Cleared 640-802!

I received my preliminary results and now they have to be verified by Cisco? That's kind of scary since they can mark you as "indeterminate" if they feel your results do not accurately depict the breadth of knowledge you should possess as a CCNA...even if you have a passing score! I scored a 881, though, so I think I'm in the clear?

Anyways, now the analysis:

Overall, it's not terribly difficult but it's certainly not a cake walk. You'll need to have a firm understanding of every exam topic and be comfortable with how networks "work".

My main study resource was the Odom guide. It's pretty much your one-stop shop for CCNA glory. All the information you need to pass the exam is within the Odom guide plus a lot more that will no doubt help you once you dive into the CCNP material.

I tried out the CBTNuggets videos and I didn't like them as I thought they contained too much "fluff" (i.e., pointless analogies). The videos may serve you well as a secondary resource, however, so it may be worth your time.

Also, if you don't already have a whiteboard, get yourself one. Why? Because A) all nerds have whiteboards and without one you'll be excluded by your nerd buddies, and

it's the perfect tool to practice writing concepts and configurations.

I studied hardcore for 4 weeks to pass this exam. One of my weaknesses is that I'm terribly lazy so I did about 2 months of casual studying prior to my 4-week cram-fest.

Next up? That's where you guys come in. I'm open to suggestions! Which one of the CCNP exams contains the most "foreign" material when compared to the CCNA? I'd like to study something as new and exciting as possible.

Cheers!

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Comments

ConstantlyLearning

Congrats.

Were you working full-time as well as studying?

Slowhand

wat08 wrote:

I received my preliminary results and now they have to be verified by Cisco? That's kind of scary since they can mark you as "indeterminate" if they feel your results do not accurately depict the breadth of knowledge you should possess as a CCNA...even if you have a passing score! I scored a 881, though, so I think I'm in the clear?

Where, exactly, did you read/hear that Cisco does anything but verify your score with Vue? A pass is a pass, if you get the bare-minimum passing score, or higher, you've got your cert. If you've got anything that states otherwise, please provide a link or a place we can look it up. Otherwise, your testing experience is like everyone else's, your score determines if you passed or not. There's no way for Cisco to test your knowledge, other than the test you took.

If I were you, I'd go out and celebrate. You passed the CCNA exam, you're going to get LOTS more hits on your resume now. Congratulations on the pass, it's a tough exam to tackle.

As for the CCNP, it's highly recommended you do either BCSI and BCMSN first, (routhing and switching, respectively,) in order to get the foundations you'll need for the remaining exams. They'll both be giving you a LOT of new information, lots of new ground to cover. In BCSI, you'll be looking in-depth at all the routing protocols you touched in the CCNA, in addition to BGP and IS-IS. You'll be learning exactly how they work, how to troubleshoot them, and you'll discover that there's a whole lot more to them than you could ever have imagined. Have a look at the CCNP FAQ for an overview of each exam, suggestions for lab equipment, as well as recommended study material.

tiersten

If you got a passing score then you should be fine. If your answers are exactly like known **** then this may be the time to get worried. Otherwise you're okay.

networker050184

Congrats on the pass!

wat08 wrote:

I received my preliminary results and now they have to be verified by Cisco? That's kind of scary since they can mark you as "indeterminate" if they feel your results do not accurately depict the breadth of knowledge you should possess as a CCNA...even if you have a passing score! I scored a 881, though, so I think I'm in the clear?

Never heard of that. I always thought a pass was a pass.....

As far as which exam has the most information not covered by the CCNA I'd have to say either ONT or ISCW, but if you are new to the material you will probably need the BSCI and BCMSN knowledge to feel comfortable with the material.

Slowhand

tiersten wrote:

If your answers are exactly like known **** then this may be the time to get worried.

That doesn't make any sense. The **** are created by people sitting for the exam and copying the questions/answers. Most questions are multiple-choice with radio buttons. Others are drag-and-drop, and there are some simlets and simulations. The reason braindumps hurt the industry so much is that there is no way to know if someone cheated with a computer-based exam, since there's only one way to answer 90% of the questions, and the others, like the sims, are meant to be done one way. Dumpers who get caught are the ones who brag about it afterwards, (like on this site,) or people who try to bring printed copies of the **** with them into the exam area. There's also the ones who get perfect scores in 10 minues, or ones who act suspiciously nervous about their high scores, and any bouncer in a bar can tell you that not playing it cool or acting weird is how you get caught and questioned.

mikej412

Congratulations!

