Unbelievable experience for me. I Paaassseeeed

Sa'ad

I did it people. I passed with a score of 900/1000 on my first attempt.

Planning & Design 100%
Implementation & Operation 79%
Troubleshooting 82%
Technology 86%

First of thank God for everything, ( for keeping me motivated and not give up so easily, and for making things workout for me). Secondly, thank you all at techexams with your encouragement and support, I don't think this would have been possible without your unconditional support.

I actually passed yesterday but the site was down I think so I couldn't post my exam report.

First of I rescheduled this exam 3 times b4 I decided to take it yesterday. So people 1 piece of advice, don't schedule your exams until u feel very comfortable, and don't delay it for too long either.

Anyways, here is my exam experience. Before I started the test I was so scared that I almost fainted. The first 5 questions were really hard that I was tempted to just walk out but that was cisco's way of frightening me I guess but I didn't fall for that so I didn't give up. After the first 5 questions I was so calm and the questions seemed really easy until I got to like mid 20's.

I gave up by the time I was half way thru the exam because then things got really hard once again, and I started to think about when I should reschedule for my second attempt. My first sim was related to switches I spent like 20 mins on it and just gave it up and moved on. Second sime was really easy had to do with OSPF and I think I did it with my eyes closed because I got it on question 39 and I had like 11 mins left, so I just rushed thru it. By the time I was on question 52 I ran out of time and the exam ended. I was almost so sure that I had failed. But when my exam score report was placed in front of me I felt like weeping out of happiness. Because this was my first computer cert ever and I didn't even go to school for it, didn't have any teachers or friends to help me when I didn't understand something. It was me, my books and of course this site. I had no networking experience b4 my ccna. I studied for almost 9 months on and off. Just about 3 weeks ago I almost gave up the whole thing and thought of quiting this whole cisco stuff, but then when I remembered the time and money I invested in this journey I was reluctant to give up.

Anways, even though I didn't answer the last 4 questions, and I didn't complete 1 of the sims I still suprisingly scored 900 on my first attempt, my hard work was paid off with honor and I tell ya, it feels gooooodddd to be a ccna.

Materials I used,
Sybex 5
Cisco intro/icnd
Boson ccna/ccnp (spent almost $300 us dollars on these alone which I still regret cause I could have purchased real equipment of off ebay with that money).
****
read some of the new examprep book (great book by the way)
I think if you only have the cisco press along with the new exam prep book you have all u need to pass the exam.

CCNP here I come.

mikej412

Congratulations!

Some of the questions may have seemed hard -- but obviously not hard enough to trick you.

I remember the pre-test jitters and durning-test jitters from my CCNA -- but you just have to work through it -- like you did. And I still get the pre-test jitters, but I'm fine now once I get to the test center. Part of my pre-test routine is now to turn off my cell phone and stop checking email the day before the exam (before the reschedule time) so that I can't get sucked into any work issues when I should be relaxing and reviewing for the exam. I used to take the day off before the exam -- but that hasn't been working out lately -- too may phone calls and interruptions.

As for the reschedule test shuffle -- yep, I do it if I don't feel ready -- and I do it if work may cut into the study time just before the exam.

Anyway -- you do get partial credit on the SIMs -- so it does seem like you took your best guess at it - or got every other question you finished on the exam correct.

As for the time management issue -- yep, that's important. If you have a minute left and some unanswered questions -- do you try to answer one more question correctly -- or do you randomly answer the remaining questions? I'd guess that if you have 4-5 questions left, you go for one more correct answer. If you have 10 unanswered quetions -- random guessing could get you 2+ correct answers (especially if there are multiple answer quetions and partial credit). We do know that with Cisco exams you don't lose points for guessing at an answer (and getting it wrong), but you lose the points if you don't answer.

I think my first 5 routers and a switch were under $300 on eBay -- and at 9 routers and 2 switches I was still under $500. If you're patient you can get some deals (like my maxed out 2513s for $25 each including the shipping!!!).

And finally -- the motivation! That's the tough one. I took the Cisco Academy CCNA courses so that I would have that "push" to study. I've been doing self-study ever since. Once you figure out what to expect -- it does get easier -- even while the topics and exam questions get harder.

