I was asked "are Cisco exam questions tricky?"...

Are Cisco Exam questions tricky?
well...to some, perhaps no...and others, perhaps yes.
Some may say: "There's no such thing as a 'trick' question".

Sometimes, placing a bet on the table of 125 dollars can make the question seem a little trickier...but it really doesn't.

Here's a little test Question for the readers:

(This is a question that, at least, most should be able to answer instantly, off of the top of thier head, without hesitation.)

You are allowed no more than two seconds to voice your answer out loud.

"one thousand two thousand"...

It is simple.

I will even give you the subject:

Baseball

Okay....are you ready???

How may Outs are there in an inning?

("onethousand twothousand" time's up!)

Pencils down.
Thank you.
If you answered three, please:
Come back next month with another 125 bucks and we will be happy to test your ability to demonstrate to us your understanding of baseball based on our questions.
I can't tell you how many times people answer this question wrong. People who should know the answer (or DO know the answer) or just "ran out of time". But considering I make two dollars every time...no matter how much they seem to complain...I am not about to "fix" it so it is less tricky and therefore easier to pass...because for one thing...I can drink beer all nite for free in a sports bar with that exam.

Ever sat down with a calculator and tried to calculate Cisco exam financials? Try it.
("Celebrate" one million students enrolled ....according to their website)

I would love to know what some come up with.
How many say, CCNA candidates, took the exam, how many failed, how many retook etc.
minus the cost of overhead.(which I guess would be Tesing company costs, Test developement etc, and the cost of printing a cert for those who pass, and a little database entry and maintenance).
Expand this audit to CCNP (how many exams for CCNP???)...and CCIE...
Have you ever tried to find this information on the Internet? I find it amazing how hard it is. But it sure seems to present me with some big numbers on my calculator.

Good luck on your exams.

_Mat

Find more posts tagged with

Free for TechExams community: Cybersecurity salary guide

Compare cert salaries and plan your next career move

Button

Comments

Todd Burrell

First, there are 6 outs in an inning - but this is a nice trick question. There actually can be more than 6 depending on how bad the umps are?

I would say that with Cisco so far I do not see 'trick' questions. But you do absolutely have to KNOW THE MATERIAL. I know that Microsoft had a number of questions that were there to trick you, but the practice questions for the CCNA seem to be pretty 'to the point'. You either know it or you don't.

And I have never seen any pass/fail stats for any Cisco exams. I would think the CCNA would have a pretty good failure rate, but if it was easy anyone would have this cert...

pham0329

well, that was random...

chrisone

Cyberpunkin wrote: »

Are Cisco Exam questions tricky?

I would say they are challenging.

PC509

chrisone wrote: »

I would say they are challenging.

Yes. If you know the material, they aren't tricky but you have to know what is being asked. Pay attention, real the question thoroughly, and think. Some questions aren't direct like CompTIA's questions are, and they do require some thought, but they aren't trick questions.

And everyone that knows baseball knows that an inning has 6 outs. If you guess 3, you were in a hurry and didn't really think about it and were just throwing it out there to be "FIRST!". Taking a Cisco exam, you have to know the material to have it be a habit to be able to say "6 outs!" in that two seconds. Study it so that it is second nature, so that when you are in a hurry you throw out the right answer.

vinbuck

Cisco exams are easy (sort-of)

Non-lab
Prove why every other answer is wrong and you will arrive at the correct one...you'll find sometimes that this isn't the answer that makes you feel warm and fuzzy, but when you KNOW the others are wrong then you can confidently click next

Sims
This one is easy..Lab...Lab and then Lab some more

kurosaki00

Questions are complex, not tricky.
If you know the material and actually read the question properly, you will get it right.
But if you just fly through the question, like you see... grass color
and you see green in the answers
oh is grass color so it must be green.
And the question was why is the grass color like that?

I dont know if you get what I mean.
Just take your time and read the question very well.

MAC_Addy

Bollocks, i didn't answer the question because I know nothing about baseball... this is the most random thread in the world.

Netwurk

No tricks (at least not intentional ones). The testlets are difficult to navigate if you've never taken a Cisco test. I'd try a practice test from a reliable vendor if you've never taken a Cisco exam.

Ltat42a

Check out Cisco's page on the type of questions that are on the exam -
Certification Exam Tutorial - IT Certification and Career Paths - Cisco Systems

hth

angel.oa

that's what this is for

Cisco Certification Exam Tutorial - Cisco Systems

altjx

Well, since this is a Cisco exam we're speaking of and not Microsoft (haha), I honestly would say the questions are straight forward. I've never recalled taking any tricky questions that I had to look hard at. There are usually right or wrong answers. Maybe one question may SEEM tricky if you read it the wrong way or let's say didn't study something all the way. One thing I liked most about the exams were how straight forward they were.

martell1000

the "hard" thing about the questions in cisco exams is that you have to have the big picture which helps ruling stuff out ...

the multiple choice answers sometimes try to confuse you a little bit but i never got the feeling that they are unfair.