Ccna r&s passed today!
Well, with the help of many sources found here and a few others, it went well. I scored in the 900's. I am not sure if I am allowed to place the specific score here; however, I did score quite low on the IP Services portion which I felt I knew the 2nd MOST from all the other areas.
One thing though is that I can't see how each question is either "right" or "wrong". The way the scoring is, it seems that a multiple choice question, or a simlet, testlet, etc, is scored upon partial credit.
I have little in understanding how out of a 1000 I received what I received yet I didn't score 100% on any topic and scored 84 or lower on two topics.
I tried to figure out the weight of each question but no matter how I did it, the scores still didn't add up. Nevertheless on to what i used to study.
From April 8th to June 20 (took ICND1 on June 22)
and From July 1st to August 16 (took ICND2 today)
I used both of Odom's books, CCNA in 60 Days, CBTNuggets, Chris Bryant's videos, and a THICK written study guide I received from a link from someone here (cannot remember your screen handle but I owe you a ton!!!). This along with the online ciscopress material.
Of course virtual simulators and test engines
The way I prepared was:
Read 2 chapters in Odoms
Watch CBT and Chris's Videos on those 2 chapters
Read CCNA in 60' on those two topics.
Look over the ONLINE ciscopress material if needed about those two chapters
Labbed anything I didn't really understand
Rinse, Repeat
I did the same thing for 90% of the chapters. The portions on IOS management, Licensing, IPv6, and OSPF I only briefed over and watched the video material once. I have played with OSPF on my rigs long before I started studying and knew that material like the back of my hand.
Once I got to the last two weeks (both in june and this month), I purchased the official exam simulator and the network simulator..
I would go through the Cisco simulators (from Odom's books), 1-2 topics at a time, then try and recreate them in GNS3 and/or packet tracer.
I also purchased BOSON for ICND1 but didn't see the need for it on ICND2.
TLDR,
Read 2 chapters at a time in Odoms
Watch CBT and Chris's Videos on those 2 chapters
Read CCNA in 60' on those two chapters
Look over the ONLINE ciscopress material if needed
Labbed anything I didn't really understand
Rinse, Repeat
Two weeks before test, purchase exam engines and simulators and play with scenarios until I was comfortable
I studied 2 hours per day during my job days and 6 hours per day on my two off days per week with the exception of a few days here or there.
Well, I am on to windows server 2012/14. I am not going to study for the ccnp right now because my level of working experience isn't much at all besides personal consulting i have done. So pushing myself 1.5 yrs to do my ccnp would be wasting my time right now when most of the jobs in my area require only a CCNA, MCSA/E server and security+. I would rather land a gig first and then allow the company to pay for some of the study material.
If anyone needs the study guide I used, let me know and I will email it to you!
P.S. I did purchase 3 routers and 3 switches but I only used them on ICND1.
