Overwhelmed

NightBlade09

My CCNA expires in June and I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed with trying to pass the CCNA Security. The main panic comes from not really knowing what's on the exam and what to study. Apparently from what I've read, every resource sucks except the Boson Practice exams. I'm going through them and the questions are just way out there from what I would expect after studying the official guide, and the INE videos. The references Boson provides are huge reads, and I'm not sure if I should go through those all too or not.

Anyways, I guess I'm just looking for advice on what to focus on and how to study these Boson questions. Should I take the references and study the whole thing or just study what the question pertains to in the reference linked and what is in the answer description?

MitM

Are you doing a lot of labbing along with those books and videos? I also used INE videos, along with CBT Nuggets. I never used Boson, so I can't help there, but I'd suggest if you have the time, might as well go through the references

NightBlade09

I haven't done a whole lot of labbing, but a little.

Well that's a relief you only had to use those two resources then. However, I don't have CBT nuggets and I heard there's a ton of CCNP level material you learn and I'm not sure what that material is.

robo78

Regarding to CBT nuggets,
in 210-260 course there's a lot of "homework nuggets" referring to old ended exams, exactly:

CCNA Security IINS 640-554
CCNP Security VPN v2.0 642-648
CCNP Security FIREWALL v2.0 642-618.

I don't know if these are overkills for certification purposes, but for someone who really want to understand these technologies are excellent imho.

Phileeeeeeep651

Just took the exam and passed it today. I used Boson, CBTNuggets and the OCG. CBT + OCG was a good combo IMO. CBT was better for understanding how to actually do a lot of the topics and the OCG was good for the more technical/vocab parts. I felt like Boson was helpful but not as helpful as it was for my CCNA.

It took me two tries to pass, got a 838 the first try and then a 901 the second. The one section that I would say was lacking the most out of all the material was Content and Endpoint Security, I had to find additional resources to get a better grasp on that topic. Also, like robo78 said, the CBT material reaches pretty deep into the CCNP topics and I think that definitely helped with the exam.

Hope this helps!

NightBlade09

Phileeeeeeep651 wrote: »

Just took the exam and passed it today. I used Boson, CBTNuggets and the OCG. CBT + OCG was a good combo IMO. CBT was better for understanding how to actually do a lot of the topics and the OCG was good for the more technical/vocab parts. I felt like Boson was helpful but not as helpful as it was for my CCNA.

It took me two tries to pass, got a 838 the first try and then a 901 the second. The one section that I would say was lacking the most out of all the material was Content and Endpoint Security, I had to find additional resources to get a better grasp on that topic. Also, like robo78 said, the CBT material reaches pretty deep into the CCNP topics and I think that definitely helped with the exam.

Hope this helps!

Congrats on the pass and thanks for the post, any resources you could share for the Content and Endpoint security?

Phileeeeeeep651

Thanks and no problem!

Yeah, I guess I wrote that a little weird. By additional resources I meant that I filtered the Boson questions to only Content and Endpoint Sec questions and literally read every supporting document that was listed. I also watched a bunch of videos on YouTube regarding WSA, ESA, and FirePOWER.

blatini

Might not be a popular answer but if you are feeling this overwhelmed maybe you should just retake the CCNA?

I was in the same position before and that's what I decided on and I'm really happy I did. I would rather not stress over it.

NightBlade09

Phil, gotcha. Yeah I might have to run through some other resources online and in books now for that stuff.

blatini,

Yeah its definitely a possibility to re-take the CCNA. I would rather not for sure as I feel like I'm repeating myself, however, if I really need to then it's not a huge deal. I've been studying for the CCNA Sec for a while now, so I SHOULD be ready by May when I take it or even before then. I just want to try my hardest to pass on the first attempt, 300 smackeroos ain't no joke.

Electricrhino

Chris Bryant has the Security Bootcamp you can look into.

blatini

I understand what you're saying.

I would be much more dejected if I took the exam in May and failed though. I would want to have at least a few month cushion just in case.

TechGromit

I'm wondering what material is on the CCNA security, would coming from a security background with certifications make the CCNA security a lot easier to obtain?

ande0255

I have sweat rolling off my head when I enter the exam center, and when I have to sign the digital pad before taking the test, my hands are shaking so uncontrollably I can barely sign (and my picture they take looks like a mugshot before you walk into jail EVERY TIME).