Hum... most people take the BSCI or BCMSN first before they start forgetting the routing and switching they learned for the CCNA.

I'd say 642-845 ONT with the Quality of Service stuff would be the most different..... plus there's an Odom QoS book (if you liked the CCNA Odom book(s)).

tiersten

Slowhand wrote:

tiersten wrote:

If your answers are exactly like known **** then this may be the time to get worried.

That doesn't make any sense. The **** are created by people sitting for the exam and copying the questions/answers. Most questions are multiple-choice with radio buttons. Others are drag-and-drop, and there are some simlets and simulations. The reason braindumps hurt the industry so much is that there is no way to know if someone cheated with a computer-based exam, since there's only one way to answer 90% of the questions, and the others, like the sims, are meant to be done one way. Dumpers who get caught are the ones who brag about it afterwards, (like on this site,) or people who try to bring printed copies of the **** with them into the exam area. There's also the ones who get perfect scores in 10 minues, or ones who act suspiciously nervous about their high scores, and any bouncer in a bar can tell you that not playing it cool or acting weird is how you get caught and questioned.

You're assuming that **** are correct. If the **** has wrong answer for certain questions and you choose the same set of bad answers then its a little suspicious.

wat08

I'm surprised no one has heard of the preliminary score report:

http://newsroom.cisco.com/dlls/2008/prod_072208.html

Now, I don't know what "forensic analysis" the Cisco higher powers perform on the exam results, but my instinct is if you have 100% on a bunch of topics and 20% on some other topics and STILL manage to pass, then maybe they'd revoke your certificate? Since you haven't proven to be well-rounded.

wat08

ConstantlyLearning wrote:

Congrats.

Were you working full-time as well as studying?

The 4 weeks was spent solely on studying for the CCNA. The casual studying was accompanied with school work.

Slowhand

tiersten wrote:

You're assuming that **** are correct. If the **** has wrong answer for certain questions and you choose the same set of bad answers then its a little suspicious.

While that may be true, I've yet to hear of anyone getting caught this way. The whole problem with the **** is that so many dumpers are passing, indicating that the answers they get are mostly right. And again, it's practically impossible for a test-vendor to point out a specific culprit from thousands and thousands of test-takers that have similar mistakes on their exam. There are a lot of questions designed to confuse people that don't know the material, and will see the same wrong answer most of the time because of the same fault in logic by the candidates. All in all, if Cisco, Microsoft, or anyone else went out and stripped people of their passing scores or certs because of the patterns they saw in a test-takers wrong answers, they'd be walking on very thin ice very quickly. So many people would sue that it would cause an uproar just hearing about it.

No single (honest) candidate has to be worried that they'll be shot down after receiving a passing score. The patterns Cisco studies, looking for dumpers, will more than likely be used to create more ****-resistant exams in the future, not track down individuals in the here and now.

jbaello

I'm glad they are really screening people who passed, be thankful since your cert will be more valuable, I also read an article on Network World about this today.

tiersten

Slowhand wrote:

tiersten wrote:

You're assuming that **** are correct. If the **** has wrong answer for certain questions and you choose the same set of bad answers then its a little suspicious.

While that may be true, I've yet to hear of anyone getting caught this way. The whole problem with the **** is that so many dumpers are passing, indicating that the answers they get are mostly right. And again, it's practically impossible for a test-vendor to point out a specific culprit from thousands and thousands of test-takers that have similar mistakes on their exam. There are a lot of questions designed to confuse people that don't know the material, and will see the same wrong answer most of the time because of the same fault in logic by the candidates. All in all, if Cisco, Microsoft, or anyone else went out and stripped people of their passing scores or certs because of the patterns they saw in a test-takers wrong answers, they'd be walking on very thin ice very quickly. So many people would sue that it would cause an uproar just hearing about it.

