How many times have you failed an exam... or have you ever?

ThunderPipe

I'm just curious what everyone's thoughts are on failing exams.

Is it something most people do here and there?

Or do most people pass them the first time?

How many fails do you have?

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Comments

sweetness0099

Cisco ICND I..failed with a 750 in 2007

Piers

failed server+ the first time, but came back two weeks later with an 825.. had a few of the same questions 2nd time around..

GAngel

70-290 once.

Was the kick in the pants i needed to stop taking exams fro granted. Now i'm fully prepared for anything i take.

jimbarino

Until I started doing the CCNP, I'd never failed a certifcation exam. (and that includes the Series 7 I took in a previous life). The Cisco Professional level exams are tough, though, and their prep material doesn't do a good job of covering the subjects that are on the exams. I found, toward the end, that it was more efficient to just sign up for the test with the expectation of failing the first one just to get a good idea of what I needed to study, tan to try to track down proper study materials. Therefore:

4 times to pass BSCI (this one almost made me give up)
3 times to pass BMSCN
2 times to pass ISCW
2 times to pass ONT

On both of last two, I came close the first time, but like I said I wasn't really expecting to pass.

chrisone

Failed my CCNA twice. Once with the old exam, then it changed in 2006 and i failed that one after i had to restudy everything again. Finally i broke down the CCNA into two tests ICND1 and ICND2 and i passed them. Plus CCNA is the hardest exam for anyone without prior network experience, but once you get over the hurdle everything is gravy! i did not fail one exam for CCNP.

Dont worry about failing, its only a stepping stone of understanding to proceed further.

itdaddy

nope I am a perfect person never failed haaha
not!

I failed 284 2x and that was because you need 290 and 291 to really pass 284 since they pull many questions from there. lesson learned

look up the prereqs and never deviate from what they say.
if you need prereqs do them before and follow the Microsoft order
or cisco order.

and you feel like crap when you fail but later on that year I passed the 802 composite exam..;) so never give up no matter how stupid you feel...

I am a bumble and bumbles bounce!

many people who have made it great in the universe look at Abe Lincoln
and many other greats they either had a disability or failed many times before
they became great. failure is only when you give up.
making a mistake is maybe failing an exam to regroup and do it again
never give up on your dreams no mater how old you are no matter what people say
it is your life and you are blessed to live it the way you want..so just do it man

I have failed many times in my life and success is around the corner
when I get there I just might write a book called the Life and Times of IT daddy

who knows.....to give others hope...never give up man! neverr! no matter how many times you fall. get up and hit it again!

jibbajabba

3-4 or so .. Have failed a loadbalancer exam twice already but the study material is rubbish (only a few online videos is all you get) anyway....

RobertKaucher

I have only ever failed one exam and that was the 291. I nearly failed the second time. I think now with more experience under my belt I could take it with a score in the high 800s on just a few weeks of test prep.

I imagine I will have failed the last beta exam I took, though. I don't believe I knew the answers to 1/3 of the questions...

Super99

Failed security+ exam once by four points, that probably 1 or 2 questions.
Failed 70-270 exam once by like 10 points.

jeanathan

I have problems seriously under studying for exams and over reading the questions

Ditto. I always fail the first time because of this. Then I regroup and pass.

janmike

If my mind serves correctly, I have failed 7 exams. Never give up! They're just exams.

One was some kind of ITIL exam, in which I had very little interest.
Most recently I failed the Linux+ 2009 Beta exam--an honorable wound however.

DevilWAH

I havent yet, (well not since A levels)

but then again only taken 3 exams in the last 1 years (CCENT CCNA and CCCNA Security). and no real big ones before that.

And to be honest I had to look away from the screen after answering the last question in the security exam. I honestly did not expect that to come up a pass... I am still in shock I managed to pass as well as I did.

I am sure on my way to more certifications there will be some I miss on the first attempt.

As I mentioned above I failed my A levels on the first attempt (well as good as I got < D's) and failed my GCSE English 4 times before I passed (I blame my dyslixia for that) But I re-took them until i passed as I needed them to get in to unit to study Zoology (which I did passed)

I know what it means to fail, but you just get up and keep going.

mikedisd2

Failed 291 6x times. Was under a lot of stress with a bridging loan, a house that wouldn't sell, vandals smashing my windows, a new-born and desperately trying get out of a dead-end job that I hated. And I thought I could race through some certs...

Aint it awful?

DevilWAH

Also the fact that work will only pay once for an exam. is a big incentive to be 100% sure I will pass on the first attempt

tpatt100

Over the years probably a dozen or so, failed the CCNA first attempt, failed a few Microsoft exams, failed my CISSP first attempt.

mikedisd2

DevilWAH wrote: »

Also the fact that work will only pay once for an exam. is a big incentive to be 100% sure I will pass on the first attempt

Ooh yeah. That added pressure to get it right first go. Thank the Lord for MS 2nd shot.

Agent6376

Failed the A+ hardware exam right before it changed to how it is now.

I booked the software and hardware tests for the same day, and I had read that the software test was difficult but the hardware was a breeze.

I passed the software, then got over-confident and got owned on the hardware. I retook the exam the next day and passed, and thankfully the closest I've been to failing an exam since then was maybe a 724 on a Microsoft exam.