A Newbie - And I just Failed

I have been studying for the past 6 weeks, everyday, trying to get all of the information down. I studied the Cisco Press books, and used their practice exams and all. Before I left to take the exam, I scored a 92% on the practice test. Hoping and praying that the test would be similar, I left to take it.

The first question, I didn't know. The second question, I knew it. From there, its all a blur. I remember saying to myself while I'm taking the exam, "Those Cisco Press books did not prepare me for this exam!" I have no doubt that they are good, well organized books. If you read them and study them, they will help you better understand what you really need to know in order to pass the 640-801.

Some of it is memorization. But most of it deals with pratical usage, being able to read and understand all of the info in the show commands, knowing how to recognize problems in the subnets, and a bunch of other stuff I forgot (remember, its all a blur to me now).

Looking online for more documentation so I could pass it brought me to this site. My suggestion - read the books so you can get a basic understanding, but come to this site and study the sticky's! Do excersies on troubleshooting, esp with different routing protocols. And study as if you were the only one being taught, and you can't go to anyone for help. You should know about everything a CCNA does, and know it like the back of your hand, instead of studying it just to pass the exam. I know I haven't pass the exam, but I know now how to. Back to studying for me.

Find more posts tagged with

SAVE $250 on Your Boot Camp — Use Code "EXAM26"

Exclusively for TechExams members for Infosec Boot Camps starting before April 30, 2026

View Boot Camps

Comments

jacev1

Maybe you should buy some used CISCO equipment on ebay & make yourself a lab at home. I've read that a lot of ppl do this to prep for the CCNA exam.

Anyway, Better luck next time.

BTW - Who the vendor for the "Pimping H0s Degree" ?
I've studied the material & have exp. I just don't know where to take the exam ...

....

normt

Maybe try a CBT, Learnkey or CBT nugggets or even a simulator

johnnynodough

You definetely need hands on experience with IOS, wether with simulators or with real equipment. Unless you have a photographic memory, I cant see how it is reasonable to breeze through IOS just by reading it, at least I cant do it that way.

ALso the NetSIm LE included in the Cisco Press books is so incredibly limited I found it pretty much useless IMO.

wildfire

Dont worry to much a lot of people fail first time as they dont know what to expect, the exam is also has a high score required to pass 849/1000 (85%). What practice exams did you use? if you are using Boson they are to easy, and dont prepare you at all, the test banks that accompany the Ciscopress books is normally a good level.

Buying a few bits is the way to go it gives you a better understanding and more confidence with the equipment, you could get a couple of 2501's of ebay for next to nothing these days.

jsond

johnnynodough wrote:

ALso the NetSIm LE included in the Cisco Press books is so incredibly limited I found it pretty much useless IMO.

Totally agree. The book 'CCNA Study guide' by Richard Deal has one of the best netsim's I have seen. The book I have a is a bit outdated but to me the CD w/ the netsim and the cert cam's more than makes up for it.

DoingDamage

I think I found my problem, and for anyone out there studying - this is valuable information.

Study the material as if you want to be a CCNA, not just to pass the exam. You have to master it and know it like the back of your hand. Know it like you know your basic math, or like you know when someones gonna die on a movie, or know you have to use your turning signal if the cops are behind you. Everything should be second nature to you.

And thanks for all the suggestions. I'm starting to look for an old switch or at least a decent sim (thanks jsond). I'll give it another month or two and I'll take it again.

DoingDamage

BTW, my PhD was honorary. The employess in my stable are faithful, and I had mo h0es than channels on digital cable.

nothing_pt

I agree with you. If we try to achieve a certain score and study only for that score, probaby we end getting a lower score than that. I think it's way better to be over prepared than under.

I did my CCNA today and passed. I used info from various sources (Todd Lammle, Wendell Odom, Richard Deal, Boson Netsim for CCNP, and websites like this) and study it for about 6 weeks too. Even so i wasn't feeling confident in passing the exam today but as the exam progressed i noticed that i was knowing well the answers (or at least thinking that i knewed).

I think that other important aspect is the method of study used. Too much hours reading/studying can do more harm than good. It's important to make an schedule and stick to it.

PS: if you want an excelent sim, use the Boson Netsim for CCNP. It covers all (or most of it) is needed for CCNA.

johnnynodough

DoingDamage wrote:

I think I found my problem, and for anyone out there studying - this is valuable information.

Study the material as if you want to be a CCNA, not just to pass the exam.

If I am off track with what you are saying here, I do apologize then let me know and I will delete my post.

Why study the exam if you didnt want to be a CCNA? I may be taking your statement out of context, but what I am getting is that you just want the acronym for a resume, and dont care if you dont know what you are doing. I am so sick and tired of people in this industry just wanting the cert, and being a paper certified tech. Thats why my pretty list of certifications doesnt mean squat, certification has become a joke.

I hear these commercials on the radio saying " we specialize in training you for certification, in less than three months you can be cisco and microsoft certified and employable as a Network security specialist". Newsflash for anyone who believes that - its a steaming crock! You will learn a new way of remaining unemployed because you will raise your standards. They make me want to punch my radio. Theres 100 more people that are going to make my certifications worthless.

It used to be that getting the job was easy, keeping it was the hard part. I dont think that is true anymore, now employers are tired of wasting time hiring unexperienced certified people that were just getting their certs for the title, not to actually perform said certified knowledge. Not only does it hurt the people who genuinely want to be CCNA/MCSE/Whatever and have no experience, it hurts any unemployed person in the IT field.

Sorry for the rant, I just found out today that I will likely be laid off this summer, and I am not looking forward to the battle in the job market and again, if I misjudged you I apologize.

Drakonblayde

Some folks just want the CCNA to make their resume pretty. It pretty much says 'hey, I have experience with Cisco equipment!'. And if you're going for a sysadmin position, that may be useful, though plenty of sysadmins never get to touch their companies routers thanks to the terms of some of the service contracts out there.

But as most folks find out, taking a Cisco exam is nothing like taking a Microsoft exam. There's just too much information to memorize rote. You're better off practicing what you're learning. Because once you understand the implementation (and learn from the mistakes you *will* make when practicing those implemetations), the concepts just start to flow together, and you don't have to memorize... what you don't already know out of hand, you can reason out for yourself based on how you know things should work.

I have two coworkers who are planning on taking their CCNA soon. They're burying their heads in their books. They're asking questions of the certified folks.

What they are *not* doing is taking advantage of the $20 million in Cisco equipment we have in stock and actually using it to learn, despite the fact it's what every single one of us who are certified have recommended.

And when they go to take their CCNA's in a couple weeks, they're going to fail.

If you're going to go Cisco, you have to enjoy networking computers. You have to *want* to do it. If you don't, it's going to be an uphill struggle, and you're probably not going to make it in the end.

But given that the CCNA has turned into a buzzword in the industry....