Passed 70-298, now MCSE!

skaeight

I passed 70-298 today with a 892. This was the first test in a while that I was exteremely confident the whole way through. The material wasn't all that difficult, and given that it was my last exam I had already seen much of it on previous exams. The toughest part of this test was reading the scenarios and extracting the relevent data. There was one scenario where I did end up running out of time and had to guess on the last question. However, I guess it didn't really matter.

So I'm finally an MCSE. It's a pretty nice feeling, it's been a long journey for me, starting with A+ hardware in the spring of '04. I'm now looking towards a CCNA.

I just want to take this opportunity to thank the people who operate this website. It has been a vital resource for me throughtout my journey to MCSE. The technotes, practice exams, and forums are all great. I recommend this site to anyone who is pursuing certification.

TeKniques

Congrats on becoming an MCSE! I agree, some of the case studies do not allow enough time, but judging from your score you did great anyways!

Good luck on the CCNA.

geekie

Congratz!

mikej412

Congratulations on the MCSE!

You'll probably find the CCNA anti-climatic after the MCSE..... maybe you should look a little farther down the road and plan on the CCNP too!

Olajuwon

Good job, dude. +1 MCSE for techexams.net.

skaeight

mikej412 wrote:

Congratulations on the MCSE!

You'll probably find the CCNA anti-climatic after the MCSE..... maybe you should look a little farther down the road and plan on the CCNP too!

It appears you have a lot of exerience with Cisco certifications. How much crossover will I see from the Net+ / MCSE on the CCNA? I'm thinking obviously it will mostly be in general TCP/IP networking.

I work with a lot of cisco products at work, so I have a basic understanding of IOS and PIX os's.

From what I've heard, things I'm going to need to brush up on/learn are dynamic routing and virtual networks.

So you're going for your CCIE, how long have you been working on it so far? I've heard it's unbelievably difficult, and ultimately I would like to attain my CCIE.

Trailerisf

Good work... I doubt the ccna will be a problem for you. Two exams and your are set.

Change your profile... Your certs are now outdated... :P !!!

jescab

CONGRATZ dude..............BIG ups to you.............keep it up and help the rest of us get there.

Ricka182

congrats!

mikej412

skaeight wrote:

How much crossover will I see from the Net+ / MCSE on the CCNA? I'm thinking obviously it will mostly be in general TCP/IP networking.

There is about 70-80% overlap between Net+ and the INTRO exam (of the 2 test CCNA option). The bad news is that INTRO material is probably only 20-30% of the single CCNA exam option -- and a bunch of that would still be subnetting stuff which overlap in both INTRO and ICND (the 2 exam option).

skaeight wrote:

From what I've heard, things I'm going to need to brush up on/learn are dynamic routing and virtual networks.

VPNs pop up in one of the CCNP exams, and then has its own exam in the CCSP. For the CCNA (and also the 4 CCNP exams) the focus is routing, switching, and WANs -- and then troubleshoot 'em all.

skaeight wrote:

So you're going for your CCIE, how long have you been working on it so far? I've heard it's unbelievably difficult, and ultimately I would like to attain my CCIE.

I'd have to say about a year and half ago I decided to go for the CCIE... but I had already been a Senior Network Engineer from back in the old days -- and had started out as a UNIX Programmer (and did UNIX network application programming). All my existing Cisco Certifications are just milestones on the way to the CCIE.

Now that I've passed the CCIE written exams, the fun of preparing for the Lab exams will now begin.... as soon as I finish the CCVP.

skaeight

mikej412 wrote:

skaeight wrote:

How much crossover will I see from the Net+ / MCSE on the CCNA? I'm thinking obviously it will mostly be in general TCP/IP networking.

There is about 70-80% overlap between Net+ and the INTRO exam (of the 2 test CCNA option). The bad news is that INTRO material is probably only 20-30% of the single CCNA exam option -- and a bunch of that would still be subnetting stuff which overlap in both INTRO and ICND (the 2 exam option).

skaeight wrote:

From what I've heard, things I'm going to need to brush up on/learn are dynamic routing and virtual networks.

VPNs pop up in one of the CCNP exams, and then has its own exam in the CCSP. For the CCNA (and also the 4 CCNP exams) the focus is routing, switching, and WANs -- and then troubleshoot 'em all.

skaeight wrote:

So you're going for your CCIE, how long have you been working on it so far? I've heard it's unbelievably difficult, and ultimately I would like to attain my CCIE.

I'd have to say about a year and half ago I decided to go for the CCIE... but I had already been a Senior Network Engineer from back in the old days -- and had started out as a UNIX Programmer (and did UNIX network application programming). All my existing Cisco Certifications are just milestones on the way to the CCIE.

Now that I've passed the CCIE written exams, the fun of preparing for the Lab exams will now begin.... as soon as I finish the CCVP.

Good luck on the CCIE Lab exams.

