CCNA 200-120 Awful Exam Structure!

randyk46349

Did anyone else find this exam extremely useless? The layout of the exam couldnt possibly be any worse. You think with this day and age, they would have an up-to-date, nice exam set up for cisco candidates to take. I studied for the last two weeks, just to find out that 99% of the questions are exactly what I did not study! Yes, there were some eigrp questions, and stp questions, but it was a lot of basically useless crap they were asking questions about. I am very shocked at how awful this exam was structured. I think this exam is windows 95 based. It looked so awful. Does anyone else have input?

networker050184

Just have to deal with it. It's the same exam everyone else took. Good luck!

thewiz8807

I agree with OP to some extent, was kind of let down when I took the ICND1 and ICND2. Felt like the book was way more in depth (which of course will always be the case) but based on the exam it seemed as if all Cisco wanted you to know for the CCNA material was your subnetting and show commands. The book had me thinking I was going to have to set up a basic level network in a sim on the test or something.

Retaining all the info for the CCNA R&S is definitely the most difficult thing for me, already practically forgot most of what I studied - need to get that packet tracer labbing going if I can find the time.

randyk46349

Yeah, I have quickly learned that I'm going to have to deal with it. I clearly overstudied on routing protocols and troubleshooting. I did very well in that area. It was the theoretical questions about snmp and stp that got me. I was pretty shocked by the amount of SNMP and netflow questions. I thought those would be a couple of the least concerning protocols to put on this exam. Well, off to studying again, then round two!

volfkhat

I guess all "multiple choice" exams are flawed in that sense.

i supposed praticum/lab-based exams are a better measure of actual knowledge.

Although... i assume they can be abused as well

(the cert game is pretty much a racket)

Deathmage

randyk46349 wrote: »

Yeah, I have quickly learned that I'm going to have to deal with it. I clearly overstudied on routing protocols and troubleshooting. I did very well in that area. It was the theoretical questions about snmp and stp that got me. I was pretty shocked by the amount of SNMP and netflow questions. I thought those would be a couple of the least concerning protocols to put on this exam. Well, off to studying again, then round two!

Get Boson, it helps with the nonsense questions. Many here says it's not worth it, but I use it for the simple fact on nonsense questions.

blatini

I thought Boson was a great help. Also agree that the exams are quirky, but can't do much about it.

NetworkNewb

randyk46349 wrote: »

I studied for the last two weeks, just to find out that 99% of the questions are exactly what I did not study! Yes, there were some eigrp questions, and stp questions, but it was a lot of basically useless crap they were asking questions about.

Damn books making you learn more about a profession you want to excel in, instead of just the exact questions on the test!! What a waste of time...

theodoxa

thewiz8807 wrote: »

...it seemed as if all Cisco wanted you to know for the CCNA material was your subnetting and show commands. The book had me thinking I was going to have to set up a basic level network in a sim on the test or something.

You'll run into configuration on the CCNP (ROUTE and SWITCH) exams. As for the CCNA, even the old (640 Series) CCNA was just theory, subnetting, and show commands.

As for the exam looking like Windows 95 (as another poster said), that will likely never change. I don't imagine Cisco has much incentive to spend time updating the graphics, so expect to see the same graphics they have had since the CCNA was introduced in 1998 until the end of time. Personally, I think it looks more like Classic Mac (OS 7.x)

White Wizard

As theodoxa stated, CCNP is where configuration comes into play. I prepared with the OCG and Boson mainly and Boson did a great job of giving me an idea of what the exam would be like although it was lacking in some areas. Im almost done reading CCNP switch and configuration is definitely expected.

james43026

1.) Cisco Exams are far better than CompTIA exams (just as an example of how it could be worse), and I found that the GUI of the test did feel outdated, but I believe it's the same GUI that all Pearson Vue exams may use, as CompTIA exams used the same GUI

2.) Cisco lists all exam topics / objectives on their website

3.) Two weeks isn't enough for someone to study for the exam unless they have field experience using these skills, and even then not studying can be questionable depending on experience.

4.)The CCNAX was designed for people who have been certified in the past, or someone that already has considerable field experience