CCNA Test integrity

narayankarthik

Cisco will be increasing their test fees from USD150 to USD200 wef 1st APril 2003. The pattern also will be changing it seems with more simulations.. (Now it's 54 questions with 4 simulations...and it would be 65 with 10 simulations!) I have been told by a reliable source that there won't be any pre-registraion option with old fees and it may be announced in last week of March.. Cisco wants to make sure that their tests are not getting diluted like Microsoft's. That is cited as the reason for fees increase and frequent changes in the patterns

Webmaster

I voted a big fat Yes, I think Cisco should change the questions as often as possible and build a huge question pool with even more simulations to ensure the integrity of the cert and to make sure people will actually have to know the topics instead of memorizing questions that are made available by dosens of sites these days.
Question writing is expensive, so there is something to say about the increase in their test fees, still I thought $150 was expensive enough already For every question Cisco has written and is 'given away' on various free and commercial websites, Cisco has to write a new one...
MS changed from simple straight-forward short questions to questions with long sentences and complete stories, making it harder to memorize the questions, CompTIA's makes an effort to use such terrible wording... all with the same goal... If the extra $50 will actually make a difference (which is hard to impossible to measure, nevertheless) I will be glad to pay the extra... and people will think twice before they pay 200 bucks for an exam they prepared for using "actual" questions...

Personally I always considered my CCNA to be somewhat more valuable than my MCSE cert. After Cisco has made these changes more people willl agree with me, especially those that pass(ed) their CCNA...
Although the upcoming new format of MS questions (simulations as well, checking option and entering values and settings in dialog boxes for example.) might have a good influence as well...

Johan

sikdogg

I also agree. I think that the CCNA exam has become very much diluted. The CCNA used to be a very presigious cert, but in the last year or so has become to be regarded as an entry level cert with little merit. I think the for the exam to regain its prestige, it must be based on real work configuration questions.

I have also experienced an decline of skill among CCNAs. I have interviewed candidates for junior level engineers and have been very disappointed with most of the CCNAs that have applied. Most have alot of general knowledge about most CCNA topics, but few were able to do real world tasks when put in front of a couple routers.

I wish that Cisco would make the CCNA exam one big simulation where the examiner had to configure ISDN, Frame Relay, trunking, VLANs, etc. I think that making the CCNA a performance based exam will do alot to bringing prestige back to the cert.

Just my $0.02

AnthonyJD81

I agree with both of you. But keep in mind, with anything else in life, the longer it is around the more and mroe peopl will begin to get their handson it. Even if cisco makes the exams harder, eventually more and more people will begin to pass it decreasing the value of it.

Think of it in terms of currency...the more printed bills we have, the less their value is (hence the reason why we can't just print more money to take ourselves out of defecit-- at least for USA at least)

Ok, I'm done :P

Webmaster

You do have a point there P42GDell but it is not the quantity, it is the quality (actual the lack of quality) of many of the CCNAs.

As sikdogg mentioned: "Most have a lot of general knowledge about most CCNA topics, but few were able to do real world tasks when put in front of a couple routers."

This is partly because many people learn just what they need to know for the exam (and here lies the problem, it has become too easy to find out what is on the real exam.) Many focus on the router config tasks they need to know for the router simulations and combine this with some sort of cram and they'll be able to pass, but they won't fulfill the expectations one (e.g. an employer) might have based on the exam objectives. Configuring frame relay or setting up a multilink ISDN connection triggered by particular traffic is something many CCNAs can not actually do, but should be able to...

Also I think the world can still use a lot more CCNAs before there would be so many the cert would devaluate

Dokudorf

For me i can do the real world stuff. Had a couple internships before i took the CCNA classes to get familiar with the real world applications of the concepts. it's all the trivial knowledge about every little algorithm that kill me on the exam and cause me to fail by fractions of a percent. 0.6 % the first time..0.2 % the second time...i just decided to front the 140 bucks for transcender's utilities and get it right this time.

Webmaster

I was wondering how it went today...I'm sorry to hear you failed the exam.

Transcender is a good choice and will probably help a lot in beating that passing score.

Something else that might help, I'm going to upload the first of a series of CCNA TechNotes within an hour or so and many more will follow very shortly...

Let us know if we can help you with any topics.

Johan

SoCo4Fun

I very willing to pay increased prices for the tests. I dont want Cisco's certs to turn out like my MS ones

henrock2

I know recently the heads at cisco have taken a lot of flack from companies that have cisco techs working for them. I know in the academy they are changing the curriculum around and i also know for a fact that 604-907 will no long exist after april i believe it will be a all new test with all new material and objectives. If you are wondering where i got this information from, My ccna instructor has informed us,*those in my class* of the changes being made.Another note a speaker that works at cisco hdq in Atlanta came down and briefly discussed the changes cisco is taking.

whirichardson

Good grief-ith fellers I just paid my fees for the CCNA here in Indy and it only cost 125.00. Are you getting gypped or are the prices higher in some regions of the US? I guess I better pass too.