CCENT - passed

errorken

Passed my CCENT today with 925/1000. My two cents:

Background:
I'm a java developer, I have no professional network experience.
Before this I never touched an actual cisco device (besides using a voip phone )
But I have to admit that due to personal interests I allready have broad network knowledge (at least on a basic level)

Study material:
CISCO press (odom) - ICND1
Boson exam sim which was included with the books
This forum, so a big thanks to everyone on this forum
Internet / CISCO website for commands and deeper understanding

Hardware:
I borrowed a 1720 and 2621 from a friend.
Later on I discovered GNS here, so I also used that with 26XX and 7200 IOS. Especially to test SDM since I cannot use it with the 2621/1720.

Time:
I read the book completely in july/august, then gave it a rest.
Then I started the actual preparation two weeks ago.

Exam:
I felt it was very easy. Also got plenty of time left.
I got one very weird question of which nothing is mentioned in the ICND1 material whatsoever, but the exam warned that there could be experimental questions, so I guess thats one of them.

I think ICND2 is going to be harder
(but I hope not)

hodgey87

congrats on the pass

Megadeth4168

Congrats!

JavonR

Good Job! I must say I am feeling more confident once I read that post, I have my CCENT booked for october 1st.

errorken

Thanks all, and good luck JavonR

fjhesq

How long did you acctually prepare, 2 weeks? I'm thinking about taking a stab at it the first of October. I've read the book and gone thru the CBT Nuggets a few times. Would you say subnetting.com are scenarios you faced on the exam?

dazerski

Gratz Errorken!!!! Thank you for the information. 11 days until my CCENT!!!

dazerski

JavonR wrote:

Good Job! I must say I am feeling more confident once I read that post, I have my CCENT booked for october 1st.

I'll be going 1 day before you... I'll let you know how mine was at least we qualify for the 2nd chance offer!

shednik

congrats on the pass!!

mamono

Congrats!!!

Slowhand

Congratulations, and welcome to the dark side. Just put the compiler down, and step over here to the router. . . oneofusoneofusoneofusoneofusoneofus. . .

errorken

Ow yeah, something I forgot, I also watched the 'CBT nuggets' video's.

The CBT theory I skipped, since I feel that the book is more complete and the extra time for reading it is not that big. The book also gives nice questions for each chapter, pays attention to the 'really' important parts and has nice summaries to test yourself. So I only used the book for that. I started with the CBT subnetting part, but after some time I did it on my own way. I just do it the raw way, without special rules or tricks.

So I basically just watched the lab video's. I find them really helpful.
Especially if you're new to routers and switches.
I watched them before I got any hardware to play with, and it really helps you to get an higher view how everything works. If you have to read that in a book its prettty abstract and its a bit scary to get started. Even with hardware, it was always interesting to hear why the commands were used that way (its also in the book, but its harder to understand/read)

fjhesq wrote:

How long did you acctually prepare, 2 weeks? I'm thinking about taking a stab at it the first of October. I've read the book and gone thru the CBT Nuggets a few times. Would you say subnetting.com are scenarios you faced on the exam?

Two weeks, yes. For theory, I don't think CBT is enough, but that probably depends on your background.

Andretii

Wow that's dedication! I wish I could accomplish my goals with that ease.

Congratulations.