Passed ICND1, some advices may be helpful

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Passed ICND1 last week with score 895. Did not have time till today to sit down to write what I like to share.

First, I would suggest 2 exam approach. I failed 640-802 two weeks ago, and decided to waste the $250 and take 2 exams. Beside all the reasoning people have talked about in another thread, I would like to add that, for most of people going for CCNA, the first exam, whichever 802 or 822, is the first CISCO exam you take ever. Compared to Microsoft and CompTIA exams, CISCO exams are quite different if not much harder, for example time and sims. I passed all my CompTIA and Microsoft exams with one try and pretty good scores, so did not expected 640-802 to be so hard, especially time-wise. The 2 exam approach is easier to start.

Second, don't panic if you seem to get a lot of sims and grouped multiple choice questions. Just stick to the rule that only spend approximately 10 minutes per sim. You won't get too much sims in one exam. I had loads of sims and grouped multiple choice questions in the first half of exam. When there is only 20 minutes left, I still have 18 questions to go. Kind of scary, but I end up finishing with 10 minutes left. Yep, it only took me 10 minutes to finish the 18 multiple choice questions that were left.

Third and the last, find a test center with nice big LCD monitors. I didn't see other people mention this before. Maybe all test centers in your area are all equipped with large LCDs. My failed attempt for 802 was in a nicely and clean test center but with aged 15' curvy CRTs. It got my eyes aching for two days after the exam. For the ICND1 exam last week, I call up other test centers nearby to verify that they do use LCDs before booking the exam. The one I eventually took the exam has 22' wide LCDs. It is SO NICE to be able to resize and move multiple windows around in those grouped multiple choice questions.

Moving on to ICND2. And good luck guys.

jmc012

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Passed ICND1 last week with score 895. Did not have time till today to sit down to write what I like to share.

Moving on to ICND2. And good luck guys.

Congrats ! All good advice, the one thing I didn't like about my test center was the cheap keyboard. It's hard to go back to those things, I know it slowed me down. Wish I could bring my own.