To Boson or not to Boson - ICND 1

cisco_kidd

OK guys, I've been studying on and off for the past few months and I'm trying to crank it into full gear to accomplish my CCNA. I have watched the ICND1 and ICND2 CBT Nuggets, read the Cisco Press books, skimmed over Todd Lammle's Book, and I'm ready to do some practice exams. I love the resources on this site and saw everyone praising the Boson Ex-Sims, are they really that good? Fully worth it? I downloaded the demo and it seems pretty good, but I hate to throw down $99 for something and end up being disappointed. Can anyone provide further feedback on this or redirect me to an alternative? Thanks!

descender421

From what I've heard it's worth it. I only used the demo that came with the book though and that helped me a lot.

Blackout

I currently have Boson Sim and exams, the Sim seems to be very in depth, I haven't gotten to a point of taking exams yet but allot of people say the boson exams are harder than the actual exam. To me that's a good thing.

MrXpert

I have the Boson Ex sim max which comes with three exams (A, B and C). They are quite difficult but the simulations especially are very helpful. They come with very detailed answers which link back to cisco sources online.

I am getting scores of 86% (exam A) and 89% (exam on the ex-sim.On Exam C I only got 79% but I found this one personally harder than the other two.

I also had a go at the practice questions in Mr Valentine's Exam Cram ccent book. There's two exams in the back of this book. I got 99% on the first test. I think these are a lot easier though than the real cisco exam of course so I think Boson is the way to go!

I tried the cisco press book questions (the ones that come free with Wendell O's book). Those questions I found really hard going(even harder than the Boson ones) as it took a few minutes to read each one. So much minutiae in the way they are written. I only did 60 questions out of the 150odd.I gave up because it took me so long to do them and had to get on with other things. I got 70%.

cisco_kidd

Very helpful feedback guys, thanks! Anyone in here used the Boson sim, take the exam, and pass? If so I'll be ready with my credit card out.

BlueEyedSamurai

I used Boson and passed the CCENT, and able still using Boson and will take the ICND2 in a month. I consider this a valuable resource. I would say it is worth the money in my opinion.

-Samurai

GreenLantern

I used boson for the icnd1 and the icnd2. Well worth the money, the tests are a bit frustrating at first but it really prepares you for the exam.

Msafiri

I think for ICND1 if you practice with Packet Tracer or a real lab you should be fine, also do the training thing at the beginning of the exam.

asoft

Anybody used CertExams.com network simulator for CCNA?

wave

Yes the Boson exams are definitely worth the money IMO. If you have the Odom book then you get a $20 discount.

Mierdin

I took the CCNA composite twice, about a year apart, and passed the second time. The single best thing I did to improve my learning experience was purchase the Ex-Sim Max exam. The exams that came with the Odom books were great, but the Ex-Sim Max exams were hyper-realistic. YMMV, obviously, but I got a 970/1000 on the CCNA after I consistently got 80s on the Boson tests.

descender421

I didn't purchase it for ICND1, but I am seriously contemplating it for ICND2 as I've read through both Odom and Lammle's book twice and watched CBT Nuggets, and am still sort of stressed as to how much more of a learning curve it seems ICND2 is compared to part one. Or maybe that's just me.

cisco_kidd

Anyone heard of the "Bryant Advantage"? How is that compared to Boson?