Good Luck with the CCNP!

Sa'ad

Thanks Mike.

I feel like I can self study for anything now that I gained some experience for self studying my ccna.

As far as guessing, right after I was done on my 46th question I believe I was just answering all the questions because by then I had like 2 mins left so I was only reading the question really fast and choosing an answer without even thinking about whether it was the right answer or not. Maybe I got 1 or 2 questions answered right out of 6 questions who knows. By then I was already disappointed and didn't care much about whether I got the right answers or not I was just concerned with answering them all incase I got them all right. Apparently, I got something right and I passed and thats all that really matters.

Humper

Sa'ad wrote:

Thanks Mike.

I feel like I can self study for anything now that I gained some experience for self studying my ccna.

As far as guessing, right after I was done on my 46th question I believe I was just answering all the questions because by then I had like 2 mins left so I was only reading the question really fast and choosing an answer without even thinking about whether it was the right answer or not. Maybe I got 1 or 2 questions answered right out of 6 questions who knows. By then I was already disappointed and didn't care much about whether I got the right answers or not I was just concerned with answering them all incase I got them all right. Apparently, I got something right and I passed and thats all that really matters.

w0rd....great job!!!

uksmurf

Absolutely fantastic! Well done!

I have mine coming up in a couple of weeks... I know exactly what you're referring to with the pre exam jitters!

Sa'ad

Thanks Modemhumper and uksmurf. Good luck on your upcoming ccna uksmurf. You should be able to do fine as long as you know u'r stuff and u'r comfortable.

wildfire

Well done on passing the CCNA and good luck for the CCNP. Im sure you will fly through it.

jescab

CONGRATZ dude

Sa'ad

thanks wildfire and jescab.

Now my plan is to fly thru the CCNP if all possible.

jescab

GOOD LUCK with CCNP......you can do it - we have faith in you

porengo

Congrats and good luck with your CCNP.

moss12

congratulation son very good score I got respect for you, I am going for my ccna certification too prolly go for the two stream one.cisco exam prep you have used from what publisher could give the details please,Now you have CCNA certification why not apply for a Entry level job .

Sa'ad

Thanks to all of you once again. I started reading my ccnp bcran yesterday. I'm off to chapter 2 already and this time I'm using the networking academy book (CCNP 2: remote Access), the really thick one.

To answer moss12's question.

I work for a telecom company. That is what motivated me to get into this field to begin with. I also just was hired in their tech support dept about a month ago, so I some what am getting some experience now that I'm doing tech support. I troubleshoot DSL, and T1's. That is why I jumped to the BCRAN to start my CCNP because a lot of it pertains to my daily work. The only problem is I don't get some hands on experience because I'm level 1 tech I only have access to the cisco routers as enable/usermode only. So I do get some experience some how but not enough to help me make it thru my ccnp, however, I'm thinking of registering for a ccnp bcran class that is beginning about a month from now at a technical college near where I live, just so I get some serious hands on experience.

For the ccna I used the following.

CCNA Self-Study Intro/ICND from cisco press. by Wendell Odom
CCNA study guide 5th Edition from Sybex. by Todd Lammle
I read some chapters of the new CCNA ExamPrep from Que. by David Minutella and other authors
Boson netsim CCNA and CCNP for the hands on experience. Of course not as good as the real equipment.
I also used the famous ****.com site for test praciticing purposes.
And that is it.

I hope that helps.

uksmurf

Sa'ad wrote:

For the ccna I used the following.

CCNA Self-Study Intro/ICND from cisco press. by Wendell Odom
CCNA study guide 5th Edition from Sybex. by Todd Lammle
I read some chapters of the new CCNA ExamPrep from Que. by David Minutella and other authors
Boson netsim CCNA and CCNP for the hands on experience. Of course not as good as the real equipment.
I also used the famous ****.com site for test praciticing purposes.
And that is it.

I hope that helps.

Thanks for your recommendation regarding ****.com - I've just tried their free test and was quite impressed. I'm going to sign up for an account with them now.

Chron

And the Oscar goes to.............




Congrats!!