How hard is the INTRO exam really?

MaddogZ

Im practicing for the intro exam and i have been reading wendell odom's cisco press INTRO book. It seems really straight forward. Is the intro exam going to be like this? Just basic questions etc..? How about for the simulations how much do they expect you to know? I mean configuring enable secret passwords is pretty simple. Is there anything more complicated than this in the exam?

maniac_73

I was wondering this as well as i am also planning on doing the INTRO next week. Are the questions in the Cisco Press Books generally harder or easier then the actual exam?

james_

Yeh, Tuesday for me. I think the INTRO focuses more on a broader range of subjects, but doesn't really delve into too much specific detail. Although I did get a Sim test question on the INTRO CISCO Press CD, that wanted me to configure OSPF on 2 routers - I thought that was a bit tough for the INTRO.

I used the test questions on the CISCO website in the Prep center for the INTRO exam as a general indication of the toughness of the exam, all the questions were pretty straight forward. Good luck!

Paul Boz

The INTRO was hard to study for because there's such a vast knowledge base that you have to pull from. Be able to subnet very quickly, know your cabling, be able to troubleshoot, and try to be as quick as you can on the easy questions because the labs are fairly comprehensive.

You have to know the comprehensive catalog of facts and bits of information, but the test tests your ability to troubleshoot and diagnose network problems, not throw up what you memorized. I got a 1000/1000 on the INTRO exam by creating labs in the Boson Netsim simulator and having a co worker or friend "break" them, then timing myself to fix the problem.