Judgement Day - CCENT

nel · June 2008

Yes that right, just like arnie came back in T2 and kicked some ass.....i done the same to the CCENT this afternoon!!! Passed my first cisco exam with a 844!!!

OK, i know its probably the easiest of the whole series of exams but im still pleased....not only for the pass but its given me the the extra boost in confidence and enjoyment of IT which has been severely lacking due to my crappy soul destroying job!

I have to say i actually enjoyed the format of the exam....MS should sit up and take some note! The questions were straight to the point which i preffered over the essay you get with the MS stuff. i really enjoyed the simlets etc too...

Tools used:

Odoms ICND1 Book (i had todd lammeles too but didnt use it as odom done it for me)
TE
Cisco.com
subnetting questions.com

Lab:
3 x 2600
3 x 2950

Advice:

1.read the icnd1 book and UNDERSTAND the material...cant stress this enough because you had to apply your knowledge throughout the exam.
2. subnetting!!!!!!!!....know it!!!
3. Setup and lab!!! you need to know alot of the hands on for many of the Q's

If you know the material well you will pass, i had 29 minutes left on this one. I also felt odoms book over prepared you - which is a good thing in my opinion!

If ive missed anything else just fire away and i'll respond!

EDIT: Btw, do you have to request your certificate etc from cisco like you do with MS? or will they send it out?

IT Man · June 2008

Congrats man...I feel you pain. My last job was draining my soul as well. So onward to the CCNA??

nel · June 2008

Yeah going to finish the ccna up. I took the 2 part route because i also had uni work to do aswell as a FT job....i would recommend this to anyone who needs to manage there time tightly.

nicklauscombs · June 2008

congratulations!

aragoen_celtdra · June 2008

Alright! join the ranks

A big congratulations. You've earned it. Now start hitting the ICND2 book. It's a lot more in depth... but still a lot of fun.

As far as the "certificate", you should receive an email from Cisco where you have to verify your information (name, address, etc.) Wait a couple of weeks and you should receive a nice glossy certificate with credit-card sized certification card with your Cisco ID number. These don't mean much right now, but for being the first, it feels kinda good. I happen to think that the only value it has is the motivation that it gives you to move forward.

ITdude · June 2008

Great job! Good luck with ICND2.

gojericho0 · June 2008

Congratulations...good persistence pays off

dynamik · June 2008

Thanks for the write-up. I've got to get to this sooner or later, and I'm a bit anxious to venture beyond my comfortable MS exams. It's almost as if you can wrap yourself in those paragraphs of text, like a comfy blanket. How would compare the MS vs. Cisco exams? I hear the Cisco exams are much more to the point, and it seems like you either know the answer or you don't. You don't have to try to decipher what they're asking. As someone who's taken both, what do you think?

Congratulations, and keep up that momentum for ICND 2!

nel · June 2008

dynamik wrote:

Thanks for the write-up. I've got to get to this sooner or later, and I'm a bit anxious to venture beyond my comfortable MS exams. It's almost as if you can wrap yourself in those paragraphs of text, like a comfy blanket. How would compare the MS vs. Cisco exams? I hear the Cisco exams are much more to the point, and it seems like you either know the answer or you don't. You don't have to try to decipher what they're asking. As someone who's taken both, what do you think?

Congratulations, and keep up that momentum for ICND 2!

Hey dynamik,

Ive seen what you've been doing over the last few months and im sure you'll be fine.

Comparing the exam formats - not content - its like you say - the cisco stuff is more to the point. Biggest question i had was litterally a small paragraph, nothing like the stuff you get with MS. You either know it or you dont. i had to get in the frame of mind i only had one shot at each question whereas the MS you can review your answers - with cisco you cannot. Another thing i would say about the exam was it felt so much more interactive. There were many simlets, drag and drops, sims etc...like i said it was pretty fun

Check out the cisco prep centre and you can see examples of the format of questions you recieve.

I done the exam in an hour - not that this will happen with every cisco exam i'll take but i think the MS exams go overboard when you think you can spend about 3 1/2 hrs on some of them. I think cisco are good to keep the timing under 2 hours. This way i feel you can still be fresh and alert to the questions, where doing pages and pages of text in MS exams for 3 hours is not v.good.