640-916 = So frustrated... Any ideas?

So a bit frustrated this morning as I just came from failing the 640-916 for a SECOND time. Meaning I've wasted over $500 for a CCNA level certification. That rubs be the wrong way. I don't know what it is about this exam, the wording seems awful and a lot of questions are unclear. I have the official cert guide which I've read through (the thing is way to in-depth and huge for a CCNA level as well), I have the INE video series which is way too general to provide the detail to answer the questions on the exam. I ace the practice exams from the cert guide, only to find out they're nothing like the actual exam. So feeling a bit miffed today. Any other helpful resources or notes that someone may have that could be a fresh resource for me to study? I'm not looking forward to paying another $250 soon to take this test, but when I eventually get that pass, as least my company will reimburse. I'm wanting to get back on this horse, but using the same ol' materials will not help I fear. Thanks for any advice!

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JoJoCal19

Do you have hands-on experience with the technologies covered by the CCNA DC blueprint? Have you labbed at all during your prep?

networker050184

JayrodEF wrote: »

I have the official cert guide which I've read through (the thing is way to in-depth and huge for a CCNA level as well)

Well, apparently you are in need of more in depth info if you can't pass. Also agree with JoJoCal19. If you aren't labbing you're doing it wrong!

JayrodEF

Thanks for the replies. I have experience on the Nexus side, a bit MDS and no UCS. I also agree labbing is key, but I'm at a loss as to how I can lab anything for this exam. I don't have access to 1000v, UCSM, or MDS which seems to be key areas. I ended up finding the Cisco study materials on the learning networks, for $11 I get a month to go through the materials, hopefully that will fill in some gaps.

networker050184

It is one of the bad parts about this track. Hard to get your hands on the gear to lab without employer backing.

creamy_stew

IPX also have CCNA:DC material now. I can really recommend it.

Also, IPX allows you to rent their DC racks without buying their CCIE workbooks

bharvey92

creamy_stew wrote: »

IPX also have CCNA:DC material now. I can really recommend it.

Also, IPX allows you to rent their DC racks without buying their CCIE workbooks

I agree there rack rentals look great. I use Cisco PEC, yet to sit the exam, hopefully will be enough!

Also, I found IPX have practice exam questions - might be worth a shot?

Is there something your finding hard in particular?

creamy_stew

I just had an offer that I couldn't refuse from IPX:

Buy Rack time, and they'll double it for you!

I just bought 5x4 rack hours, which they'll double on Monday. Should be enough to get me well over my plateau I've been experiencing on 640-916.

I'm sure if you ask, they'll give you the same offer.

bharvey92

creamy_stew wrote: »

I just had an offer that I couldn't refuse from IPX:

Buy Rack time, and they'll double it for you!

I just bought 5x4 rack hours, which they'll double on Monday. Should be enough to get me well over my plateau I've been experiencing on 640-916.

I'm sure if you ask, they'll give you the same offer.

That sounds like a great offer, I'm trying to move house at the moment so bit tight for me to buy IPXpert rack time. I'm mostly labbing vPC, OTV, FabricPath, Zoning and other things like VDC configuration etc (even though I dont think you are expected to be able to fluently lab this stuff in the test it will help with troubleshooting I'm finding this is helping me with practice questions and also learning the content - recommend it for you!

creamy_stew

bharvey92 wrote: »

I dont think you are expected to be able to fluently lab this stuff in the test

I agree you're probably not expected to have much real experince with configuring/troubleshootin real gear. The reason I bought the lab time is more because it was starting to feel so abstract that I had trouble learning even the CCNA:DC level material. If I move on to CCNP:DC, I will probably have some lab time left to cover that as well.

skwira001

networker050184 wrote: »

Well, apparently you are in need of more in depth info if you can't pass. Also agree with JoJoCal19. If you aren't labbing you're doing it wrong!

Cisco VIRL is the answer for doing a lab for this. Just make sure you have a computer with a lot of horse power. 16 GB of RAM with at least a quad core processor is a must. I'd recommend 64 GB of RAM and an 8 core processor. The data center devices take up a lot of horse power.

chopsticks

Not sure whether INE has such rack rental?

joelsfood

VIRL is a great app, but of limited use for the Data center track.

INE does have data center rack rentals. Supposedly they're in process of deploying their v2 racks, but last I heard, you still can't schedule time on them, so bear that in mind before buying tokens for DC rack rentals.