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Sitting the test on Friday!!! (Update: Passed!!!!!)

malcybood

Sitting this test on Friday so fingers crossed!

I've been studying for this for 9 months on/off but hopefully I'm ready!

Will let you know how I get on......anyone got any last minute advice on this one of things to brush up on?

Cheers
Malc

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Comments

sthomas

Good Luck!

shednik

Best of luck!!

Slowhand

Good luck, let us know how it went.

astorrs

Good luck!

scheistermeister

Good luck! +1 to the letting us know how it is. I have been eying this one for a while and want to sit for it when I am done with the NP.

nicklauscombs

scheistermeister wrote:

Good luck! +1 to the letting us know how it is. I have been eying this one for a while and want to sit for it when I am done with the NP.

This is my plan as well

malcybood

Thanks folks, will let you know how I go on Friday around lunch time (GMT)

mikej412

Good Luck!

ITdude

Ditto here!

tech-airman

malcybood wrote:

Sitting this test on Friday so fingers crossed!

I've been studying for this for 9 months on/off but hopefully I'm ready!

Will let you know how I get on......anyone got any last minute advice on this one of things to brush up on?

Cheers
Malc

malcybood,

May SONA be with you.

APA

Good Luck!

I raise tech-airman's SONA by an IIN so may both the SONA and IIN be with you ;p

Paul Boz

Good luck.

7255carl

best of luck

GT-Rob

hmmm brush up on VoIP bandwidth calculations.

other than that, go through the glossary :P

nel

Good luck malcolm!

I know you'll do it with all the hard work you have put into it!

malcybood

Well folks, I'm now CCDA and pretty damn overwhelmed with my score...........987 WOW!!!!

Didn't expect this in the slightest but I think I over prepared on this test as the questions didn't seem that difficult.....a few educated guesses if I'm being honest but not too many!

Scores
Describe Methodology used to design a network 100%
Describe network structure and modularity 100%
Describe basic enterprise campus networks 100%
Describe enterprise edge and remote network modules 100%
Describe IP addressing and routing protocols 88%
Design security services 100%
Identify voice networking considerations 100%
Identify wireless networking considerations 100%

So the lowdown on the exam and my study techniques;

- In total 9 months self study along with some network design experience from work
- Diane Teare Book second edition (Excellent book highly recommended)
- ciscopress book by bruno / jordan (ok but a bit light on subject matter to pass the exam),
- reference sheets by Kevin Wallace (640-863)
- Transcender 640-863 (£80 but worth it, very good prep)
- CBT Nuggets for BCMSN (wireless very helpful)
- Various Cisco SRND docs (mainly on voice, wireless and security) from cisco website. You can find pretty much every piece of info that is required and not in the books here http://www.cisco.com/en/US/netsol/ns656/networking_solutions_program_home.html

I studied some evenings through the week when I wasn't doing fun stuff like playing football or at the gym lol but the main study time was on the train commute of 2.5 hours each way to see my girlfriend on weekends. I was already comfortable with around 60% of the syllabus course material from CCNA studies and work experience, so I concentrated on voice, security, wireless and routing protocol selection / IPV6, data center design (as cisco want you to know it!) areas. I did study the other topics just not in as much detail.

The exam had some obscure questions, including one which related to a Cat OS command, that's all I'll say but it was one that came from left field.

Anybody looking to sit this I'd say you probably need a good knowledge of the cisco product set what technology purpose is of different products in the wireless, security and voice areas. Know the enterprise model like the back of your hand, know how to calculate bandwidth required for voice calls and how many calls can be made etc, codec selection based on customer criteria and route summarization / IP addressing. You also need to know the purpose and basic characteristics of OSPF, IS-IS, EIGRP, BGP (4), RIPng and when to select them.

I think that sums it about up, extremely pleased to have this one under my belt.

Next up I have a Nortel Certification that I need to pass for work (being sent on a course) then sitting the NCTS - Converged IPT exam - this has to be done by August / Sep. After this I'm planning on putting myself through the CCNP network academy at university evening class which starts later this year.

woooooohooooooo

7255carl

congrats

scheistermeister

Congrats!

shednik

Congrats on the pass!!!

Paul Boz

Good job man, thanks for the writeup. I'm sitting this in a week or two depending on time I can dedicate to studying. I hope it's as easy as you say.

Also good luck on your Nortel class. I flew to Nortel for a DMS500 class and it was as dry as my grandma's funeral. Man I hate that platform.

malcybood

Thanks folks for the congrats

Paul,

How long have you been studying for and how have you approached it? I cancelled and re-scheduled 3 times as I was getting crap scores on the transcenders and just did not feel confident although I had read all the materials. I think I find it OK learning the materials but sometimes find it difficult to interperet what the question is actually asking. I had 6 or 7 where I narrowed it down to 50/50 and on another day these could have maybe gone wrong for me, thankfully the sun was a shining!

I think you have a bit of a head start as you have your CCNP, the reason it took me so long is because I only really had CCNA and limited design knowledge when I started studying.

I think from reading your other posts you seem to be pretty comprehensive on most of the subjects so as long as you've read some Cisco blurb from CCDA materials I don't think you'll have any problems with this one.

If want to ask me anything (above board of course) feel free to PM me, let us know how you go anyway

cheers

gojericho0

Great Score and congrats on the new cert

mikej412

malcybood wrote:

I'm now CCDA

Congratulations!

nel

Congrats malcolm!

Im very pleased for you mate. Keep up the good work!

nel

Paul Boz

Geez man. It looks like three of us are going to wrap this thing up within just a few days of each other. Two pass updates within 10 minutes of each other is a good sign for myself

Great job man.

liquid6

Way to go, sounds like you had a good study plan and you executed flawlessly!

malcybood

received my certification pack today, so just about 3 weeks since passing the exam, not too bad!

Contained a letter, certificate and ID card just like the CCNA