Do you have any opinion as to what the best study matrials for CCNA are? I'm looking at three options:

CCNA: Cisco Certified Network Associate Study Guide, 5th Edition (640-801) by Todd Lammle (Paperback - Feb 11, 2005) (Sybex)

CCNA Self-Study : CCNA Preparation Library (640-801) (6th Edition) (CCNA Self-Study) by Stephen McQuerry (Hardcover - Mar 19, 2004) (Cisco Press)

CCNA Certification Library (CCNA Self-Study, exam #640-801) by Wendell Odom (Hardcover - Aug 14, 2003) (Cisco Press)

If possible I'd like to buy one book and study from that, however from what I've reading a lot of people are saying it's best to combine Lammle and Odom. What are your thoughts? Thanks.

mikej412

skaeight wrote:

If possible I'd like to buy one book and study from that, however from what I've reading a lot of people are saying it's best to combine Lammle and Odom.

I'd agree with them.

Even though some of the Cisco Press books can be dry as dirt, they usually contain all the information for the exams. The 3rd party books may not be updated to match the changes to the Cisco exam blueprint (exam topic list posted on the Cisco website) -- the Sybex book is missing NAT info (but they have a download available for that).

Once you've learned from Odom, then you can review for the exam with Lammle. And for learning subnetting -- nothing beats Lammle.

skaeight

mikej412 wrote:

skaeight wrote:

If possible I'd like to buy one book and study from that, however from what I've reading a lot of people are saying it's best to combine Lammle and Odom.

I'd agree with them.

Even though some of the Cisco Press books can be dry as dirt, they usually contain all the information for the exams. The 3rd party books may not be updated to match the changes to the Cisco exam blueprint (exam topic list posted on the Cisco website) -- the Sybex book is missing NAT info (but they have a download available for that).

Once you've learned from Odom, then you can review for the exam with Lammle. And for learning subnetting -- nothing beats Lammle.

hmmm...I just ordered Lammle, but I can always cancel the order (if I do end up buying two I still can only buy one now). Have you used the sims included with Odom? Are they worth anything?

Also, I believe we have ICND at work, I'm not sure of the author or how old it is, would that matter? I guess I could always start with Lammle and then read ICND. What do you think?

mikej412

skaeight wrote:

Have you used the sims included with Odom? Are they worth anything?

I can't remember what comes with what anymore -- someone who's look at it recently could give you a better idea (but I think they were okay if I remember correctly -- I did the Cisco Network Academy courses and got Odem after my CCNA to see what I had missed).

skaeight wrote:

Also, I believe we have ICND at work, I'm not sure of the author or how old it is, would that matter? I guess I could always start with Lammle and then read ICND. What do you think?

Most of the Cisco Press books are 2003 or 2004 with maybe 2005 updates (downloadable update to the CDRom tests) -- depends on the book -- can't remember which is which.... I've got about 12-13 feet of Cisco Press books -- and after a while they all look alike -- except for some of the purple CCVP books.

You probably could get away with reading Lammle first -- and it is good for hands on practice.... so the ICND theory and exam trivia could make more sense afterwards. For ICND -- I'd still suggest the Odem book, but the other one should work (since you're not an IT newbie).

skaeight

mikej412 wrote:

skaeight wrote:

Have you used the sims included with Odom? Are they worth anything?

I can't remember what comes with what anymore -- someone who's look at it recently could give you a better idea (but I think they were okay if I remember correctly -- I did the Cisco Network Academy courses and got Odem after my CCNA to see what I had missed).

skaeight wrote:

Also, I believe we have ICND at work, I'm not sure of the author or how old it is, would that matter? I guess I could always start with Lammle and then read ICND. What do you think?

Most of the Cisco Press books are 2003 or 2004 with maybe 2005 updates (downloadable update to the CDRom tests) -- depends on the book -- can't remember which is which.... I've got about 12-13 feet of Cisco Press books -- and after a while they all look alike -- except for some of the purple CCVP books.

You probably could get away with reading Lammle first -- and it is good for hands on practice.... so the ICND theory and exam trivia could make more sense afterwards. For ICND -- I'd still suggest the Odem book, but the other one should work (since you're not an IT newbie).

Yeah, it looks like I'll be reading Lammle first, my order was just sent to the wharehouse. Oh well, I can always buy Odom later if it looks like I need it. Thanks for the help.

solo79

Way to go on the Pass and the "big" initials. Made it myself yesterday.. Doesn't it feel good!!! Good luck on your next tests!

Danman32

I took a CCNA course, so I got the official intro and ICND books. The Intro we were expected to self study, though quite a bit was covered incidentally to be able to learn ICND. Be sure you have the latest info! CCNA test has had many focus changes in the last year. There is more emphasis on switches than before from what I can tell. Someone here at work took the CCNA and couldn't get through a testlet because his study guide didn't tell him how to get info from switches. I felt the official courseware I recieved provided all the information you needed to know for the test. The only thing you need beyond that is the skill to config and troubleshoot switches and routers in a real-world setting, since the test has simulators. I haven't heard of or found any good practice sim labs. They are either outdated or heard they had problems.

IPX is no longer tested and our instructor told us that IGRP is not tested either, other than maybe having a cursory knowledge of it. But some older books may focus on these two and not enough on switch management and VLANs.