So how fast and accurate are YOU? (Subnetting)

joshmadakor

I'm studying/training for CCENT. I've been trying to improve my subnetting, and today was my first actual subnetting training session. I used subnettingquestions.com - Free Subnetting Questions and Answers Randomly Generated Online and gave myself 10 minutes to rush as many problems as I could without pen and paper. I did 6 sessions of 10 minute blocks--the results are below.

I don't see how people can take 10-15 seconds per problem and get everything correct. I mean, I'm sure it's possible, but I'm definitely not there.

Anyway, any input/advice is welcome. Also, it would be interesting to see some hard numbers from other TE members! Especially those who have passed any Cisco Exams.

Thanks for reading.

Turgon

joshmadakor wrote: »

I'm studying/training for CCENT. I've been trying to improve my subnetting, and today was my first actual subnetting training session. I used subnettingquestions.com - Free Subnetting Questions and Answers Randomly Generated Online and gave myself 10 minutes to rush as many problems as I could without pen and paper. I did 6 sessions of 10 minute blocks--the results are below.

I don't see how people can take 10-15 seconds per problem and get everything correct. I mean, I'm sure it's possible, but I'm definitely not there.

Anyway, any input/advice is welcome. Also, it would be interesting to see some hard numbers from other TE members! Especially those who have passed any Cisco Exams.

Thanks for reading.

You dont have to get subnetting correct inside 15 seconds in the field. Im quick, but I find in the field I dont need to be. If Im designing a schema I will take my time over it. If Im working with a schema, its generally laid out for me what I have to do.

lrb

Turgon wrote: »

You dont have to get subnetting correct inside 15 seconds in the field. Im quick, but I find in the field I dont need to be. If Im designing a schema I will take my time over it. If Im working with a schema, its generally laid out for me what I have to do.

I find that an annoying byproduct of all CCNA materials encouraging students to be able to 'subnet in under 15 seconds' is that it just doesn't translate into the real world and that it encourages speed rather than quality. This is not a reflection of the OP or anyone else on TE, it's just an observation. We let our junior/graduate engineers design the schema for some of the smaller branches which my team reviews and I'd say there are errors in about 1 in 5 of the proposals. It's all well and good to be quick at subnetting but I can guarantee that no employer ever goes "that guy can subnet in 11 seconds, hire him now!".

joshmadakor

lrb wrote: »

I find that an annoying byproduct of all CCNA materials encouraging students to be able to 'subnet in under 15 seconds' is that it just doesn't translate into the real world and that it encourages speed rather than quality. This is not a reflection of the OP or anyone else on TE, it's just an observation. We let our junior/graduate engineers design the schema for some of the smaller branches which my team reviews and I'd say there are errors in about 1 in 5 of the proposals. It's all well and good to be quick at subnetting but I can guarantee that no employer ever goes "that guy can subnet in 11 seconds, hire him now!".

I know what you're sayin', I'm mostly concerned with the exam. People seem to make a big deal of it; being able to subnet quickly for the exam. Even some of the Cisco Press authors

Turgon

lrb wrote: »

I find that an annoying byproduct of all CCNA materials encouraging students to be able to 'subnet in under 15 seconds' is that it just doesn't translate into the real world and that it encourages speed rather than quality. This is not a reflection of the OP or anyone else on TE, it's just an observation. We let our junior/graduate engineers design the schema for some of the smaller branches which my team reviews and I'd say there are errors in about 1 in 5 of the proposals. It's all well and good to be quick at subnetting but I can guarantee that no employer ever goes "that guy can subnet in 11 seconds, hire him now!".

Exactly. Commercial reasons will decide how many sites and what have you. This takes time to bottom out. Plenty of time to figure out your IP schema. Takes time for the equipment to be decided upon, ordered and on site anyway!

The timegame is somewhat artificial and designed to focus minds in an exam.

Todd Burrell

I have to disagree with some of the comments here that say that being able to subnet quickly is not important in the real world. There may be times when you are doing design that you can take your time, but if you are under the gun with a problem then being able to subnet quickly is definitely a positive skill to have. For most class B and C addresses you should be able to break things down within 15-20 seconds for most networks - and this speed will help you spend more time on other issues that may be wrong both on other cert exams and in the real world. If you have a couple of execs looking over your shoulder you don't want to take 5 minutes to verify if a class C address is on a certain network.

Turgon

Todd Burrell wrote: »

I have to disagree with some of the comments here that say that being able to subnet quickly is not important in the real world. There may be times when you are doing design that you can take your time, but if you are under the gun with a problem then being able to subnet quickly is definitely a positive skill to have. For most class B and C addresses you should be able to break things down within 15-20 seconds for most networks - and this speed will help you spend more time on other issues that may be wrong both on other cert exams and in the real world. If you have a couple of execs looking over your shoulder you don't want to take 5 minutes to verify if a class C address is on a certain network.

Ok. Well first of all execs dont know what a subnet is. But you are right, a capable network professional should know the difference between a /24 or a /23 or a /25. They should also know what ip subnet-zero or ip classless means on a router, or what auto-summary does on a routing process. But most situations in the field are about point to point connectivity and resolving issues therein as opposed to being able to decide what schema you need for an entire network inside 15 seconds dependent on number of networks and number of hosts required.

Todd Burrell

Never assume that an exec does not know technical info. 20 years ago I had an executive VP that was a former mainframe Systems Programmer and he still knew more than most of my coworkers and me. And the man could ask some very specific and pointed questions during a crisis and he was usually right on the money. But this man was truly the exception. The exec may not know the technical stuff, but he will know that things should not take a good techie too much time.

My main point was that you should be able to quickly subnet a /23 and beyond subnet very quickly and you should also (as Turgon stated) know how to work with point-to-point networks quickly. I had a couple of CCNA practice questions where the answer was that the addresses on a P2P network were wrong and I felt like a fool when I wasted time and did not quickly see this.

I would compare subnetting to your multiplication tables - speed and accuracy will help you with everything else you do beyond that level. If you waste a lot of time on a Calculus problem because you cannot quickly figure out what 9 times 12 or 7 times 6 is, then you will struggle overall with Calculus on tests where time is an issue...

Turgon

Your right, it depends on the executive. Subnetting is important and being able to spot issues with those small point to point networks is really useful, particularly when you are looking at someone else's plan.

MrXpert

I can do subnetting in about 15 seconds and normally use subnettingquestions as well as nybi.org, Subnetting Quiz -- Steve Kehlet's Pages

and valleycolleges website.
I test myself to subnet non stop without making errors for 10 minutes worth of questions. If I make an error my clock starts again. I also have upped the game by listening to an audio book at the same time and i try to think as little as possible while subnetting and focus more on the audio book. It really does work. It's like my brain is working in the background on the question.

Ltat42a

joshmadakor wrote: »

I did 6 sessions of 10 minute blocks--the results are below.

Pretty nice, any chance you can share the spreadsheet?