnL

Sorry to hear...I failed the ICND2 the first time but don't give up. Boson was a great resource for me as the practice exams were harder than the real thing.

Robonon

I second both the Pearson CCNA Sim and the Boson ExSim exams. I used both to prep for ICND 1 and 2, and have to say, they were crucial in passing (especially ICND 2). The Pearson Simulator has basically every topic you'll see on the exam covered in both guided skill building lab exercises, and practice exam style lab scenarios.

The Boson exams are tough, but in the best way possible. You can filter questions by topic, or take a randomized exam. The best part about Boson is the extremely detailed explanations that are provided when you "show answer." They stay within the CCNA scope, but go into great detail as to why a particular answer is correct, given the scenario, as well as some information about the protocol/config itself. And, they provide similar explanations for each wrong answer, to provide you with a solid understanding of why it is incorrect or incomplete.

These are two great ways to really drill the finite details of each domain into your brain. Like koz24 said, it's a bit of an investment. But it's worth every penny when you can walk back into the testing center confident, and walk out with a PASS.

Fulcrum45

This is my concern with the ICND2 as well. I took ICND1 and even though I did ok, I had 3 minutes to spare- I kept going back and checking my work. Too close for my comfort anyway. I may look into the Boson/ Pearson practice exams as well.

ksmith0001

How long have you guys been studying for this exam?

Robonon

I studied for the CCENT for about 8 weeks, 1-3 hours per night, 5-6 nights per week. I also threw in a few days throughout that time where I spent a good chunk of the day (6+ hours reviewing material).

After that, I lazily flaked off for a few months. At that time, my Net+ expiration was approaching, so I focused for a little while on leveling up to Sec+.

Around 9 months after passing the CCENT, I buckled back down and studied for another 8-10 weeks to pass ICND 2.

stylezunknown

I wonder when SPT was added to the exam and what exactly is it?

Edificer

Get more hands-on with Packet Tracer. Draw a topology out with 5 routers for OSPF and 5 routers for EIGRP, make it work. Use optional OSPF/EIGRP features, commands, too. After that, expand, attach switches and hosts. Personally, after 2 years of experience in networking, I had to buckle down for almost a year to pass my CCENT, I studied a bit ridiculously and it left me with around ~300 pages of notes. It took me 7 months to study ICND2 and in that period I created around ~200 pages of notes. I have 6 notebooks of just notes!

Edit: The amount of subnetting covered in ICND2 works in your favor if you master it! Farm those easy points!

whizzer

Edificer wrote: »

Edit: The amount of subnetting covered in ICND2 works in your favor if you master it! Farm those easy points!

Actually, there was very little subnetting on my exam, but I'm pretty good at it now. And no ipv6 for that matter.

showint

STP or SPT ? Do you mean Spanning Tree Protocol ??

whizzer

I purchased the Bosom exam and it's pretty close to the real thing. I think this will help.

whizzer

Took the exam today and PASSED! Whoo hoo! There's still some oddly worded questions that throw me. I re-read Lammle's book and the OCG, and used GNS3 and real 3560 switches for the EIGRP, OSPF, and Spanning-Tree labs.

Now on to the CCNP.

koz24

Congrats whizzer!

xnx

Edificer wrote: »

Get more hands-on with Packet Tracer. Draw a topology out with 5 routers for OSPF and 5 routers for EIGRP, make it work. Use optional OSPF/EIGRP features, commands, too. After that, expand, attach switches and hosts. Personally, after 2 years of experience in networking, I had to buckle down for almost a year to pass my CCENT, I studied a bit ridiculously and it left me with around ~300 pages of notes. It took me 7 months to study ICND2 and in that period I created around ~200 pages of notes. I have 6 notebooks of just notes!

Edit: The amount of subnetting covered in ICND2 works in your favor if you master it! Farm those easy points!

Not to sound pedantic but the CCENT could be passed in 1 month if you have any hands on experience and are used to studying (in college etc..)