CCNA 640-801

michaelkahl

Well, I'm currently enrolled in the Cisco Netacademy. I am finishing up Semester 3, passed my skills based last night...YAY! Becaues of changes in my financial aid, semester 4 will be a burden for me to take. I haven't dropped my registration yet, but I will if I can pass my CCNA.
Since I am enrolled in the old curriculum I've been preparing for the older version of the CCNA for the last three semesters. I'm planning on scheduling the exam for the second week of January, just before classes start. If I pass, I'll drop the class. If I don't pass then I'll continue in the class.

My plan so far is to review labs for semesters 1-4 & go over labs in another Study Guide I got from ciscokits.com when I purchased my home lab. I plan to work heavily on my subnetting skills, ACLs, and the OSI model. I'll also be reviewing basics of IOS operation and structure.

I think I can do it, and I'm glad I have at least a 6 week lead, it's time enough to review but not so long that I'll forget or push off studying.

Any tips or suggestions would be helpful. I did try looking into transcender or something similar but none of them seem to carry material for this older exam. If anyone know's about material I could use that is legit and not a Brain **** I would appreciate it.

nel

know the theory

get as much hands on as possible

and MASTER subnetting to work it out within 15 - 20 secs. (subnettingquestions.com)

michaelkahl

Thanks, I'll check out that site. As for hands-on I have access to plenty of Cisco lab equipment whether it's at home or work. I have a personal lab with 2x 1751 routers, a 2924 switch and 1900 switch. I work with the equipment a lot. Lucky me, I get to configure our new 4507 Switch that is coming in to replace our core switch....err lack of a core switch lol. I'm also implementing our VLAN addressing scheme and setting up a layered network for our school. I think I'll have good hands-on experience over the next month.

laidbackfreak

if youve completed semesters 1-3 or the academy then you've cracked the bulk of it, I know when i did first time round by the time we got to the end semester 3, I was ready to take the exam with a little self study to finish off the missing bits.

a word to the wise, there are a lot of people who "work" with cisco all day every day who have been caught out by this exam..... make sure you know the basics too....

that said if your getting the hands on to back up your studies im sure you'll be fine

michaelkahl

January 9th at 2pm is when I take the exam. The date is set, my wallet is drained from the exam cost, but it's worth it.

kryolla

Is this normal 4 semesters for a CCNA level course? It seems pretty long for CCNA

tech-airman

michaelkahl wrote:

January 9th at 2pm is when I take the exam. The date is set, my wallet is drained from the exam cost, but it's worth it.

michaelkahl,

Um, this might be too late but did you know that part of Semester 4 is the opportunity to take the "exam discount voucher" exam in the Cisco Networking Academy for the 640-821 INTRO, 640-811 ICND, and/or 640-801 CCNA exams?

michaelkahl

Yes I do know that I'm missing out on my discount, but here's why I'm going for it.
I'm a GI Bill recipient and that basically pays me $X a month to attend classes. The VA tells me, and they have this right, that I don't need Cisco 4 for my degree. Therefore they will not count that towards my enrollment eligibility. This drops me to 1/2 time, cutting the $X in half. I work full time so a class that takes up 4-8 hours a week is a lot. If I can test out now, then I can skip the class entirely. My only reasoning for choosing the school that I did in this area was their Cisco program, but if I can test out early I will. If I fail I will continue on in the course, because it is important to me. The way I see it, trying is better than definitely consuming another 8 hours a week for lecture, labs, and home study.

Honestly I think I'm at the point where i stand a good shot if I just focus over the next few weeks. As I mentioned before I'll be setting up a new core router, vlans, a new addressing scheme, ACL's and all over the next month on Cisco equipment.

I just nailed my Skills Based Assessment the other night, and I can credit that to pre-planning that I've already done at work with testing out vlan configurations and routing. The night I tested I was the only one who wasn't shaking with stress, I'm just fortunate that what I do at work is preparing me for my certifications and studies.

BTW for another above poster, my school does 4 semesters of Cisco over 4 semesters, so last fall was semester 1, last spring was 2, this fall was 3 and next spring will be 4. I'm not sure how this compares with how other schools run their Netacademy, but that is how we do ours.