Passed CCNA

I passed with a 955 with 15 minutes left but I was a bit disappointed. The exam, to me was a bit ... too easy. I was expecting something extremely difficult but it turns out that I was wrong. The MC was pretty straightforward and DEFINITELY not anywhere close to the complexity of Wendell Odom's Boson exams. The simulations just required you to detect a minor problem and after that it was smooth sailing. The simlets were probably the most challenging out of all the question types I got but again, no where near as complex as Odom's.

My background:

0 Networking experience (yes not even Network + knowledge)
Currently finishing up my Associate degree in Info. Tech.

Preparation Materials

Wendell Odom's Cert. Library along with the exams that came with them.
CBT Nuggets (Jeremy is a BOSS)

Tips for future exam takers

Subnetting (Do I need to elaborate?)
KNOW your show AND debug commands. You need to have a fair idea of what show commands yields what information and you need to deduce what is currently happening based on the results of debug commands.
When you are labbing things up, ensure to try configurations that deviate from the "norm." i.e. always ask yourself "but what if I do xyz instead of the conventional abc that the lab workbook tells me to do?","if I use command xyz, will it yield the same result as if I used command bcd?"
If you have the Wendell Odom Cert Library, make sure you use the practice exams that came with them. They helped me so much.

Final thoughts

Originally, when I was first looking into pursuing my CCNA, I was swayed to take the 2 exam route but a few members from Techexams convinced me otherwise. After taking the exam, I can safely say that it was the best advice I have taken and personally, I also recommend you take the composite exam and yes, this piece of advice is coming from someone with NO prior experience with networking. To be honest, the CBT Nugget videos are just perfect for you if you have no prior networking experience because Jeremy explains concepts so well and in a non boring way.
Right now, I'm happy that I passed the CCNA but kinda disappointed because I feel like Cisco was being nice to me and gave me a pool of easy questions.
CCNP here I come

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Comments

bull3t_six

Puffy wrote: »

Final thoughts
Originally, when I was first looking into pursuing my CCNA, I was swayed to take the 2 exam route but a few members from Techexams convinced me otherwise. After taking the exam, I can safely say that it was the best advice I have taken and personally, I also recommend you take the composite exam and yes, this piece of advice is coming from someone with NO prior experience with networking. To be honest, the CBT Nugget videos are just perfect for you if you have no prior networking experience because Jeremy explains concepts so well and in a non boring way.

First, Congrats! I have passed my CCENT back in January and I am currently studying for the ICND2. After reading that you are glad that you took the composite test, do you think cisco would allow me to take this even though I have already pssed the ICND1?

Puffy

bull3t_six wrote: »

First, Congrats! I have passed my CCENT back in January and I am currently studying for the ICND2. After reading that you are glad that you took the composite test, do you think cisco would allow me to take this even though I have already pssed the ICND1?

Sure, why not, but you need to pay the full 295USD though.

bull3t_six

Can you comment on how many ACL questions you got and how they were posed?

dukethacore

How long it take you to prepare for CCNA ? Did you use real labs or simulators? Any websites / online notes help you in preparation. I read in a blog that says, Books and video training is common, but you need to be skillfull to apply knowledge in the exams, its not just you read book and memorize stuff and you can pass.

Puffy

bull3t_six wrote: »

Can you comment on how many ACL questions you got and how they were posed?

Hmm lemme see if I could give you an answer without breaking the NDA.... I didn't get much on ACL but I did get a simulation on it. The simulation isn't any different from how the Odom book puts it or how Jeremy taught it. A scenario will be given and you need to fulfil some requirements presented to you. Surprisely, it actually gives you an idea of how much lines of ACL they are looking for and they also give you hints which will guide you to how they want it done, since as you know, ACL could be implemented in so much different ways.

Here is what I knew regarding ACL before I went into the exams:

1.)Difference between the different types of ACL (standard/extended/dynamic/reflexive etc.)
2.)Know how to setup standard and extended access lists in the cli
3.)Know cisco recommendations for implementing standard vs extended ACL
3.)Know how the ACL could be implemented (e.g. how to apply it in an interface or in a vty line and whether your should apply it to the interface incoming or outgoing etc.)

djfunz

Congratulations on the pass. Personally, I would never be disappointed after a pass however my opinion, like your's regarding the ease of the exam, is subjective. I also come from a no networking background and found the sheer abundance of material difficult to absorb. The theory alone is a lot to grasp and time is needed to allow everything to properly sink in. Sure once one knows the material, it should be "easy", but attaining that level of understanding is the variable.

