Testing for ICND1 in 2 weeks.

My exam is scheduled for October 17th. I'm still learning the material, but a scheduled work trip has pushed my desired date up 2 weeks. I just finished routing and started IPv6.

I have taken a few Pearson practice exams for 3 of the 5 sections and passed them all with really good scores. I've also started reading the "31 Days Before Your CCNA Exam" book and I'm doing well so far. I'm using Odum's Official Guide, CBT Nuggets, and Chris Bryan'tuDemy course and his practice exams.

I usually wouldn't attempt the exam at this stage but I am going to attempt it. Actually, I always wait longer than necessary because I never feel like I am ready. I'm going to complete IPv6 this week, really hit the labs hard, and continue studying. I'm hoping for the best.

Find more posts tagged with

Comments

Spiegel

I think your pace is good. I felt like I had a 50/50 chance when I took the ICND1. My suggestion, if you can, see if you can do a few practice exams off of the Boson Exam Environment. It'll test you exactly how you would for the real thing and I think that made my experience that much better. But yeah, from the sounds of things you're on great track to pass this. Good luck!

Lunchbocks

Thanks for the advice. I am planning on getting the Boson Practice Exams this weekend. I use their network simulator and I have heard great things about their practice exams.

Good luck on your exam!

Lunchbocks

I just took my first Boson practice exam. My score was 722 with 832 needed for a pass. This might seems odd, but I am thrilled with that result. I am not completely finished with my learning and still have a few other topics to go through. I didn't get any of those correct except for 2 CDP questions.

I now have a solid target to aim for. Today I am going to finish up those remaining topics, and then I will start brushing up in the areas that I missed. There were some questions about items I hadn't even come across in my studies, even though I finished those topics. There were also some questions that I just didn't read the answers thorough enough. When viewing the correct answers, the correct answer was obvious. I know I need to slow down for these exams.

The category breakdown was as follows:

Network Fundamentals: 43%
LAN Switching: 81%
Routing Fundamentals: 56%
Infrastructure Service: 57%
Infrastructure Management: 75%

The one thing I took away from this first practice exam was just how much I need to do more labs. When analyzing commands, I did fairly well. However, when doing scenarios, I had trouble remembering which of the show commands I needed to use. I am planning on doing labs very heavy this week and upcoming weekend, so I think that will help a lot.

My exam date is October 17. I believe with these results, this is very doable.

Jon_Cisco

Good Luck with the exam. It sounds like you have a solid foundation and a good strategy.

Lunchbocks

Thanks. I'm hoping the strategy will pay off.

Lunchbocks

I am 5 days away and still improving, but I'm still not passing all of the practice tests. My networking essentials is good at 87%. Infrastructure management is up from 71% to 80%. Switching and routing continue to go up. The section that is killing me is infrastructure services. Every time I take a new exam, I see new things I haven't seen yet. I am only up to 50% in infrastructure services. I've gone through CBT Nuggets and Chris Bryant's videos, so I'm not sure where I am missing them.

My strategy is I take an exam, I print out the missed questions and I also print the documentation that accompanies the references section. I study those and memorize/learn the topics and then retest.

Tomorrow I am doing a heavy review in infrastructure services and continuing on labbing. I finally got my subnetting down. I got every one of those questions right on this exam.

Fingers crossed.

Jon_Cisco

Good Luck! The best way to see if you know it is to take the exam.

Lunchbocks

Thank you Jon,

The bad news is that I decided last night to postpone the exam. The Pearson exams and the Boson exams are showing me that I am just not ready. My high score on the Boson is 795. I will be traveling this week for 2 weeks and won't have any study time on this trip. I was hoping to take advantage of passing the ICND1 before I left and begin studying for the ICND2 when I return. That would give me about 3 months to prepare for the ICND2 exam before February, and then I could move right into CCNP security. That's doable.

So now the big question is, do I continue moving in that direction, or do I just start studying for the new CCNA exam when I get back and take it in February. I'm not sure I can pull off both ICND 1 and ICND 2 in a little over 3 months.

Spiegel

I think you're great! The Boson exam is generally much harder than the real exam and after just having taken the ICND2 I can confirm this to be the case. I was ranging in the low to mid 80% on Boson when I attempted the exam. You may actually be currently ready for the exam. If you pass then the remaining three months for the ICND2 is totally doable.

the.thrillseekers

Boson testing software gives you this breakdown? What exactly did you purchase from Boson? I took my test on 9/14 and got a 782 out of 832. Sorry for the thread jack just looking for a quick answer.

Lunchbocks said:

The category breakdown was as follows:
Network Fundamentals: 43%
LAN Switching: 81%
Routing Fundamentals: 56%
Infrastructure Service: 57%
Infrastructure Management: 75%

Lunchbocks

It was either Boson or Pearson, not sure which as I am using both. I will check tomorrow when I get back and let you know.

the.thrillseekers

Don't think it's Pearson because I have Odom's OCG and those quizzes just have YOUR SCORE vs PASSING (800). Thanks Man.

Lunchbocks said:

It was either Boson or Pearson, not sure which as I am using both. I will check tomorrow when I get back and let you know.