ICND2 ??

Essendon

I missed the 11/6/2007 deadline of passing the ICND by a whisker (847). Could someone please tell me how much different the actual exam now can be, considering the additions/deletions from the course content. From what I gather, I gotto study IPv6 and PVSTP and maybe something more to get prepared. Thanks guys!

mikej412

A few people have posted that they don't seem to be hitting the new topics that hard.... but you never know what the new year has in store.

You probably want to spend an evening or two playing with IPv6 and kick up your switching a notch -- but the sooner to get in to take the exam, the more likely all you're old knowledge will still be good. But you may also want to take the time to run through the Odom ICND2 book.

The wireless and security was added in the ICND1 exam, so you shouldn't worry about that new stuff in the ICND2 exam. Just remember the switch security is still in ICND2.

Basically just stick to the topics in the ICND2 exam bluerprint and watch the Odom book for anything that may seem new -- but pay attention to anything that seems old since you still need to know it for the exam.

You weren't too far off last time, so as long as you didn't get to fat and sloppy over the holidays and forget everything you knew, you'd probably want to target the end of the month, or early February for your victory celebration.

Essendon

Thank you for the advice, mike. I have already bought the Odom ICND2 book from Amazon and it's lying there begging me to start reading it!!

I thought I would post my last score report and get some critical analysis from the experts...

Design = 100%
Implementation = 63%
Troubleshooting = 53%
Technology = 78%

I raced along and believe it or not, finished the test almost 25 minutes before time. I was confident of the answers, just COULD NOT believe the result in the end....847 . Wonder what went wrong when I was 100% sure of the answers...??

Based on the above exam score report, what do I need to really work on...please advise....

miller811

Looks like troubleshooting was what went wrong....

Sorry, couldn't resist......

I actually has 100% on the troubleshooting section.

mikej412

MobilTech wrote:

Design = 100%
Implementation = 63%
Troubleshooting = 53%
Technology = 78%

This was the old 640-811 ICND exam, right?

Implementation and Operations

    * Perform an initial configuration on a switch
    * Configure routing protocols given user requirements
    * Configure IP addresses, subnet masks, and gateway addresses on routers and hosts
    * Configure a router for additional administrative functionality
    * Configure a switch with VLANS and inter-switch communication
    * Implement a LAN
    * Customize a switch configuration to meet specified network requirements
    * Implement access lists
    * Implement simple WAN protocols


Troubleshooting

    * Utilize the OSI model as a guide for systematic network troubleshooting
    * Perform LAN and VLAN troubleshooting
    * Troubleshoot routing protocols
    * Troubleshoot IP addressing and host configuration
    * Troubleshoot a device as part of a working network
    * Troubleshoot an access list
    * Perform simple WAN troubleshooting


Technology

    * Describe the Spanning Tree process
    * Evaluate the characteristics of LAN environments
    * Evaluate the characteristics of routing protocols
    * Evaluate rules for packet control
    * Evaluate key characteristics of HDLC, PPP, Frame Relay, DDR, and ISDN technologies

Hum.... the Technology is mostly trivia.... and your two worst areas are prime SIM topics. Without spilling any NDA beans, how did you do on the SIMs?


I had posted these suggestions in an earlier CCNA thread during the final 801 rush -- but could be relevant to the old 811 topics too.

mikej412 wrote:

If the troubleshooting topics got you, check out the so close but so far away thread for some troubleshooting links.

If Implementation & Operation got you, check out this thread and the thread I linked to in there.

Those two topics are the 2 big "hands-on" topics -- usually you need more lab work if those are your lowest scoring areas.

The other 2 topics are more "book learnin'" but something like those "Reference Sheets" you can get from Cisco Press now (PDF files) might be enough of a focused review to get you by.

Essendon

U hit the nail on its head, mike. I think I didnt too well on the sim. I had only the one sim and it came in the middle of the test.
<< SNIP! >>
I did it without taking too much time, wasnt that hard. From the score report, it seems to have gone horribly wrong.....

Any suggestions where I can get good sims to tackle??

yukky

Are the sims scored by how long it takes you to answer the sim question or whether or not you can complete the task asked by the sim?

Essendon

I am sure you get partial credit for the sims, completing it correctly obviously gives you more credit. I remember when I was doing the Intro exam last year, the sim question right in the beginning and thought i had nailed it, when towards the end, ( thankfully ) I saw that the subnets I was using overlapped with some server's subnet. I had to do it all over again. Importantly, I passed with an 896.

yukky

MobilTech wrote:

I am sure you get partial credit for the sims, completing it correctly obviously gives you more credit. I remember when I was doing the Intro exam last year, the sim question right in the beginning and thought i had nailed it, when towards the end, ( thankfully ) I saw that the subnets I was using overlapped with some server's subnet. I had to do it all over again. Importantly, I passed with an 896.

Are there some sims of the sim questions online? I should try them out. I have no idea how they work.

Essendon

examsonline.com is one website that offers sims to practice, which arent too hard to solve, and I feel not upto exam quality. I am sure this forum offers some sims to practice.

Also, Transcender and Boson Netsim offer packages that include sims. I have heard a lot of good about transcender, although I havent given it a shot myself.

mikej412

You don't need SIMs to practice. You need to learn the tasks in the blueprint and practice on real hardware (or a good simulator, or Boson NetSim as a last resort). Any of the "action words" like perform, configure, utilize, troubleshoot tell you the skills you need for the CCNA. The SIMs are ususally just simple pieces of the full topics.

The exam demo which shows what the SIMs and other questions look like is available at the Cisco CCNA Prep Center.