101-105 ICND1 Failed -Advice Needed
emek
Member Posts: 42 ■■□□□□□□□□
in CCNA & CCENT
Hi everyone,
I've been studying for my ICND1 101-105 on and off for the past year, and very seriously for the past 3 months or so. I would say I've been putting in roughly 15 hours a week studying the past 3 months. Today I took the exam and unfortunately failed with a 790 (832 Needed). Prior to the exam I was using Pearson practice exams and scoring around a 90% regularly. I can't say I was surprised I failed, as going in I had a feeling the Pearson practice exams would be easier than the real thing as the actual exam has simulation questions. It was in fact the simulation questions that I feel stumped me. I was doing relatively well on the test until the first simulation, which I would say I spent 20 min on and I felt unsure of my answers. This left me in scramble mode for the rest of the test including a second simulation question.
My question is, does anyone have any recommended training materials that they felt were particularly useful and indispensable to passing?
Here is what I am currently using:
Odom- Official Cert Guide (Read front to back twice)
CBT Nuggets- Used a mix of both 101-101 and 101-105 videos
Pearson Practice Exams
Pearson Network Simulator
And what I scored:
83% Network Fundamentals
75% LAN Switching Fundamentals
67% Routing Fundamentals
67% Infrastructure Services
50% Infrastructure Maintenance (Studied this a lot prior and scored very high on pearson practice exam
???)
I am considering maybe just biting the bullet and paying for the Boson practice exams.
*Update 1-23-17 I passed with an 860! See below.
I've been studying for my ICND1 101-105 on and off for the past year, and very seriously for the past 3 months or so. I would say I've been putting in roughly 15 hours a week studying the past 3 months. Today I took the exam and unfortunately failed with a 790 (832 Needed). Prior to the exam I was using Pearson practice exams and scoring around a 90% regularly. I can't say I was surprised I failed, as going in I had a feeling the Pearson practice exams would be easier than the real thing as the actual exam has simulation questions. It was in fact the simulation questions that I feel stumped me. I was doing relatively well on the test until the first simulation, which I would say I spent 20 min on and I felt unsure of my answers. This left me in scramble mode for the rest of the test including a second simulation question.
My question is, does anyone have any recommended training materials that they felt were particularly useful and indispensable to passing?
Here is what I am currently using:
Odom- Official Cert Guide (Read front to back twice)
CBT Nuggets- Used a mix of both 101-101 and 101-105 videos
Pearson Practice Exams
Pearson Network Simulator
And what I scored:
83% Network Fundamentals
75% LAN Switching Fundamentals
67% Routing Fundamentals
67% Infrastructure Services
50% Infrastructure Maintenance (Studied this a lot prior and scored very high on pearson practice exam
???)I am considering maybe just biting the bullet and paying for the Boson practice exams.
*Update 1-23-17 I passed with an 860! See below.
Comments
* Boson NetSim
* ITPro.TV Labs powered by practice-labs.com
To be honest I don't really feel these alone will adequately prepare me for the exam so I've also invested in Boson's Ex-Sim Max practice exams and will be doing a fair bit more labbing (build/break/playing). I get a strong feeling that the exams are going to expect you to be fluent enough that any problems should be second nature to detect & fix.
With the practice questions/exam, I'd not be happy with anything less than 100%, because, as you say, the practice exam will most likely be easier than the real thing. I'd also suggest (with respect) that you scored very low on the 'Fundamentals'. As for the 'Infrastructure Service', maybe more in the way of labs? This is also reflected in your comments about the sim questions.
I've just started to complement my studies (which have so far been reading the Odom books, doing labs in CPT, and reading and answering questions on this site, as well as a few YouTube vids. I'm now 4 months in.) with an eLeaning Course and I'm surprised at just how much of the fundamentals I'm having to go over again. I thought I knew stuff that I'm now (having taken the 1st test in my eLeaning Course) having to reevaluate. And it's all the stuff that I read about in the beginning.
It's brave of you (and of anyone) to come on here and say 'I've fail my exam'. But, in doing so, you've analysed the situation and you know where you've slipped up. Plus you've helped others in the process.
Apply what you've learned, and work on the areas in which you know let you down.
