Starting study for the CCNA - UPDATE (Passed ICND1!)

Hey,

Starting my prep for the CCNA.

Plan on using the following materials:

Official Exam Certification Library.
Todd Lammle book.
Exam Cram practice questions.
CBT Nuggets.

Have:

3 2501's
2 2611's
3 2950's

Not sure if the memory, IOS, interfaces are up to scratch on my equipment.

Looking forward to getting stuck in and asking a lot of questions and hopefully answering question later on.

Cheers.

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Comments

Roje

ConstantlyLearning wrote:

Hey,

Starting my prep for the CCNA.

Plan on using the following materials:

Official Exam Certification Library.
Todd Lammle book.
Exam Cram practice questions.
CBT Nuggets.

Have:

3 2501's
2 2611's
3 2950's

Not sure if the memory, IOS, interfaces are up to scratch on my equipment.

Looking forward to getting stuck in and asking a lot of questions and hopefully answering question later on.

Cheers.

**** software.

The thing you must learn is the method of understanding the questions. They can be tricky.

ConstantlyLearning

eh, spam?

tiersten

ConstantlyLearning wrote:

eh, spam?

No clue. Maybe. Their other posts here don't look spammy however.

Your choice of study material is good. I ended up just using Cisco Press books. Others have used all 3 and from what I gather, are pretty happy with it.

You should be fine with your hardware as well assuming its got a reasonable amount of RAM/flash and that you've got some serial WICs for the 2611 + cables. There are plenty of would-be-nice-to-have items of course that would help you but what you've got is enough to do most things.

dynamik

tiersten wrote:

ConstantlyLearning wrote:

eh, spam?

No clue. Maybe. Their other posts here don't look spammy however.

Yea, seems like he unknowingly offered up a **** as a resource.

mikej412

Roje wrote:

xxxxxxxxxxxx software.

Those are stolen exam questions. Using them is a Violation of the Cisco Candidate Conduct Policy.

While they are "marketed" as "practice questions" -- they aren't. Some people realize after their first exam that those were exam questions -- which is CHEATING -- but are "hooked" by how "easy" it is. That's probably why 50-60% of the CCNAs we give a phone screening interview too can't answer 10 simple questions.

ConstantlyLearning

I've started going through the Lammle book and the CBT nuggets for ICND1.

It's nice and easy so far. Knew a bit about networking devices, TCP/IP already.
I find subnetting a breeze as well as VLSM and summarization.

Moving onto Ch.4 of the Sybex book. IOS and SDM. Can't wait. All I've done with my equipment so far is removed all the previous configs, done some show commands, moved around the modes, changed the hostname etc.

After I've gone through the Lammle book I'll go through the Odom books by topic (i.e. not reading the books one at a time).

After that I'll go through all the Exam Cram/odom/lammle practice questions and see where I'm at.

Really enjoying the material so far. Can't wait to get more hands-on. I'm finding myself thinking "come on Lammle, tell me to setup a switch/router already".

jbaello

ConstantlyLearning wrote:

eh, spam?

Lol no it's a ****, I suggest picking up Chris B. Ultimate CCNA Study Package, he got alot of goodies there, I bet you mastering this and throwing in hardcore lab, you can pass CCENT already.

ConstantlyLearning

jbaello wrote:

ConstantlyLearning wrote:

eh, spam?

Lol no it's a ****, I suggest picking up Chris B. Ultimate CCNA Study Package, he got alot of goodies there, I bet you mastering this and throwing in hardcore lab, you can pass CCENT already.

My plan is to get the Chris B. material if I fail the 802 first time.

Think I have enough material at the moment tbh, once I understand it all!

ConstantlyLearning

I've gone through the Lammle book and the ICND1 nuggets now.

I'm really happy with my subnetting, just need to reduce the time it takes me to do it.

I've registered to do some college exams in mid December for a course I didn't complete. As a result of this I've decided to take the two exam route for the CCNA.

Have the ICND1 booked for the 17th of November.

Starting to go through the ICND1 Odom book today.

mattrgee

Good God, 50%-60% are **** users? That's terrible, makes me quite sad to be honest.

ConstantlyLearning

Gone through the first 9 chapters of Odom's ICND1 book now.

Pretty easy after going through the entire Lammle book already and doing all the configs mentioned in that book on real equipment.

I would definately advise going through Lammles book before Odom's.

ConstantlyLearning

Finished going through the Odom ICND1 book.

Using CBT Nuggets, Sybex book, Exam Cram PQ's book and online resources to finish off my prep for the ICND1 exam on Monday.

the_Grinch

Good luck! Look forward to welcoming you to the club on Monday!

mamono

Good luck!

I went the two exam route also, you'll be fine since it seems you've prepared well.

ConstantlyLearning

After going through all the Exam Cram PQ's for ICND1 I ended up with an average of 84%. (Wasn't too happy with that.)

Going through some CBT videos and configs today. There's plenty of rugby on today so going to take it easy.

ConstantlyLearning

Exam in 2 1/2 hours.

Just going through subnetting questions right now and some notes.

Going to read some notes and the Exam Cram 'Cram Sheet' on the bus.

nel

good luck man!

gorebrush

Go go go!!

ConstantlyLearning

Passed. Score - 895

I got hit with a bunch of Sims at the start that took me a while which had me worried about my time. Finished with 20 mins to spare in the end though.

So, if you're doing this exam, relax and don't worry about the time. If you know your stuff you'll be grand. There'll be a lot of easy multi-choice questions as well as those Sims.

Edit: I have a couple of college exams to do in December that I didn't complete when doing the course. I'll be starting my ICND2 studies in mid December as a result of this.

I'll go through the CBT's for ICND2 while studying for the college exams just to keep the material fresh in my head for the few weeks that I'm not focusing on it.

nel

Congratulations man! great score.

Yeah i know how you feel about college/uni exams - im having to put these ahead of my cisco studies. but keep reading up when you can and you'll still rack up quite a few hours for the icnd2 studies.

Well done and welcome to the club!

/usr

Passed. Score - 895

I passed today with the same score! Congrats!

And yeah, I had a lot of sims at the beginning and started worrying about time as well, but I finished with over 30 minutes left.

nel

/usr wrote:

Passed. Score - 895

I passed today with the same score! Congrats!

And yeah, I had a lot of sims at the beginning and started worrying about time as well, but I finished with over 30 minutes left.

Congrats to you too man

mikej412

ConstantlyLearning wrote:

Passed

Congratulations!

the_Grinch

Congrats and welcome to the club!

phantasm

Congratulations!! Feels good huh? I was giddy like a school girl all day. rofl.

ConstantlyLearning

Certainly does feel good. Can't wait to get stuck into the ICND2 material!

Just have to get these blasted college exams out of the way first!

Cheers for all the replies and well done to /usr.

mamono

Congrats to everyone!

Moo Cisco! :P

grlsdmsugr

congrats guys, i'm going the 640-802 route instead of ICND1 and ICND2, i just hope all works out. Currently using Sybex 6th edition and cbt nuggets, looking to purchasing some atleat 2 routers. Guys please let me know the cheapest place to get one besides ebay. Thanks