Failure 720 on the 640-801

I just failed the test. I owe some of it to exam jitters and some of it to "not knowig what to expect". I took the Cisco Academy courses about 5 years ago. But in my job I work with routers and switches every day. To freshen-up for the test I bought the Cisco Press book "CCNA Flash Cards". Being that is was created by Cisco I figured it would be good at preparing me for the exam. Well, either I was wrong or I went about it the wrong way. Some of the questions on the actually exam seemed like they came out of left field.

I am bound and determined to pass thing. It's personal now. I've read through the posts here and it seems like lots of good advice. But what would you all suggest I do next? My lowest score was in Troubleshooting. Which I found shocking, because that is my job and I do it well. So obviously my approach is all wrong. What books out there, do you think, would better prepare me for the exam? Any advice is much appreciated.

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Comments

mnwild_mntwins

One thing I did forget to mention. The CCNA flash Cards book has numerous errors as well as the test sim has a few questions that it grades wrong even though they are correct. Just an FYI for anyone that is thinking of buying this book. It's a good book, but not very accurate in certain instances.

mrkorean

Sorry to hear you fail, I failed my first time too. Troubleshooting are the sims and subnetting questions. During the sims, did u complete it successfully and did you save them?

I work for a service provider and I deal with cisco routers on a daily basis. Like u I was shocked when I scored so low as well so I bought the ICND book to learn the "cisco" way and went through all the lab exercises. Passed on the second attempt with 87%.

wintermute

I just sat the exam today and passed (thank goodness) I also did the subject matter a long while back... between 1998 and 2002 as part of my masters, and had been working with cisco gear daily from 1998 to 2005... I also got the lowest score in the troubleshooting.... For me I think I freaked out a bit under the pressure, the simlet was not real world IMO and things I would have been able to do in the real world I couldn't do in the simlet, so I didn't do a great job of improvising.... add to that one of questions just didn't seem to be answerable, and I was wondering what I had missed!!!

If you went to the cisco network acadamy you should still be able to get alumi access! as an alumni you have access to ALL of the course material (the latest version) of all courses you did whilst there. for my revision I did all of the quizes and reread any sections for those questions I got wrong. I studied from the Cisco press INTRO and ICND books before this.

I'd forgotten my id and password and I sent them (the academy) an email, they asked me some security questions, and in a short time they had re-instated my alumni membership.. Definitely worth doing IMO.

Tony.

pr3d4t0r

From my point of view CCNA Library, Tod's Cybex book for CCNA and lots of sim practice and quizzes are enough to pass CCNA.

Congrats for passing

mnwild_mntwins

Thanks for the advice. Question: You said "did you save the si when you were done". Do you mean did I do a copy run start or did I miss some "save" button. I did notice that there were about 5 questions that when I clicked "next" a popup window came up and said "are you sure you want to continue". I clicked yes. Please don't tell me I failed because I missed a "save" button.

mrkorean

mnwild_mntwins wrote:

Thanks for the advice. Question: You said "did you save the si when you were done". Do you mean did I do a copy run start or did I miss some "save" button. I did notice that there were about 5 questions that when I clicked "next" a popup window came up and said "are you sure you want to continue". I clicked yes. Please don't tell me I failed because I missed a "save" button.

I meant "copy run start" on the sims - I didnt do that in the first exam and probably explains why I got a poor mark. The simlets, as long as you entered the commands, it should be fine. I cant remember a separate "save" button at the bottom of the simlet.

mikej412

Did you download the updates for the Flash Cards/Exams?

5 years ago would be the "old CCNA stuff" .... but as an Academy Alumni you should be able to get access to the Alumni site (and the new corseware for the courses you took).

Check the CCNA Forum FAQ to find the book suggestions -- But since you have been working with the Cisco stuff, probably start with Sybex. After reading that see if you can figure out if it was just test jitters that cause the point loss.

With your experience I'd guess you got the Sims (unless nerves got to you)... so that would mean they got you on the questions. The advise for that is read the exam questions carefully, and all the answers. Then re-read the question to make sure you didn't drop a word or misinterpret the question. Cisco does ask questions that could make you jump at the "obvious wrong answer" -- but if you understand the stuff and read carefully, you should be fine.

Think about your SIMs and compare what you remember to the exam blueprint on the web page and see if you could classify the SIM under the troubleshooting section. SIMs are worth more points than the other questions. Even though you work with Cisco equipment everyday, if you had questions (or SIMs) on stuff you don't do every day (or ever) at work, you may need to do some hands on lab work.

Good Luck! Don't give up!

emmajoyce

It was my understanding you didnt have to do a copy run start at the end of a sim. Look at the webmasters post today on ccna. one of the links explains this. Also if you can get into the alumni section at cisco, they are offering free time on a rack every 72 hours. Its called netlab i believe. Its not right up front, you have to hunt for the link on the site. I believe i found the link in one of the forums in the alumni section. After you use it a few times you have to fill out a survey and tell cisco what you think about it. Hey but its free time on a rack up in raleigh, nc

mnwild_mntwins

I only had one sim question and I know I got it right. I know because I tested what I had done from the other nodes in the diagram. So I'm sure it was the questions that tricked. Thanks for the encouragement. I'll be taking it again shortly and will let you know what I got (maybe)

wintermute

one thing with answering the questions, don't stop reading the answers once you find the correct one!! you may find another correct one, at which point you think, but there is only one answer required!

When you go back and look there is usually something subtle in one of the two which at first glance seem identical... can be something silly like the prompt eg

router# router rip
router#(config) router rip

ie you need to look at the prompts to see which mode you are in...

other things like the ip address might be 192.168.1.254 in the diagram, and thre will be some question asking what the mask should be, and it will have one with the correct mask but the ip address will be 192.168.1.255 instead of 254... things that test whether you are looking carefully or not, your brain filters stuff like this out, without you realising, as often you only look for the mask and not the network address too!

I didn't do a copy run start in my sim, and I got 100% for the implementation and operation questions, so I think that is a pretty good indication it is un-necessary.

But I will re-interate for the troubleshooting, also my lowest score... do heaps of practice using show commands, know how to extract every possible piece of information from the equipment!!

Tony.