Going to take the 640-821 Tomorrow ???

barryrod

I am currently enrolled in the Cisco Academy for CCNA and have finished CCNA 1 and 2. I am going to take the old 640-821 tomorrow and have a couple of questions.

In my cramming htis past week I have found referance to some in depth OSPF, IGRP, PPP, and Frame Relay programming questions. We did not really cover those topics in the classes and they are not covered in the Cisco Press books and I was wondering if I should expect them to come up on the test.

BTW the reason I am taking the 821 and not the 822 is that I got a voucher through the class and get to take the 821 for $37.50

phreak

Expect to see it all on the test.




I found it is critical to know in-depth, everything that you can so that when you come across some of the questions you will be able to answer them.

barryrod

In the classes we went over very little OSPF and EIGRP but no IGRP. Also we did no PPP or Frame Relay programming at all.

If it will be on the 640-821 exam, where is a good place to get the basics for those protocols?

mikej412

Good Luck!

Check out the old 640-821 Exam Blueprint and make sure you have all the topics covered for the exam. Any of the tasks that include Use, Establish, Manipulate, Assign could be things you may have demonstrate hands-on during the exam via SIM questions.

The ICND1 and ICND2 exams seem more balanced when compared to the requirements of the current single 640-802 CCNA exam. The old INTRO exam seemed like it covered only at most about 30% of the old 640-801 CCNA exam -- and that's including the overlap on Subnetting/TCPIP with the ICND exam.

Check out the Cisco Certification Tutorial so you are familiar with the types of questions Cisco uses.

If you have time, and haven't already been there, check out the CCNA Prep Center

barryrod

Well...Took it today and passed with a 983. IMO it was not nearly as hard as I have heard; Then again I am taking the Cisco Academy classes and I studied my butt off

nel

congrats man, i hope to do the same in the next few months!

onto icnd2 then?

mikej412

barryrod wrote:

Took it today and passed with a 983.

Congratulations!

The old INTRO exam was the "easy one" in the 2 exam route to the CCNA -- so you may still want to step it up a notch studying for the ICND exam. A lot of people got lulled into a false sense of security with their study methods and habits and got bitten on the butt by ICND.

Good Luck with your studies!

nel

Congratulations! icon_thumright.gif

The old INTRO exam was the "easy one" in the 2 exam route to the CCNA -- so you may still want to step it up a notch studying for the ICND exam. A lot of people got lulled into a false sense of security with their study methods and habits and got bitten on the butt by ICND.

Good Luck with your studies! icon_study.gif

Mike - do you know if thats the same on the new set of exams? i intend to study my ar$e off for both either way because ive heard many mention that the ccna really does lay the foundations for your cisco knowledge. ive been given a project at work to replace the entire network infrastructure with new kit so i think the ccna will go hand in hand and at least i will have the experiance aswell as the cert?

phreak

Congrats.


The ccna lays a solid foundation for ALL things networking and TCP/IP related. If your project at work is anything like the ones I face, expect to see things from the CCNP and CCIE levels. The hands-on experience will only further solidify your knowledge, especially when you are faced with troubleshooting something and you are in a location where you must rely on what you have learned while studying because there is no Internet access available (read: no google!) to fall back on.

127.0.0.1

I totally agree with you about the NetAcademy online courses helping you. I thought that they REALLY prepared you for this. If you are still taking the NetAcademy courses, I suggest you enroll in CCNA Exploration, as that covers everything you need to know in depth. You should take the newer exam as it covers more topics. It's not just about the Exam as all the other certification books are just geared towards the exam, but it really prepares you for the real-world scenarios that you'll encounter as a CCNA as well.

mikej412

nel wrote:

Mike - do you know if thats the same on the new set of exams?

The single exam option still gets a lot of people if they haven't put in enough hands-on study time.

But with the updated 2 exam option -- ICND1 and ICND2 -- it doesn't look like you get much of break on the first exam anymore. With the ICND1 now earning you the Cisco CCENT Certification, Cisco actually requires you to come out of the Class/Exam and be able to perform various job related task.

I would say ICND1 is still probably still easier than ICND2, but that's only because you learn more advanced stuff for ICND2 that builds on the foundation knowledge of ICND1.

I think you now just need to step it up a notch on day one when you start studying for ICND1 -- and don't let up at all until you finish ICND2 and earn the CCNA.

nel

thanks for the replies guys, i know i can always count on this lot!