I started my CCNA studies in March 2008. Passed ICND1 for my CCENT mid April. Started studying for ICND2 toward the end of April. Fast forward, first time I took the ICND2 640-816 exam was in July. I failed it miserably... I failed so bad that that I had 15 minutes left and was only 1/2 through the exam. Obviously, I did not pace myself and wasn't solving problems fast enough. There were severe gaps in area that I knew I was weak in.
So this takes me to where I am now even though its been a few days, but I passed the ICND2 640-816 on Tuesday afternoon, Oct. 14th. Between July and Oct, I kicked my studies up a couple notches. One week right before my deadline of Oct. 14th, I secluded myself from the world to review and cover all the material from the beginning to end clocking in about 12-16 hours a day including the weekend.
The exam started off well, I was very confident up until somewhere in the middle when I got a question that I knew the answer to but didn't see the correct answer displayed on the screen... I felt like I had just received a slap in the face followed by a kick in the nads and it dumbfounded me. I lost my pace again as the clock ticked at me tauntingly and then I randomly picked an answer that was as close as possible yet still wrong, but then I pulled myself together and put it out of my head because it was just one question. I finished with about 15 minutes on the clock. I sat there in shock letting out a sigh of relief as I stared at the pass displayed on the screen. That looming thought of that one question still hanging over my head like a rain cloud ready to pour.
When leaving the testing center, I thought to myself... maybe, just maybe, that was an experimental question? ... hm...
I believe that if I had kept my resolve throughout the exam like I did the first half, I would have done better. I passed with an 835.
Study material:
Sybex CCNA by Todd LamelleCBT Nuggets (Borrowed) - Didn't seem to really help me much, good for overall review.
Train Signal (Borrowed) - I liked Chris Bryant's explanations, he does a great job of explaining the technical because he uses facts and lays down the raw data followed by implementation.
Packet Tracer 5.0Cisco 2501 (Borrowed)
TechExams.net forums - Obviously, I learned a great deal from the posts. Reading and lurking to pick at all the great information that shows up. Also, answering questions helped me reaffirm the study material.
I have various Cisco Press books that I has collected when I was originally planning to take the 640-801 exam, but didn't get the opportunity to study for it. So, I used those as reference material when studying for this one. Outdated, so I won't mention them other than by their authors: Steve McQuerry, Wendell Odom, and Scott Empson.
