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my CCENT expierence

WastedHat

I found lots of good advice on here when studying for my CCENT so heres my two pennies worth for anyone whos studying ICND1.

It took me 3 months of full time study to complete -

I spent 2 months reading the Offical cert Guide by Odom and doing lots of labs. I initially bought the full version of the network simulator by Pearson which I regret, I can see how it would benifit a complete beginner but it's so monotonous and time consuming. I also got a physical lab and I spent a lot of time making my own scenarios using the command reference at the end of the chapters and I felt I learned a lot more doing it this way. I did everything I could to make or break the config and got expierence with all the different parameters and troubleshooting with show commands.

I didn't use packet tracker but I noticed it was free after I had already done most of my studying and I'll probably use it for revision/ICND2 when I don't have access to my physical lab.

I spent the last month doing revision. I can reiterate what I've heard a lot on here about knowing the material as much as possible and using the pratice tests to highlight your weak areas. I used the pratice exams from the Offical Cert Guide and from Boson. I think the cert guide exams feel easy because they are similar to the DIKTA/Part Review questions you do as you go through the book and the Boson seems hard because its a different style of question. The Boson exams are good but I noticed that some of the simulator questions are badly written which is disappointing for the price. (for example, the answer asks you to do "show run" but sim doesn't allow the command and the other "show" commands don't give any clues). That said I still purchased the ICND2 exams with 25% off. I would recommend doing a pratice exam twice before looking at the answers and you'll likely figure out some of your wrong answers on your own the second time round instead of just reading them.

I felt the Cisco exam was a different style to the Perason and Boson pratice tests. There was a lot that I prepared for that didn't come up and I dropped marks on areas that I thought I knew really well, which I think was due to the wording of the questions and answers but maybe it was knowledge gaps.

Now I'm going over some of the ICND1 v3 materials that I would miss before starting ICND2 v3. Good luck to anyone whos doing ICND1 and thanks for all the help.

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Comments

Mike R

It's funny you mention the show run command not working on some of the sims. I ran into that last night and was really annoyed. I had the same with a cdp neighbors detail not working.

Congrats on the pass and good luck with ICND 2.

BennyTheMan

I'm just starting out with the Boson Simulated exams and I am having trouble with one command not working. I have to run the same config on packet tracer to verify.

WastedHat

Thanks. I was wondering if anyone else had similar issues. Yeah I was pretty pissed as well since I took too long trying to work out the sim and rushed the rest of the exam. I'm surprised because I've only heard good things about Boson and its an easy mistake to find if they tested for input validation.

carterw65

Just remember, everything you study for is not wasted just because it wasn't on the test. Being a network GURU is a journey, not a test. We just have to validate our knowledge along the way to be marketable for employers.

They have a pool of questions and therefore will give one person different questions than the other. If you find study material that is exactly like the real test - it is the real test and that is a ****. I personally felt the Boson test does a pretty good job of depicting the real thing without actually doing it. To each there own though. We all have our preferences.

I am assuming you passed, so congrats on that!

WastedHat

Thanks. Yeah thats very true but it felt funny being tested on 50-70%? of what I learned. Maybe they do it so it's harder to create brain **** but then theres the irony that it's easier to pass if you use brain ****? I would have prefered a more comprehensive test, I think I liked the Boson exams more than real thing.

carterw65 wrote: »

I personally felt the Boson test does a pretty good job of depicting the real thing without actually doing it.

I never actaully thought about how they can't make it too similar to the real thing or it becomes a brain ****. I agree it's a great preperation tool in that sense.