I also personally found CBT Nuggets to be a great introduction to the material, but I would have never attempted the exam only using his material. It's very broad and misses many details that may surprise one on the exam.

Cisco offers two exam methods for a reason. I've read some posts here that imply the two exam route may in fact be harder. There are many posts of individuals failing the ICND2 multiple times. One test specifically focusing on VLAN, RSTP, VLSM and summarization, OSPF, EIGRP, ACL's, NAT, VPN, Frame Relay, and IPv6 seems like a large pill to swallow compared to one composite exam mixing perhaps larger amounts of ICND1 material into the question pool.

I suppose no one will ever really know for sure unless one opts for some crazy reason to take ICND1, ICND2 and then the CCNA composite. Only Cisco knows the secret.

Puffy

dukethacore wrote: »

How long it take you to prepare for CCNA ? Did you use real labs or simulators? Any websites / online notes help you in preparation. I read in a blog that says, Books and video training is common, but you need to be skillfull to apply knowledge in the exams, its not just you read book and memorize stuff and you can pass.

Spent approximately 5 months but that was because I was studying on and off since I would find new I.T related interests and I would just deviate away from my CCNA studies. That is one of the things you should avoid if possible since, for me, I forgot alot of the concepts I learnt and it was difficult for me to reread Odom's book (it's kinda dry if you will though I liked it because the information there was just so comprehensive).

In terms of labbing, I have a full lab setup but I prefer to use Packet Tracer and GNS3 but do note, Packet Tracer gives your wrong output for some commands. I followed Subnet192's lab workbook as well as the free Packet Tracer labs that I stumbled across in Cisco Learning Network by some company called Ranet lol. I also did some of the freeccnalabworkbook.com labs. Generally, I would say that the most helpful was the Packet Tracer labs that I found on CLN, followed by Subnet192's labworkbook. The ones from the freeccnalabwork was a bit advanced and I would say it touched some CCNP materials so I didn't find it so useful. Just some tips on when you're labbing: KNOW your show and debug commands .. don't try to skimp on them and be sure to follow the last tip I wrote in my original post: try out stuff and make sure you know what happens when you do x instead of y, don't limit yourself to what is explicitly stated in the lab workbooks.

Lastly, if you have the Odom book, do the practice exam and MAKE sure you understand why the wrong answers were wrong and why the right ones were right. The Odom exams were MUCHHH harder than the real thing.

Puffy

djfunz wrote: »

Congratulations on the pass. Personally, I would never be disappointed after a pass however my opinion, like your's regarding the ease of the exam, is subjective. I also come from a no networking background and found the sheer abundance of material difficult to absorb. The theory alone is a lot to grasp and time is needed to allow everything to properly sink in. Sure once one knows the material, it should be "easy", but attaining that level of understanding is the variable.

I also personally found CBT Nuggets to be a great introduction to the material, but I would have never attempted the exam only using his material. It's very broad and misses many details that may surprise one on the exam.

Cisco offers two exam methods for a reason. I've read some posts here that imply the two exam route may in fact be harder. There are many posts of individuals failing the ICND2 multiple times. One test specifically focusing on VLAN, RSTP, VLSM and summarization, OSPF, EIGRP, ACL's, NAT, VPN, Frame Relay, and IPv6 seems like a large pill to swallow compared to one composite exam mixing perhaps larger amounts of ICND1 material into the question pool.

I suppose no one will ever really know for sure unless one opts for some crazy reason to take ICND1, ICND2 and then the CCNA composite. Only Cisco knows the secret.

Yes, those were exactly the points which convinced me to just do the composite exams. I also agree that you should not solely rely on those videos; you need to read a book and lab lab lab until it sticks in your head.

xbuzz

djfunz wrote: »

I suppose no one will ever really know for sure unless one opts for some crazy reason to take ICND1, ICND2 and then the CCNA composite. Only Cisco knows the secret.

