Please Help, Need advice!!! Thanks!!!

davidspirovalentine

Hello Everyone,

I am sitting for the ICND1 exam on the 27th of April. I have got the cisco press ICND1 official book (company bought it for me) and the Train Signal Videos (dad got for me). I have been using both to study fro about 2 months now.

I have just been HAMMERED by the Boson testing engine that came with my book. I got 533 out of 1000 the first test I sat and now I AM SCARED! I came to all of you for help and support because I am not so confident anymore.

I am not asking for tips on what will come (I have read and understand the exam topics on ciscos website thoroughly). I just need to know one thing... Do I have enough time left to prepare and pass or is it too late?

Note: I have taken everyone's advice here and can now subnet in my head. I can now answer most subnet questions in less than 25 seconds on average without paper, I know (thanks to all of you) that subnet basics are essential.

So...Yeah... Do I have enough time and can you suggest a study route that I take. I currently just use the Boson Testing Engine for practice and do 1hr of non-stop subnetting questions every night at subnetingquestions.com

Thanks for everything people!!! Much love!!!

hypnotoad

Your positive attitude is a great asset. Many people don't have that luxury. As for subnetting, 25 seconds without paper is good. As with most Cisco exams, you may have to subnet quite a bit. You have enough time. If you've hit the books and the videos hard as you can, try doing some lab work!

Morty3

I just sat for ICND1, just an hour ago. It was not a very hard exam at all, but then I've studied a bit too much I think ^^

Just keep on studying on everything, make sure you have read & watched all material when there is 2 weeks left so that you can spend the last days just reviewing and subnetting.

Some questions are really hard but others are soo simple that you'll laugh.

davidspirovalentine

Thanks Hypnotoad!

Will be hitting the labs in the last two weeks till exam, thanks for the advice. I want to get theory down cold before I do anything else...

Thanks again!!!

davidspirovalentine

Thanks Morty!

Did you pass? Thanks for the info? oh, what is the latest passing mark? I here it is 40 to 50 questions with an 85% pass mark... Are you able to confirm this?

Will review videos and book!!!

Thanks Again

AD227529

You should have plenty of time left to study. Keep practicing with the Boson exam and subnetting and you should be fine. Take lots of notes and go over them right before the exam. The exam is a challenge, but if you have studied you should have no problems. If you don't have a home lab, just use Packet Tracer. That's what I used. Practice using the show cdp neighbors detail command and the show ip interface brief command. Also practice setting up RIP routes. Good luck on the exam. There is no feeling like passing!

surfthegecko

Just to clarify the pass mark is 805 out of 1000, which is 80% pass mark (if you ignore the fact scoring starts at 300).

Obviously practice makes perfect, but if your subnetting is as good as you say then you can afford not to worry so much about it.

Do as AD suggests and use Packet Tracer to setup a few scenarios.
RIP & Static Routing, Show cdp, show ip route, show ip int brief commands are definately worth practicing.

One command I had to use and almost forgot was the 'show ip controllers s 0/0/0' command.

Its worth going back over those questions you got wrong and understanding why you got them wrong and making notes on them.

Putting together a quick reference sheet is always handy, that way you can have a final quick read before you go into the exam to keep those more difficult topics fresh in your memory.

Good luck, you will be fine.

Morty3

I did indeed pass, as I said in my other thread. Got 985, failed somewhere at a question (problably 1 missed at a multichoice multianswer) about routing.

Just practice by setting up a a few simple scenarios, 3 routers using rip and a switch at every router. Keep in mind how routers work and verify the lab when you are done with every type of command, showing you what you have done. sh ip int brief for ip:s, show controllers for DCE/DTE and cabling, show cdp neighbors for the attached devices. Learn how to enable and disable cdp on a device and on interfaces. Learn what almost all the output on the show command means, this is not to hard if you are the one who configured the entire network.

Good luck!

davidspirovalentine

Firstly,

Motry congrats, terrific score!

Surfthegecko, Thanks for the clarification really needed it!

AD227529, Thanks for the suggestions!

Guys, overall, thanks for all the support. TBH I really felt bad about it last night! Now I see it in an all new light! I will setup a couple of labs and get used to the cdp commands and all the other commands that you have all shown me.

Thanks again guys, I really appreciate the time you took out of your lives to help me out. Seriously much appreciated!!!

David

Morty3

Thanks

It is really not that hard. Some day when you did some studying you problably felt like "OOOW thats how it works", when you got that feeling I think you are problably ready. When you can read show commands and know how a packet changes as it moves to its destination, you can problably pass.

And subnetting, of course. Loads of subnetting!

LBC90805

I wouldn't put too much salt in the Boson tests. They are excelent to practice but they rarely translate into being equal. As a matter of fact I feel the Boson testing engine can be more difficult!

wbosher

Don't panic too much about the Boson exam, it's much harder than the real thing. It was almost a year ago so my memory is a little cloudy, but I think I got about 53% in the Boson exam and passed the real exam a couple of weeks later. Anyway, I'm pretty sure they threw a few ICND2 questions in there also.

The exam is not that difficult and if you can nail subnetting, your probably about 70% of the way there. Good luck.

LBC90805

I remember there was something wrong with Boson test giving ICND2 questions when I had only chosen questions from the first test.

davidspirovalentine

Thanks guys!!!

You have all been really great!!!

I am watching the videos again. Reading the WAN, WLAN chapters of the book again as I feel they are my week areas. I know, I have heard from ALOT of people regarding the boson test engine being harder then the real exam.

Thanks Again People!!!

David