Sitting for CCENT in 1.5 Weeks

xengoreth

I'm a slacker when it comes to certs, but a I'm getting the feeling having at least a CCNA (R/S) at my workplace is going to become a hard requirement in about three months, so I thought I'd get ahead of the curve and start working on it now. My goal has always been to expand that to the CCNP (R/S) as well.

Currently, I'm re-reading the Odom book and doing a few sub-netting drills on Subnetting Practice Questions. It's taking me about 15 seconds per question, on average. I can do the calculations in my head, but I'll probably write out a table on the dry-erase board so I don't make stupid mistakes.

I work with Cisco devices at work and I have a lot of hands-on with their gear, which may help.

My main worry is IPv6, which I have no practical experience with, so I plan on hitting that really hard. I'd also like to do a big refresher on EIGRP, since we're running OSPF at work (and on my home network). At home, I have two 3560s, two 2960s, three 1841s, and a couple other routers from vendors capable of running actual interior routing protocols (Ubiquiti, for example). Finally, I just installed Cisco VIRL (as a virtual appliance on ESXi) at home, so hopefully I can supplement with that!

Any suggestions anyone has at this point would be greatly appreciated.

Deathmage

you won't touch IPv6 til ICDN2. Good Luck bro, I just failed ICDN2 myself, it's a bear!

volfkhat

The ICDN1 exam was painfully WEAK in terms of actual 'technical' configurations.

Passing the Exam had more to do with ANswering their Goofy multiple choice questions.
To be honest, it felt more a Network+ test.
I was quite disappointed.

my 2 cents:
Review your study material once;
then spend $150 and immediately TAKE the test.
Don't take weeks & weeks & weeks to "know everything".

Just take it; and refocus on the areas that need more attention :]

xengoreth

volfkhat wrote: »

my 2 cents:
Review your study material once;
then spend $150 and immediately TAKE the test.
Don't take weeks & weeks & weeks to "know everything".

Just take it; and refocus on the areas that need more attention :]

Thanks-- that sounds like good advice. I moved the test date up and will be taking it tomorrow. I am not concerned if I don't pass-- I can sit for it again next Wednesday.

bender_fender100

volfkhat wrote: »

The ICDN1 exam was painfully WEAK in terms of actual 'technical' configurations.

Passing the Exam had more to do with ANswering their Goofy multiple choice questions.
To be honest, it felt more a Network+ test.
I was quite disappointed.

my 2 cents:
Review your study material once;
then spend $150 and immediately TAKE the test.
Don't take weeks & weeks & weeks to "know everything".

Just take it; and refocus on the areas that need more attention :]

I couldn't agree more here. I would have been putting the test off for weeks and weeks but taking it really helped me to look at where I needed to really work on and realizing that there wasn't as much as I thought that I needed to work on to pass the next time.

xengoreth

My test got delayed until today due to computer problems at the testing center. I offered to fix their systems for a free pass, but apparently that doesn't satisfy the requirements Cisco has set forth.

Anyhow, the test center was fine today, but I ended up failing for the first time around. I'm pretty sure a big part of it was one of the multi-part questions. Not realizing I hadn’t answered three of the sub-questions, I clicked Next and confirmed I was done. To my horror, I found there was no way to go back and no way to review it at the end of the test! This was totally dumb since I had over 30 minutes remaining.

Anyhow, it seems I have some reading to do between now and the retake:

Operation of IP Data Networks: 100%
LAN Switching Technologies: 91%
IP addressing (IPv4/IPv6): 83%
IP Routing Technologies: 57%
IP Services: 75%
Network Device Security: 25%
Troubleshooting: 86%
Final Score: 784

bender_fender100

xengoreth wrote: »

My test got delayed until today due to computer problems at the testing center. I offered to fix their systems for a free pass, but apparently that doesn't satisfy the requirements Cisco has set forth.

Anyhow, the test center was fine today, but I ended up failing for the first time around. I'm pretty sure a big part of it was one of the multi-part questions. Not realizing I hadn’t answered three of the sub-questions, I clicked Next and confirmed I was done. To my horror, I found there was no way to go back and no way to review it at the end of the test! This was totally dumb since I had over 30 minutes remaining.

Anyhow, it seems I have some reading to do between now and the retake:

Operation of IP Data Networks: 100%
LAN Switching Technologies: 91%
IP addressing (IPv4/IPv6): 83%
IP Routing Technologies: 57%
IP Services: 75%
Network Device Security: 25%
Troubleshooting: 86%
Final Score: 784

That feels like my experience when I got to the end. I bombed Network Device Security too somehow and I really think it was one of the labs that I messed up on. I feel like my results were pretty consistent except for that section and three categories that I made less than a 70% on but were in all in the 60s. The lesson I learned is that even the parts of the test that aren't weighted as much as the others can still make a difference in having some extra points to pass the exam and that paying attention to even smaller details can be important.

hannism

The labs are weighed more heavily.

Unfortunately, you are right, there's no way to go back and review a question.

On the ICND1, I got a lab on my second question, and it was tough. I was like uh.....

The rest of the test was easy, and I really wish I could've gone back and looked it over. I had 30 minutes left when I clicked submit.

Anyways, you'll pass with flying colors on the next try.

xengoreth

I passed the ICND1 with an 807 just right now! I'm hitting the books so I can start WGU on 01-Jan-2016 with the ICND2, assuming I am accepted. Thanks for all the advice!

jaffe

Congrats! I'm scheduling my CCENT for late December. How deep did it go into OSPF / EIGRP? And what was in your opinion the most difficult objective of the exam?

xengoreth

I wouldn't worry too much about the nuts and bolts of any of the interior gateway protocols. At a high level, its important to know how they work-- for example, the requirements for OSPF to form adjacencies. However, it seems real details of any of these is covered on the ICND2.

As far as the most difficult objective, I'd say NAT might be it. But that's probably just a result of ignoring it as an exam topic.

Enough of the questions are subnetting that as long as you can subnet efficiently, you should be able to cover enough of the rest of the topics to pass without focusing too much on any specific technology.