CCNA - Simulation questions

steveo1985

Hi, can anyone tell me what type of Simulation questions come up in the test?
I've taken practise exams scoring 90% and higher but, I haven't been able to practise simulation exams and don't know what to expect. My exam is on the 16th of august.

Are the questions for example: Set up password on the console, telnet.
: Troubleshoot, i.e. router1 is unable to ping router2

or are the questions harder? making you do things like, install a new section into the existing network, implementing things into the design.... OSPF, VLANs, FR, passwords on all console and telnet, privalige passwords etc....

Any idea or currant knowledge welcome.

Netstudent

they will probably be a little harder than intitial router configs. Although, that could be included in the larger task. But it's hard to say which sims you will get. There is probably a very large bank of questions that the exam pulls from. What one person gets may not be what another person gets. Just make sure you know routing protocols, vtp/vlan, ACL. I don;t think you can pass without knowing those topics in detail.

Noe84

Unfortunately we (the certified) can not tell you what's on the exam. But as a fellow human being I can tell you that you should be prepare for anything! I've taken the exam 3 times and it's always the unexpected when the simulator shows up.

*EDIT* Don't be afraid of the sims, a lot people get nervous but the sims are actually IMO the easiest, it just takes the longest because you have to read the question very carefully. You just have to make sure you know your show commands and remember the ? when ever you are in trouble.

Netstudent

You are a human??? damn I thought you were a CCNA certified chimpanzee!

networker050184

Know your LAN stuff and ACLs like said earlier in this post. That is the best advice I can give you.

steveo1985

Thanks Noe84 you put my mind at ease as did the other posts . I think im nervous of the unexpected.... as i've not seen a sim question before. I will make sure i read the question fully and understand what they are asking. I've heard the sim questions are worth alot of marks?

mikearama

Steveo... I'm not going to be very popular for being so blunt, but dayum bro, you're in trouble.

If you've never at least sat at a sim, never actually typed in an acl, never configured a router to nat, never searched through mac-tables/stp summaries to know how to find the stp root on a switch, never troubleshooted a routing protocol issue, never...

As you said correctly, they are heavily weighted in the marks department. Why shoot yourself in the foot by not being comfortable and confident at the CLI???

Noe... I both agree and disagree with you. I agree that anyone who's spend beaucoup time at a simulator does not need to be afraid of the sim questions. On the other hand, someone who hasn't spent one minute at the CLI should be very afraid.

Hey, just MHO.
Mike

steveo1985

no, i own two 2500 routers and have boston simulater on my laptop, i know how to type CLI, set ACL, VLAN, Routing protocol etc.... I wanted to know what a sim question was like in the test as i haven't been able to find a realistic one. The 2 in exam cram test book are rubbish, my little sister could answer them :P..... also I've just found out that you can use ? or any show command you can think of to help you, in the sim cert demo you can't do that so im learning that the sim questions in the CCNA are different to the..... well one question i've been able to get my hands one that was "please config the telnet password's and console password" which would be the best question ever because its so easy but im sure it doesn't come up in the CCNA exam and thats why i posted asking if anyone knew what they are like?

I also understand that people who have taken the CCNA can't tell me, But the advice they have given has been very valuable as im now more confident about sim question.

hope that explained.

mikearama

Ahhh... well that's a horse of a different color. If you've configured a couple real routers, then you certainly have nothing to worry about. And I found the Boson sim to be quite good.

You're all set. Good luck with the exam.

steveo1985

thanks

Noe84

Absolutely what mikearama said is correct, I was thinking that you already had some experience with the sim approach and that you should not be worry especially with the help feature that you can use if you forget a certain command.

You really need to know how to do the following:

Basic router configuration: Setting console, aux, telnet and enable password and encrypting all of them. Setting hostname, banner, interface description. Setting IP address, clock rate, bandwidth, encapsulation, sub-interface and how to enable the interface.

Basic switch configuration: Setting console, telnet and enable password and encrypting all of them. Setting hostname, banner. Know how to set the default-gateway and IP address for the switch. Setting duplex, speed and description on the interface.

Using CDP: the show command like show cdp, show cdp neighbor, show cdp neighbor detail and how to enable and disable CDP globally and on specific interface.

Using VTP: Setting different mode like server, client, transparent. Setting the domain, enabling pruning. Use the show vtp status

Using VLAN: Know how to configure VLAN for a 1900 switch and 2950. Know how to put an interface in a specific VLAN and access mode. Know how to set an interface in trunking mode and enabling the correct trunking encapsulation. Know how to configure a router for inter-Vlan communication with sub-interfaces.

Using Standard and Extended ACL: Setting standard and extended ACL and applying them on a specific interface.

Configure routing protocol (RIP, IGRP, EIGRP and OSPF), setting the network to advertise. Know how show command like show ip route, show ip protocol.

Configure static and default routes

PPP, Frame Relay and ISDN. Frame Relay is very important that you understand how to set this up.

Know how to save and back up IOS in flash, your startup and running config to a TFTP server. Then know how to restore them back.

Learn the different type of NAT and how they are configured.

All the show, debug and commands use for the above, when I say learn how to "configure" stuff I don't mean know how to enable it, I also mean learn how to get rid of it also. Just remember the ? can help you if you don't know or forget during the exam.

Netstudent

Thats a pretty good run down right there. It's funny because if you would have told me that about 4 months ago, I would have been like "OH SH**"! Now I'm like yep, uh huh, got that, know that.

steveo1985

Thanks very much, reading that list and knowing how to do all of those things has made me much more confident many thanks

Noe84

Also another tip when taking the exam. Don't rush through the questions if you are not confident enough about it. Always re-read the question until you understand word for word. The exam is tricky. Double check your answer before moving onto the next because you can't go back, you might end up finding a mistake. Coming this far, you don't want to leave any point on the table. I failed on my second attempt by 2 points and at that time I wish I could of spend some time rechecking my answer.

And best of luck to you.