What To Use for Practice Exams?

A little background, I purchased the Cisco Press e-book which apparently doesn't include a download for the practice exams, not sure why...seems silly...but anyhoo. I am trying to find something that I can use to test my knowledge along the way and all I can seem to find via the Google machine are ****, apparently Trainsignal doesn't offer practice exams anymore? Anybody have any advice on what to use for practice for this exam? Thanks!

Find more posts tagged with

Comments

joshmadakor

bugzy3188 wrote: »

all I can seem to find via the Google machine are ****

Lol I just experienced this myself. I chuckle because I couldn't even find a single legit vendor offering anything for the new CCNA-W exam, but the **** were abundant.

bugzy3188

joshmadakor wrote: »

Lol I just experienced this myself. I chuckle because I couldn't even find a single legit vendor offering anything for the new CCNA-W exam, but the **** were abundant.

It amazes me at how widely "accepted" **** are, 2 of the 3 IT jobs that I have been at have had **** in their "training" material for the CCNA, what have certifications come to if even managers are getting in on and advocating cheating? Sigh...

theodoxa

bugzy3188 wrote: »

It amazes me at how widely "accepted" **** are, 2 of the 3 IT jobs that I have been at have had **** in their "training" material for the CCNA, what have certifications come to if even managers are getting in on and advocating cheating? Sigh...

I am surprised at how many people have used them. One coworker (when I indicated how difficult I found MSCE exams) seemed shocked, indicating they were "easy" as all you have to do is "memorize the ****". I wouldn't risk my Cisco certs by using ****.

As for why companies turn a blind eye or even aid and abet the use of ****. My guess is Partner status. They need certified persons to meet partner requirements and get those discounts.

joshmadakor

theodoxa wrote: »

I wouldn't risk my Cisco certs by using ****.

I always hear people say things like this, but I've literally never heard any stories of people having their certs taken away for cheating. Why is this? (Serious question btw)

E Double U

theodoxa wrote: »

They need certified persons to meet partner requirements and get those discounts.

Pretty much!

koz24

joshmadakor wrote: »

I always hear people say things like this, but I've literally never heard any stories of people having their certs taken away for cheating. Why is this? (Serious question btw)

My guess is, and it's just a guess, is they only protect the CCIE seriously. I read that someone reported Narbik of all people for dumping CCIE Security and they thoroughly reviewed his exam.

If you want to catch people dumping CCNA you can probably do it, although you could hit some innocents in the process, but it will require a lot of work on their part.

Anyway, it should be on the employer to weed out paper tigers(whether they dumped or didn't). If the employer is advocating dumping then you just have to laugh I guess and not work there.

theodoxa

koz24 wrote: »

If you want to catch people dumping CCNA you can probably do it, although you could hit some innocents in the process, but it will require a lot of work on their part.

It used to be claimed that Microsoft had a computer algorithm that they used to detect cheating and would revoke certs and impose lifetime bans based entirely on the algorithm's say so. That said, I have not seen a single confirmed case of this happening. The only cases I've found online were people who sneaked phones in to take pictures or distributed **** materials. There was also a person who improperly obtained a resold vouchers who got slapped with a revocation and lifetime ban, though in that case it wasn't cheating. I haven't heard anything about how Cisco detects/finds cheaters.

Anyway, it should be on the employer to weed out paper tigers(whether they dumped or didn't). If the employer is advocating dumping then you just have to laugh I guess and not work there.

Agree 100%. When I interviewed at the last place I worked, they asked me a number of Cisco and general networking questions.

volfkhat

theodoxa wrote: »

It used to be claimed that Microsoft had a computer algorithm that they used to detect cheating and would revoke certs and impose lifetime bans based entirely on the algorithm's say so

Here's a novel idea:

Why not create a better exam??

Ditch the multiple-choice, and create exams that are lab/simulation-based.

10 years ago, i sat for a Novell beta exam:
(https://training.suse.com/certification/cla/)

There were ZERO questions.
Only a list of "tasks" that required the Tester to complete them within a virtualized environment.

I did not pass :]
but i was thoroughly impressed by Novell's approach.

i knew it was only a matter of time before the Certification-industry adopted this new paradigm.

oh wait... They didn't.
Apparently the industry ONLY wants your money,

Nevermind.

theodoxa

volfkhat wrote: »

Here's a novel idea: Why not create a better exam?? Ditch the multiple-choice, and create exams that are lab/simulation-based. 10 years ago, i sat for a Novell beta exam: (https://training.suse.com/certification/cla/) There were ZERO questions. Only a list of "tasks" that required the Tester to complete them within a virtualized environment. I did not pass :] but i was thoroughly impressed by Novell's approach. i knew it was only a matter of time before the Certification-industry adopted this new paradigm. oh wait... They didn't. Apparently the industry ONLY wants your money, Nevermind.

I have been saying the same thing. I took a computer class in 2000 that had simulations (Windows and Office) in the tests. Yet, 16 years later and many cert exams still aren't using Simulations at all. Multiple Choice has its place for testing general knowledge like whether someone knows the difference between TCP and UDP or Link State vs. Distance Vector, but overall I would say exams should be mostly Sims and/or Simlets. Personally, I find the Scenarios (Microsoft) harder to digest and make sense of than simply saying "Users have complained they can't access resource X. Find and fix the problem."

capwap

It's unfortunate there are no good practice exams for CCNA Wireless. I'm not sure why Boson doesn't make one, but a guess would be that CCNA-Wiress is more memorization-focused than other exams. No simlets, not much critical thinking involved, and thus practice exams wouldn't be as effective. They could only test a small portion of what Cisco could ask, which would perhaps give someone a false sense of security once they memorized the practice exam. I suppose this is an issue with any practice exam, but I think it would be more so with CCNA Wireless.