I think Jeremy from CBTnuggets took them all, and he said that to him ICND1 seemed the hardest out of icnd1, icnd2 and ccna. He said he got more simulations in ICND1 than he has gotten in any cisco exam.

I'll be taking the 2 exam route. CCENT contains a good bit of information and it's good to have an in depth test to tell you if you have an understanding of all that material, so you can move onto ICND2 topics and know you have the base to understand everything properly. I think because there is more questions, on fewer topics in each of the exams on the 2 exams route, it tests your knowledge and overall understanding better. Whereas in CCNA composite exam, you might "dodge the bullet" on a topic you don't fully understand, in the 2 exam route it is alot less likely.

For me, i'm kind of rushing to get some of the cisco qualifications, but i'm not looking to take the easy route in any way, or skip any material. I want to understand every CCNA topic fully before I have the qualification, and to me it seems the ICND1 and ICND2 route is the best way to achieve that.

SharkDiver

Congratulations!!!
Good Luck on CCNP!

ChickenNuggetz

Congrats on the pass!

Dakinggamer87

Congrats on pass!!

zrockstar

Congrats! Great score, even if you did luck out and get an easy pool, a pass and that score is much to be proud of. Your pass is especially inspirational for me, since I come from a 0 networking background too, and am using most of the same materials as you (Odom, CBT, PT). If you look a few threads down, you will even see my thread trying to figure out if I should take the ICND1/2 or the composite. After seeing posts like this, I am more certain I want to go for the composite! Congrats again.

cmitchell_00

Congrats on the pass!

spicy ahi

Congrats on the pass! Well, I can't say it was easy for me (took me 3 tries to pass ICND2) so it's nice to see someone breeze through it.

Good luck with the CCNP!

ASUSTeK

Congrats.

KPLC

Good stuff! Congrats!

ptilsen

Congrats on the pass! I'm curious though, as to what the logic is behind taking the composite? Is it not essentially the same thing as taking 1 and 2? I would expect the same number of questions in each topic, the same amount of time available relative to the number and difficulty of questions, and the same rough test and study material cost. Outside of saving a trip to the test center, what is the advantage of taking the composite?

Aman_saini

Congrats for the pass

Puffy

ptilsen wrote: »

Congrats on the pass! I'm curious though, as to what the logic is behind taking the composite? Is it not essentially the same thing as taking 1 and 2? I would expect the same number of questions in each topic, the same amount of time available relative to the number and difficulty of questions, and the same rough test and study material cost. Outside of saving a trip to the test center, what is the advantage of taking the composite?

Well the way I see it, the CCNA is easier in the sense that you get 45-55 questions comprising of ICND1(easy) and ICND2(not so easy) questions. Doing the 2 exam route on the other hand would mean, you get 45-55 fairly easy questions (ICND1) and another set of fairly difficult questions.

The main argument I have read for the doing the 2 exam route is so you can focus on a smaller pool of topics to study for, but in my opinion, I don't think that the CCNA have that many topics to warrant separating the exams into two especially if you have previous networking experience.

Another thing that I noted was that I found myself constantly reviewing ICND1 materials as I was going through ICND2. Examples include : learning OSPF and EIGRP in ICND2 made me review static/dynamic routing concepts, learning about VLANs and Spanning Tree made me review switching logic of how switches would forward frames given these additional technologies in action in a network environment, learning about WAN technologies such as PPP made me review ICND1 wan terminologies and technologies, learning NAT in ICND2 was more or less the same in ICND1 with the exception that you didn't have to know how to configure it in the CLI in ICND1 and generally, as I labbed more, commands introduced in ICND1 such as "sh ip int br", "sh run", "ip add 192.168.1.1 255.0.0.0", "sh cdp neighbors" etc. became second nature to me.

ptilsen

CCNA composite is the same number of questions as ICND2, but roughly half of them are ICND1 questions? So basically, CCNA is just plain easier than ICDN2?

Puffy

yes

, if you're doing the 2 exam route you are looking at 90-110 questions vs 45-55 for the composite.