Any Suggestions in passing the CCNA

michael_knight

I've been having a hard time passing this exam. I failed 640-801 4 times already so I decided to take the 2 test approach and failed Intro with a 733. I'm at the point where I won't give up but I don't know what to do to pass anymore. I read both lammle and Odom and I have the flash cards. I used router sims and real devices. (Since I first started I was able to move into our network group so I now have hands on experience with routers and switches but I'm junior so not much) I even took a class. I have been trying to pass this exam for almost a year now, and it's frustrating. I must say that I had no cisco experience whatsoever when I first started, but I'm sure alot of people don't have experience when they test so to me that's not an excuse. If anyone has any study ideas or anything that may be able to help me I would appreciate it.

PS,
I have been scoring around 90 on Boson practice exams but I still haven't passed. I am going to take the Intro again this weekend.

Deadmaster200

If you are scoring highly on Boson, but are failing the actual test, there are 2 possibilities. One, the Boson practice tests are no good. Two, you are having massive test anxiety.

I never tried the Boson tests, so I can't comment, but the Transcender is very very good for CCNA. If you can get over 90% on all versions, especially the third one, then you are good to go.

If it is just test anxiety, maybe try finding a book or something on dealing with that.

james_

It's good that you are not giving up, when you pass, it will make the victory even more so sweet! When you took the previous exams, were you failing on a particular area over and over?

Some practice tests are a crap shoot. ie some are just very, very easy and give you a false sense of security when entering the exam. I passed the intro recently with a comfortable margin. I can share my studying routine with you if this helps.

I read back to back, Sybex and CISCO Press INTRO. Then re-read the INTRO making full notes on each chapter - writing things down really helped me understand more, especially the areas I was not too confident with. I also got to watch the INTRO CCNA CDs from LearnKey. And of course I re-read my notes about 20 times.

I would say the main source of information, and most accurately related to the exam, was the CISCO Press book.

As for a really good set of practice questions, can't beat the ones on CISCO website prep center - an all round valuable source of information.

Good luck on the Intro this week!

Pash

First of all your perseverance shows a strong willing to learn, thats obvious. You have to have a strong think about what might be your downfalls come exam time:

1. Is your testing environment good? Don't forget you are a paying customer, make sure you are happy when taking your tests.

2. What areas are you weak on? check your end of exam print off.

3. Are you confident you have looked at the exact cisco exam criteria and can do all the things it requires?

Think along these lines maybe it might help.

Good luck.

mikej412

Hopefully you understand the material and are just falling for the "trick questions."

Cisco tries to test your understanding of the topics by asking questions that if you don't read carefully, you misinterpret. They then give you the "obvious answer" first for the "wrong question."

I think I remember about 8 of those types of questions from my CCNA exam.... and a couple more I remember chuckling over (even with the "during exam jitters") that were obvious attempts to make me jump at the wrong answer -- so those probably should be added to that total also. Someone else mentioned they had about 14 they would rate that way.

As for the practice exams -- did you get 90% the first time you took the exam? After you've seen the questions once... you should get 100% the next time -- and they are only good as "flash cards."

Have you compared your exam reports to the exam blueprint topics? If you need additional study (or need to figure out the topics with the "tricky questions") doing that should point you toward the topics to study or review some more.

How's your subnetting? Can you do the questions on www.subnettingquestions.com in a minute or two?

How was your time managment? Did you run out of time? Did you take too long on the Simulations? Did you go too fast and finish in 30 minutes?

Keep studying and good luck!

NightShade1

Be able to subnet really fast in mind.... so you wont waste time in this questions.... and expend the time you need in the questions you really need to think....