Tell me your story...

Kcolon1Kcolon1 Member Posts: 36 ■■□□□□□□□□
Just out of curiosity -

How many of you took the CCNA and felt like you had it in the bag, but saw questions you had no idea what the answer was?

How many of you took the test with low confidence, but found the questions to be quite easy?

Please tell me your experience during the testing process....

Comments

  • andytandyt Member Posts: 14 ■□□□□□□□□□
    i'll tell you tomorrow

    at the moment i dont think i have a chance of passing but we'll see
  • r_durantr_durant Member Posts: 486 ■■■□□□□□□□
    Well, I didn't think I had it in the bag, but I felt confident enough...and I didn't schedule my exam until I thought in my mind that I knew enough to pass based on the exam blueprint and from experiences of others in this forum...

    The morning of my exam I was really nervous, but I still put it in my mind that I was well prepared...I have this bad habit of half-reading questions, where I would read a portion of the question and then look at the choices, before fully reading the entire question...so I kept telling myself...read the entire question Ryan, no shortcuts!!

    So, I took my time, read the questions twice and even when i knew the question straight up, I read it again just to be sure...I didn't want that "you can't go back" to bite me in the butt...

    There were questions that I was unsure about, but i used the process of elimination and made what I thought was the best choice...to me, you get a mix of question, some quite easy and then some that made me second guess myself, but I tried to stay calm, while keeping an eye on the clock...and I finished with like 20 mins to spare...passed and I was happy!!

    My advice...there maybe no way to control the nerves, some people have their ways, I just deal with it there and then...try to keep calm, read the questions thoroughly, re-read to be sure, and make the most logical selection(s)...once you know your stuff, you have nothing to worry about, you won't see anything that you haven't seen in the study material...
    CCNA (Expired...), MCSE, CWNA, BSc Computer Science
    Working on renewing CCNA!
  • techster79techster79 Member Posts: 169 ■■■□□□□□□□
    Back in 2002/03 I was in the CCNA ciriculumn, I had previously picked up a 640-507 book and tried to self-study. Since I had no experience or equipment I barely got past the OSI layer. Anyways I took semester 1 and 2 by themselves but by the time I got to semester 3 they had rolled semester 2-4 into one semester. So all of the WAN/routing protocols were blurry after I was done with semester 4. I bought the book for the current exam, by this time is was 640-607. I crammed for two weeks, being weakest on ISDN. I took the test and think I made a 890 something. At first glance I thought I failed, I expected to fail after all I had heard this test is adaptive, the failure rate is sooo high. I thought the simulations were very simple in the 607.

    Fast forward to this year, my 607 had expired in June of 2006. I hadn't touched anything more than a single switch or simple router config in 4 years. I picked up the 640-801 book after completing my MCSA 2003 in May. Then I found out the test was being expired 11/6/07. I had first scheduled the test for the 5th of November. It then dawned on me that I could fail and would have to take the 802. Well I pushed the date back to Monday the 29th of Oct so if I failed I had time to retest.

    The day of the test a buddy of mine takes the test first. I sit for an hour with my notes trying to make sure I have everything down pat. I had done so many practice tests I had to put them down so I wouldn't get burnt out answering questions. Well the moment came, my friend came out with a failing score of 700 something. He hadn't studied frame relay or ACLs and was hung up on an early simulation.

    The tough thing about the CCNA compared to other tests is the lack of review and/or back button. Plus you have 90 minutes instead of 210-240. Well I got less questions than I expected, so I was thinking great I can only miss so many questions before I fail. I get into the test and nothing really surprised me, even with being fairly sure of the right answer and reading and checking off all the wrong answers I was still done in about 60 minutes. The only one that got me was a simlet and I had to answer it in a non-conventional way which took some digging around. I scored a 923(100% on Implementation and Operations) which was kinda surprised about, but I did not expect to fail the 801.
    Studying for MCSE: Server Infrastructure (70-414 left)
  • mikearamamikearama Member Posts: 749
    I had a similar experience to techster... I've had my ccna since '01 (along with Switching and Routing... was working on the Remote Access exam), but then got moved into the AD/Exchange department at work, and didn't go back to networking until this year.

    I moved gig's, and though I was hired into the wintel/microsoft group, I quickly snagged an openning in the network dep't. First priority was to renew my NA.

    Though it should have been mostly review, I'm really surprised how much I had forgotten. I expected to read the CCNA Exam Cram, play around with my 7-yr old 2500's, and pass this thing handily. A 796 the first time was a jolt of reality.

    So I grabbed the Cisco Exam Study Guide, and bought Chris Bryant's test prep, and nailed it the second time... 891, if I recall.

    This bad boy is not to be taken lightly... by anyone.

    MIke
    There are only 10 kinds of people... those who understand binary, and those that don't.

    CCIE Studies: Written passed: Jan 21/12 Lab Prep: Hours reading: 385. Hours labbing: 110

    Taking a time-out to add the CCVP. Capitalizing on a current IPT pilot project.
  • techster79techster79 Member Posts: 169 ■■■□□□□□□□
    Anyone know if the 801/802 is adaptive? The last I heard of this was the 607. I haven't read anything in the Cisco Press book or on their website about this. If it isn't adaptive(I seemed to get alot of switching stuff on my exam) why would they change that and make the test less hard?
    Studying for MCSE: Server Infrastructure (70-414 left)
  • NetstudentNetstudent Member Posts: 1,693 ■■■□□□□□□□
    I have heard form the big guys that it is not. But the more I listen to other people's experiences, it seems that the people who have a rough time with the test get popped with a SIM at the very end. It probably isn't adaptive, but I find that a little odd.

    I was pretty confident going in because I studied my ass off. Plus I teach my fellow classmates CCNA topics because for some reason i'm the go to cisco guy at school. Don't ask me why. I had everything pretty solid. I read Sybex and cisco press and bought some gear. I was a little nervous going in but I kept my cool. Only had 2 questions that I had to really think through because they were vague. I just took each question individually, thought through it, and reacted.
    There is no place like 127.0.0.1 BUT 209.62.5.3 is my 127.0.0.1 away from 127.0.0.1!
  • techster79techster79 Member Posts: 169 ■■■□□□□□□□
    Netstudent,

    I was taking CCNA classes several years ago. When I did it was incredibly slow because almost no one understand binary/subnetting. We ended up spending most of the semester on one chapter in the book. Did you have a similar experience since you are mentoring some students?
    Studying for MCSE: Server Infrastructure (70-414 left)
  • NetstudentNetstudent Member Posts: 1,693 ■■■□□□□□□□
    Yes...Core networking technology is not an easy subject. I don't mean core as in core of the network. I mean core as in the nitty gritty of networking. It takes someone who can crunch numbers with some solid logic to really excel. I mean you can't be a slouch and get anywhere in this field. So anywhere you go, you will have students who just don't get it. They either don't have the aptitude or don't have the true desire to be great. In my college class there are a very select few who obviously are on the ball. The rest just kinda go through the motions just because college is the norm. and their parents have plenty of money. My program involves more than just computer communication though. It is data communication as a whole. So some students do better in other classes that aren't specifically networking technology. But when you show proficiency among the other students they tend to come to you with questions just because you are a peer.
    There is no place like 127.0.0.1 BUT 209.62.5.3 is my 127.0.0.1 away from 127.0.0.1!
  • shaun5263shaun5263 Member Posts: 120 ■■■□□□□□□□
    was fairly confident. took the test and I knew I had it from the start. Know all of the material and you will prevail!
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