You'll get there; never give up!
All the best with your studies.
I thought the Boson sim questions weren't well authored, for example the "show" commands didn't give you enough information and when I revealed the answer it said "use show run" which wasn't available in the sim. That was half a year ago, hopefully they've updated it now. It's a good set of practice exams and more realistic than the Pearson questions but if you decide to save your money just do as much labbing as possible before the resit. Good luck!
CCNP R/S
My biggest worry on the exam is purely question wording. I've got a bad habit from school of not reading the question thoroughly when doing multiple choice.
CCNP R/S
Already passed: Oracle Cloud, AZ-900
Taking AZ-104 in December.
"Certs... is all about IT certs!"
In Progress: Linux+/LPIC-1, Python, Bash
Upcoming: eJPT, C|EH, CSA+, CCNA-Sec, PA-ACE
Carl
Upcoming Certs: VCA-DCV 7.0, VCP-DCV 7.0, Oracle Database 1Z0-071, PMP, Server +, CCNP
Proverbs 6:6-11Go to the ant, you sluggard! Consider her ways and be wise, Which, having no captain, Overseer or ruler, Provides her supplies in the summer, And gathers her food in the harvest. How long will you slumber, O sluggard?
When will you rise from your sleep? A little sleep, a little slumber, A little folding of the hands to sleep, So shall your poverty come on you like a prowler And your need like an armed man.
Congrats also, I go back in Feb to retake the ccent. I failed it back in august and work hasn't let me get back to it since.
I live in Bosnia and Herzegovina,and I'm preparing for ICND1 too,and I would like to ask which materials I need,to be sure that I prepared well for exam?Now,I have CCENT/CCNA ICND1 100-105 Official Cert Guide by Wendell Odom,GNS3 installed on PC,and I will buy Pearson Network Simulator for ICND1,but is there something else that I need?Some others books?
Thanks in advance.
That's actually nice to hear, I took two of my three Boson practice exams and haven't been able to do better then the mid. 500's. I'm trying to take the quizzes at the end of every chapter in two of my study books before attempting my last Boson test. While my scores may not be good enough to pass the real exam yet, it's nice to know I'm probably not too far from getting a passing grade on the exam. I was getting very discouraged, your post is inspiring to me.
That should be enough to pass, but you may also want to use some videos as well for variation. I used the CBT Nuggets videos, which I did not like initially. I found that watching them at 1.5 speed made them so much more useful and practical for me. I was able to blow through the videos and stay more engaged when watching them at a faster speed.
@TechGromit
Don't give up! Just power through! You are probably retaining more than you think. The highest I scored organically without seeing questions twice on the Boson exams was around an 80%. This translated to an 86% on the actual exam.
Ok.Thanks for replay.
Already passed: Oracle Cloud, AZ-900
Taking AZ-104 in December.
"Certs... is all about IT certs!"
routing is worth alot with CCNA points. you should go over routing concepts and do the routing configuration and troubleshooting labs.
I did indeed power through, and passed both the ICND1 and ICND2, and have since become CCNA certified. Now if I could just find an entry level networking position...
Keep going! I wish I would have when I passed CCNA!
The level of carry over from CCNA RS to CCNP RS is strong. The topics you learned the fundamentals of in NA take a deeper dive in NP. Not having to relearn the fundamentals again would have been great when I started on NP studies.
Thank you for the advise Chris. I have really been struggling with what road to take now that I have passed the CCNA. I've considered everything from the CCNA Security, to the MCSA, linux certs, etc. I even started reading this book "Network Warrior", to keep my CCNA topics sharp.
Alot of people on here have said not to pursue the CCNP until you have experience, otherwise you will be a paper CCNP. But like you said, I already feel like I HAVE to jump into the CCNP just to retain/build on my CCNA level knowledge. At the least, I think I will start studying for the CCNP and maybe I will get lucky and find an entry level networking position in the meanwhile.
Advice:
#1 Don't wait till November, wait a few weeks and try again
#2 You should have a report of your weak areas, hit those hard and seek alternate sources for info as needed (google)
Your close, REALLY close.
CCENT: 04/16/2012
CCNA: TBD