You really just have to see that first "Fail" score for the first time to pop your cherry of disappointment, and it gets easier to see after that. It's extremely complex topics, you will fail exams from time to time, and though it is costly after enough times it will pay off in the end when you see "Pass" in the score field

@ TechGrommit - Im not sure if they changed versions yet, but the CCNA Security course I took was a joke, it was basically a course in how to use CCP (Cisco Configuration Professional) tool which is a joke compared to just using the CLI.

Honestly if you pick up "Accidental Administrator" book for ASA's, that is worlds better than the CCNA level Security course when I took it, it helped me absolutely zero in my current role working with networks and security for them.

Now if they are doing ASA's / Firepower / ASDM on the CCNA Security, that would be MUCH better, I plan to go after CCNP Sec after R/S, that is where it gets into the really good to know materials.

DatabaseHead

Ande good take

This is why quality is more important than quantity. (IMO) Take your time, don't kill yourself and get a couple MEANINGFUL certs. It will HELP your career and you won't WASTE a ton of money.

Good luck! (Sorry not a CCNA, can only cheer lead in this one.)

PCTechLinc

A former student of mine took the previous 640-554 CCNA Security exam, and yes it was very easy (based on his experience). Another former student of mine took the 210-260 before I did, and we both thought it was pretty difficult. I have no idea what he used for studying.

I primarily used CBTNuggets and Boson practice exam. The CBTNuggets (with ALL the extra videos Keith Barker assigns as homework), as well as the Parka Document were CRITICAL in passing. The OCG does not have all the objectives you need to know for the exam. CCP has been removed and replaced by ASDM. You have to know basic features of the extra products, such as the WSA and ESA (what are their capabilities). If the objectives on the exam blueprint say "Explain", take that with a grain of salt. You should know how to configure at least.

Here is a good thread that has valuable feedback about the 210-260 exam:

http://www.techexams.net/forums/ccna-security/125412-ccna-security-what-your-sources.html#post1079746

ande0255

I would also advise to look at the blueprint on Cisco's website, and look at what technologies are weighed more or less, so you have an idea of where you can afford to lose some points while still passing the exam if you can't fully retain everything (like most of us can't)

Hope that helps, I just did that with the CCNP R/S yesterday to see where I can shave off some study time to dedicate to higher weighted subjects!

NightBlade09

ande0255 wrote: »

I would also advise to look at the blueprint on Cisco's website, and look at what technologies are weighed more or less, so you have an idea of where you can afford to lose some points while still passing the exam if you can't fully retain everything (like most of us can't)

Hope that helps, I just did that with the CCNP R/S yesterday to see where I can shave off some study time to dedicate to higher weighted subjects!

Yeah the blueprint is what I was going through but a lot of people are saying that doesn't add up to what is actually on the exam. Instead of Describing things, you need to know how to implement it. I'm assuming what's on the test is very inconsistent than what's on the blueprint.

NightBlade09

I'm beginning to think in my position, this cert would do nothing for me, for what the risk is to pass this thing. The poor study material, basically relying on Boson is ridiculous. I don't think it's worth the $300 for such a high chance of failure.

Learning my job would do me a lot better justice.

JoJoCal19

NightBlade09 wrote: »

I'm beginning to think in my position, this cert would do nothing for me, for what the risk is to pass this thing. The poor study material, basically relying on Boson is ridiculous. I don't think it's worth the $300 for such a high chance of failure.

Learning my job would do me a lot better justice.

I came to the same conclusion, that it just wasn't worth my time, effort and money due to the crappy preparation situation and the fact that it wouldn't do anything for me in my current job. I had been wanting to pursue it (after CCENT) because I like Cisco Security stuff and I had thought about moving in that direction, but with the aforementioned reasons I decided not to.

NetworkNewb

NightBlade09 wrote: »

I'm beginning to think in my position, this cert would do nothing for me, for what the risk is to pass this thing. The poor study material, basically relying on Boson is ridiculous. I don't think it's worth the $300 for such a high chance of failure.

The Cisco training course on this is really good if you can swing the cost or have an employer pay for it.

mnashe

NightBlade09 wrote: »

Learning my job would do me a lot better justice.

What is your actual job? Do you plan to just let your CCNA R&S lapse?

