I think the 640-802 is better than the 2 exam option...

pogue

I passed my CCENT earlier this week, and haved started my 640-816 studies, and I am about 140 pages into the Wendell Odom study guide.

I think that taking one test all lumped together is better, for the way that Cisco is doing the current exams. I say this because while technically, yes the topics tested in the CCENT are pretty much covered in the CCENT study guides...I see a LOT of stuff in the Wendell Odom 640-816 guide that would have been helpful during my CCENT exam.

I pride myself on having a good, quick troubleshooting method, which comes naturally to me, and which somewhat parallels that specified in the 816 study guide. I have met a lot of IT folks that were not "born" with this type of thinking, and therefore had to be "taught" how to troubleshoot.

Nothing against them, and a lot of these types have turned out to be terrific engineers, but it's just the way some people are built.

I would suggest to those looking to get their CCNA, to either take the full 640-802 exam, after preparing well, or to study the FULL CCNA material before taking the first of the two exam route.

I really do think that studying all the material makes for an easier CCENT.

Russ

Slowhand

I understand completely what you mean. Sometimes, breaking things down into smaller pieces can obscure the view of the bigger picture. When I was studying for the 640-801 exam, I went out and bought Routing TCP/IP Volume I and Cisco LAN Switching because I felt like I was missing out on things by just reading the CCNA prep guides. There were so many things that made much more sense when I got a little more information than what was deemed necessary to pass the CCNA test, even by only reading a few chapters of each book.

Doing the two-part CCNA path works for a lot of people but your point is right on target and one that people should take into account when considering which way to go about testing.