Passed ICND...CCNA!

Paul#4

I passed the ICND with 886...

I thought I aced the test but I failed the Implementation and Operation really bad, Is this the Sim portion of the exam?

The sim was so easy I knew something must be wrong. Without breaking the NDA I had to ping to verify connectivity. I thought everything was setup, the solution seemed absolutely simple. Everything worked, but I must have read the question wrong. Take your time with the Sim because what they want you to accomplish is sometimes ambigous.

The actual test questions were about as tough as I would expect.



Anyways, happy I passed.

Onto BSCI immediately...

doom969

Congrats !

gaby_978

CONGRATS.....

kafifi13

Great Job man

mikej412

Congratulations!

Paul#4

How long before I can download the CCNA logo?

I need to fatten up the resume

Cucumber

kewl, congrats!

mikej412

It seems like score reports show up the next morning at the Cisco Cert Tracking website (Monday or Tuesday for Fri-Sat-Sun exams).

If you are in the system from an expired Cert and you gave the test Center your old ID when you registered, then probably tomorrow.

If they are generating a new Cisco ID, it may take an additional day or two (but usually not the 10 days your score report might say).

Once you're in the Certification Tracking System and can see your CCNA, you can follow one of the links and request your logos -- and the longest I waited once was 1 day. Usually the logos are clogging my email within the hour since they resend all of them each request.

Paul#4

Thanks everyone

The CiscoPress book was almost overkill for this exam.

A lot of people asked about ISDN...there was tons of it! just kidding

ilcram19

was it really, did u had alot isdn questions, oh man im not da good at that!!!!!

seraphus

Congrats!

jvax

Congratulations

Paul#4

ilcram19 wrote:

was it really, did u had alot isdn questions, oh man im not da good at that!!!!!

Just the opposite...

Am I allowed to say how many questions on various topics?

I would say the meat was routing protocols, which is my bread and butter...
Routing protocols seems to come easily for most.

mikej412

Paul#4 wrote:

Am I allowed to say how many questions on various topics?

Nope -- the Cisco NDA says you can't.

Paul#4

Hey Mike,

What exactly can we say in accordance with NDA?

Can I tell someone study Routing Protocols vs. ISDN?

mobri09

Congrats! How long did it take you from passing the intro to passing the ICND.

Paul#4

It took me 1.5 months, but I have previous experience with Cisco equipment.
I really tried to push the accelerator so I can start with CCNP, but I tried not to compromise
understanding. If it wasn't for the SIM I would have had a better score.

I used CiscoPress Books and they were very difficult read.


My recommendations...


Now that the test is over I'm glad I used CiscoPress, but if you want to pass the CCNA fast get the Sybex book and take the 801 test. The CiscoPress CCNA books by Odom are very good but are very technical and dry compared to Sybex.

In the end, I'm glad I used them because I feel I understand Cisco routing better now.
Odom has some nuggets of information that will make you a better engineer in the long run, but most people won't understand in the beginning because CCNA is entry level.

In the end, the two test route is great because you will get a better understanding of the material.


Moving onto BSCI today...I'm going to fly through this test because that is about as much as I know. Routing protocols are easiest for me.


Thanks for help!

mikej412

Paul#4 wrote:

What exactly can we say in accordance with NDA?

Can I tell someone study Routing Protocols vs. ISDN?

You really can't say anything about the exam once you've taken it. You can try to "hint" against topics in the exam blueprint -- "I'm glad I studied hard for that implement underwater basket weaving topic." You can comment on the books you used for preparation -- "I'm glad I read chapter 12 of Benny's book twice" or "Make sure you really understand Chapter 10 of Sue's book." But you can't say "read section 3 of chapter 4 of Al's book for the first SIM and chapter 18, section 3, paragraph 2 for the 2nd SIM, and....." etc.

I think people have posted "don't waste a lot of time studying ISDN" -- and that is obvious when you compare it to something like routing. But now that you've taken the exam -- you can neither confirm nor deny if you had any ISDN questions. If you posted "don't even bother with the ISDN trivia" in the post where I mentioned "ISDN is no longer mentioned in the blueprint, but still could be covered under a WAN Topic" -- that couldn't be directly traced back to your exam experience (though some people may suspect).

When I mention "know subnetting" it's because my Cisco Network Academy CCNA Semester 1 course stressed it -- and then almost exactly repeated it as Module 11 in Semester 2 for the people who didn't get it the first time. It has nothing to do with any question I may have seen on the CCNA, BSCI, or CCIE Lab Exams.

Cisco Career Certifications and Confidentiality Agreement

The main guts of the Cisco NDA is "contents of the exam are confidential."

You agree that the contents of the exam are confidential and that the disclosure of that information could compromise the integrity of the Program and of Certifications. Cisco makes exams available to you solely to test your knowledge of the exam subject matter for which you seek Certification. You are expressly prohibited from disclosing, publishing, reproducing, or transmitting any exam and any related information including, without limitation, questions, answers, worksheets, computations, drawings, diagrams, length or number of exam segments or questions, or any communication, including oral communication regarding or related to the exam (known collectively as “Proprietary Information”), in whole or in part, in any form or by any means, oral or written, electronic or mechanical, for any purpose, without the prior express written permission of Cisco.

Cisco makes the pre-exam demo available in the CCNA prep center, so we know what types of questions to expect -- but you can't say you had X number of SIMs and Y drag 'n drops, etc.

While its up to Cisco to enforce their NDA, we do nuke posts (or edit out stuff) that does violate the NDA agreement relating to the exam questions so that we can help maintain the "integrity of the Program and of the Certifications."

Paul#4

I am extremely glad the NDA is enforced.

These exams are difficult and they need stay that way.

All of us put endless hours studying for these exams and I'm glad to see they are worth something to employers.

I felt this exam was tough and I didn't get over 900, which I felt I should have.
The Sim really killed my score, but I knew what I was doing. I think it was more of a time issue.


God bless Cisco!
They have a great program and they have kept the integrity of the program intact over its lifetime.

It makes me feel better about spending all my time studying.

royal

Congrats!

Paul Boz

Good job Paul. Can you PM me your aim/msn/yahoo Id if you have one? I'd like to study for the BSCI with you since we're roughly in the same state of certification.

Paul#4

That would be great Paul.

I don't use instant messengers, but if you want to PM me on this forum we can communicate.

Thanks again


Also, I plan on posting a lot over the next few months as I approach the CCNP so feel free to communicate with me that way.

Pash

congratz, goodluck on BSCI!

Paul#4

Got the new avatar logo

iproute

Paul#4 wrote:

Got the new avatar logo

You might want to take one of the tiff (i think) pictures you received in the package and size it down to fit. The gif images are somewhat crummy looking. It's like they made those in MS paint.