Passed - 964

schwartztrader, this was the 640-801 one test CCNA exam. I am very happy with the result and finished with about 16 mins to spare.

Here are some details about my study methods. They are not pretty but as you can see they worked for me.

First off I did a Skillsoft online course, available through my company's online training programs. It was quite comprehensive in some areas (esp WAN technologies) but woefully inadequate in other areas (IP subnetting) and just a bit confusing in others (VLANs). Also the format of the course was a bit annoying - it was mostly flash-based, and was difficult to capture reference material for subsequent study. On the whole, not recommended.

Following that course, I did the exam and failed. This was back in January. At this point I tried to go back to the books but my heart wasn't really in it, and it has taken until now for things to settle down at work enough for me to take some study leave and get serious about preparing for the exam.

For this I used Todd Lammle's CCNA Study Guide book that I purchased back in January shortly after failing the exam. So basically I went through the book from start to finish. I spent a lot of time learning how to subnet - going through the subnet/VLSM chapter twice, doing all the review questions. I also did a few of the virtual labs and the practice exam on the CD.

This was still not sufficient preparation: I knew that the fourth edition book that I had was not current. Fortunately I was able to access the 5th edition online through my company's books24x7.com subscription. But unfortunately there is no index to say what has changed between versions of the book.

To help me get a handle on the 'missing' material from my study guide I skimmed my old skillsoft reference material (which covered stuff like NAT/PAT admin that the book didn't). Also, online I found out about the course changes with subnet-zero. Lastly I did the practice exam on the Cisco CCNA prepcenter and took note of other topics that I had missed that weren't covered by either the skillsoft course or the 4th edition of the Lammle book (eg configuring VLSM route summarization).

With this (admittedly) pretty ad-hoc knowledge I was able to go back to the Lammle book 5th edition online - and other online references such as the Cisco site - and complete my study. And pass the exam.

So in short I had real difficulty determining the scope of the exam - just what was in and what was out. In the end I almost certainly overstudied, given that my three different sources of information (skillsoft course, Lammle 4th edition hardcopy, Lammle 5th edition online) didn't always align. This led to significant stress that I might have missed something.

In my mind there is a real outage here, and an outstanding need to get COMPLETE, UP-TO-DATE study material. Next time (ie CCNP) I'll probably stick to the official Cisco study materials for exactly this reason.

Hope this helps someone, sorry it's a bit of a rant.

Noods

Good review Alastair, thanks!

Alien

Congratulation on your pass.

schwarztrader

Thanks alastair for your excelent review of the test. That only makes me want to study harder right now and just bite the bullet and schedule my exam. Maybe I'll call the testing center and schedule it within the next too weeks.

alastair

One more thing worth mentioning which may help someone.

As soon as I walked into the exam room, and before starting the test, I immediately wrote down a brain ****. See my post in another thread about this.

Webmaster

Thanks for the review indeed, I'm sure it'll be helpful for others.

s0c0

So do I need to know how to confgure NAT (network address translation, right?) for the test? I believe I have Todd Lammle's 4th edition as well. What other information should I study that is not found in the 4th edition, any info would be great since I take the test on June 21st.

sartellman

Hello,

I passed the 640-801 today with a 925 and studied off of Todd Lamle's 4th edition. You DO need to know NAT for the exam, I believe that to be the only area that the Lammle book did not cover. Time is a huge concern, you need to know how to subnet and work with VLSM or you will have a real tough time. Well, good luck!!!!

filkenjitsu

Books 24x7 rocks, I have acces to that through my ITT tech virtual library. It is like going to barnes and nobles in their computer section, except all the books are scanned in online and you can access them anywhere for free!

2lazybutsmart

Congratulations on the pass and thanks for the review

s0c0

filkenjitsu wrote:

Books 24x7 rocks, I have acces to that through my ITT tech virtual library. It is like going to barnes and nobles in their computer section, except all the books are scanned in online and you can access them anywhere for free!

I have the same access as an ITT student. While it's better than nothing I feel the material in there on the CCNA is dated. I stopped reading the Exam Cram on there cuz it was so dated. Though I could be thinking of the ebrary. What good CCNA books have you found on there?

alastair

filkenjitsu wrote:

Books 24x7 rocks, I have acces to that through my ITT tech virtual library. It is like going to barnes and nobles in their computer section, except all the books are scanned in online and you can access them anywhere for free!

(This is getting off topic, but...)

I'm sorry I can't agree. For a while before they settled on books24x7 my company had a subscription to the Safari service from O'Reilly. This was/is far, far better than books24x7, both in the way it's implemented and in range of books available.

(Getting back on topic)

Yes you do need to know NAT. Lammle only covers the basics of what it is, but you need to know the configuration commands. Start here and work your way through it.

alastair

One more thing if you'll pardon the gratuitous blog pimping: some further thoughts on studying for and passing the CCNA exam.

DodgeCar101

Congrats on the score, now I have a target score to shoot for... J/K.

I did the 2 year degree thing, took all 4 of the cisco academy courses, talk about interesting and tough. The instructor we had was CCIE, has prob forgotten more about Cisco and networking than I will ever know, and to top it of is a former Marine, so he didnt take no crap in his classes.

I am taking the exam in about a week, and am using Todd's CCNA First Pass and CCNA Self Study Flash Cards from Cisco Systems for review. Any hints on how to prepare or what to really focus on?

Subnetting for me is pretty easy so I am not worried about that, what else do they hammer on?