No single (honest) candidate has to be worried that they'll be shot down after receiving a passing score. The patterns Cisco studies, looking for dumpers, will more than likely be used to create more ****-resistant exams in the future, not track down individuals in the here and now.

I'm just going by what Cisco have on their webpage.

# Forensic Analysis - Exam results and other testing data will be continuously analyzed by forensic software to detect aberrant testing behavior and to flag suspect exams for further investigation. When problems are identified with the validity of a test result, the candidate's score will be invalidated. Depending on the exact issue with the flagged exam, further consequences may range from having to retake the exam to the imposition of a one-year or lifetime testing ban.

# Preliminary Score Report - All paper score reports will be preliminary, pending the results of forensic analysis, until official exam scores are posted to the Web within 72 hours of exam completion. Once the exam scores are official, candidates may use the authentication codes on their score reports to access the Pearson VUE website for score and photo verification.

Slowhand

tiersten wrote:

I'm just going by what Cisco have on their webpage.

# Forensic Analysis - Exam results and other testing data will be continuously analyzed by forensic software to detect aberrant testing behavior and to flag suspect exams for further investigation. When problems are identified with the validity of a test result, the candidate's score will be invalidated. Depending on the exact issue with the flagged exam, further consequences may range from having to retake the exam to the imposition of a one-year or lifetime testing ban.

# Preliminary Score Report - All paper score reports will be preliminary, pending the results of forensic analysis, until official exam scores are posted to the Web within 72 hours of exam completion. Once the exam scores are official, candidates may use the authentication codes on their score reports to access the Pearson VUE website for score and photo verification.

Again, a lot of bark, but you'll find that there's very little bite. Any evidence they find upon screening tests is circumstancial, and it's a very thin wire to walk. The language of the warnings is more to deter people, than the actual warnings themselves. It's kind of like the FBI warning at the start of movies, it's designed and worded to intimidate, but it's very difficult for the production companies to actually prosecute someone. Again, it would be damned near impossible for someone who hasn't done anything wrong to be singled out and accused of wrongdoings falsely.

dynamik

Might want to check this thread out: http://techexams.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=38620

Congratulations to the OP! As long as you passed legitimately, you'll have nothing to worry about.

mamono

Well, getting back on topic, you studied legitimately and passed. That's all that matters! Congrats! Sounds like you have a great grasp of routing and switching technologies. Best that you continue the Cisco professional route. Keep in mind that some studies for CCNP also are shadowed on the CCDP, that's another reason why the BCSI and BCMSN first. Just something to consider.

wat08

What about the CCDA? I think that would be a fun one just because you're not knee-deep in configs all the time.

Slowhand

wat08 wrote:

What about the CCDA? I think that would be a fun one just because you're not knee-deep in configs all the time.

Heh, heh. Going for the CCDA, as well as CCNP? What, you wanna be like Mike?

mamono

Everyone wants to be like Mike!!! psh... :P

ikeit

how did u tackle the eigrp question.i have a problem there

wat08

I tackled the EIGRP question by studying.

mikej412

ikeit wrote:

how did u tackle the eigrp question.i have a problem there

Here's a couple links that you may want to read:

Cisco Career Certifications and Confidentiality Agreement

You agree that the contents of the exam are confidential and that the disclosure of that information could compromise the integrity of the Program and of Certifications. Cisco makes exams available to you solely to test your knowledge of the exam subject matter for which you seek Certification. You are expressly prohibited from disclosing, publishing, reproducing, or transmitting any exam and any related information including, without limitation, questions, answers, worksheets, computations, drawings, diagrams, length or number of exam segments or questions, or any communication, including oral communication regarding or related to the exam (known collectively as “Proprietary Information”), in whole or in part, in any form or by any means, oral or written, electronic or mechanical, for any purpose, without the prior express written permission of Cisco.

Cisco Candidate Conduct Policy

No candidate will take any action that will compromise the integrity or confidentiality of a Cisco Certification examination or otherwise compromise the integrity of the Cisco Certification program. Such actions include but are not limited to:
• Disseminating actual exam content via web postings, discussion groups, chat rooms, study guides, etc.