200-125 passed

johny123

Hi all,

So today I passed the 200-125 (the composite CCNA R&S) exam.
I was a little too nervous at the start of the exam.

I used the Cisco official study guides mainly for this exam.

My study:
About 4 months ago I started studying using Todd Lammle's book, and covered it in about maybe 2 1 month of study for about 2 hours a day or so. Then found out about the CCNA V3.
I got the Cisco Official Study Guides, and covered both of them (ICND1 and ICND2 books). Used packet tracer a lot. I love this tool! Although it has many problems.
I didn't study for the only purpose of "passing an exam". I was honest in my study to understand the concepts as I'd like to proceed to CCNP and do a better job at work!
I felt confident that I was ready for the exam.

The exam:
At the start I felt (Oh, it's not as easy as I thought). Then there was that section with simulation where you answer a few questions. It first gives you instructions on how to use it then you're supposed to click on the questions tab and so... I clicked on NEXT thinking it would bring up the questions, but what happened was it took empty answers for all of them and went to the next section and you cannot go back. At this point I felt really really really frustrated! I lost all those points without even going through the questions.

Then I told myself "It's a silly little easy exam! I don't need those missed points anyway". Went ahead, finished the remaining questions and had about 10 minutes left I think at the end. I got 830 and the pass was 810. Not sure how many questions accounted for those 20 points? but I would really like to know hehe

Was it tricky?
I don't think it was. It wasn't hard either. It's all about knowing the basics really. For example, if you don't know basics like two routers interfaces need to be setup in the same area to establish OSPF, what are you doing in the exam room anyway?
However, I remember there was like 1 or 2 questions where I felt they were telling me "You think you're tough? here's a tough one for you". But, omg, there were many where I felt it was telling me "I think you're stupid and here are a bunch of stupid questions for you".

What I liked:
In simulations where you need to run show commands for troubleshooting! That part was awesome! It was so fluid tapping into the routers and navigating and running those lovely show commands. I found it easier to use than even packet tracer!

Maybe my last exam experience influenced my review here, which was the CISSP a few months ago (Yup, that was one hell of a crazy exam!) 6 hours experience I don't want to remember.

greg9891

Congrats!