NightBlade09

JoJoCal19 wrote: »

I came to the same conclusion, that it just wasn't worth my time, effort and money due to the crappy preparation situation and the fact that it wouldn't do anything for me in my current job. I had been wanting to pursue it (after CCENT) because I like Cisco Security stuff and I had thought about moving in that direction, but with the aforementioned reasons I decided not to.

Yeah, self study of the latest Cisco Security technologies and messing around with them in a lab would probably itch your interest in them. You could move from there if you wanted to.

NetworkNewb wrote: »

The Cisco training course on this is really good if you can swing the cost or have an employer pay for it.

Yeah I definitely tried. My employer is a top partner with Cisco. I emailed the Account manager for us at Cisco, he/she forwarded me to a Sales Engineer and he said they could not change the price. This kind of blew my mind.

mnashe wrote: »

What is your actual job? Do you plan to just let your CCNA R&S lapse?

My job is managing Cisco firewalls, load balancers and very basic config of the top of rack switches and aggregate routers. (VLANs, static routes, port config). The job I eventually want is a Network Engineer job that deals with the infrastructure. My thought going into this was to get a cert that was kind of related to what I'm doing and also renew my CCNA. At this point, I'd say self study is the way I'm going from now on. It serves me better, it's more interesting when it's related to my job, and you don't have to study stuff that you don't work with or want to know.


So yeah, I'm letting it lapse. My motivation for this, is knowing all the great techs out there with no certifications at all. For example, I've seen Cisco Fellow's without them. To get a CCIE one day, maybe, very maybe. It would have to be if I was really bored, and conquered my job. I don't envision this though.


I'm going to let my own mind and interest lead me to what I need and want to know.


To self study... and away from certifications.

PCTechLinc

NightBlade09 wrote: »

I'm going to let my own mind and interest lead me to what I need and want to know.


To self study... and away from certifications.

I find your lack of interest in pursuing certifications unfortunate IMO, but I very much appreciate your continuing with self-study. Pursuit of knowledge doesn't HAVE to include degrees or certifications, and if you're happy where you are and you don't require either, all the more power to you. I can say that I know plenty of people that have let their certifications lapse, and ultimately regretted their decision. Regardless, just keep learning!

MitM

PCTechLinc wrote: »

I find your lack of interest in pursuing certifications unfortunate IMO, but I very much appreciate your continuing with self-study. Pursuit of knowledge doesn't HAVE to include degrees or certifications, and if you're happy where you are and you don't require either, all the more power to you. I can say that I know plenty of people that have let their certifications lapse, and ultimately regretted their decision. Regardless, just keep learning!

I see both sides on this. Some people definitely regret letting their certs expire. Considering the Network Engineer job he wants, I'd probably just renew my CCNA R&S, so I don't lose it. However, I can't argue his plan either. He's not going to be following a blueprint, so he can learn as much as he wants, as in-depth as he wants, without worrying about exam questions. He can always retake the CCNA R&S later, or possibly pursue CCIE, as mentioned

For me, I feel certifications are important, as I don't have a college degree. I also have over 15 years in IT, so how important certs are at this point is debatable. I wouldn't want to lose what I worked on though.

JoJoCal19

NightBlade09 wrote: »

Yeah, self study of the latest Cisco Security technologies and messing around with them in a lab would probably itch your interest in them. You could move from there if you wanted to.

Yea I keep up with stuff even if it's outside of my wheelhouse and I still buy the Cisco books and peruse the LearningNetwork Community because for lack of a better term it just seems, "cool". The technology and stuff does interest me. So that's why I always have the desire to go through and get my CCNA S/RS. And then the design aspect seems cool too so the CCDA is always getting my interest. But I've got too many other things in the pipeline so for now, I will just have to keep doing what I've been doing and keeping a side eye on it from the distance.

NightBlade09 wrote: »

So yeah, I'm letting it lapse. My motivation for this, is knowing all the great techs out there with no certifications at all. For example, I've seen Cisco Fellow's without them. To get a CCIE one day, maybe, very maybe. It would have to be if I was really bored, and conquered my job. I don't envision this though.


I'm going to let my own mind and interest lead me to what I need and want to know.


To self study... and away from certifications.

I would HIGHLY recommend just popping off the CCNA test to renew it. You should be able to breeze through it. Never know when a great opportunity might present itself but you lose out on even getting contacted for it because you don't have that shiny piece of paper!