Damnit, I failed!

s0c0

Well I failed 604-801 CCNA exam today. Kinda sucks, good bye $125 and certification. Frankly I was overwhelmed by the amount of subnetting questions I recieved both direct and indirectly. I think thats what really sunk me. It's not that I couldn't subnet, but it took me forever on some of these questions. When I got to the final questions, an OSPF router simulation I had 1 minnute and 30 seconds left. Hardly enough time to read the question and perform basic troubleshooting steps.

I guess I spent to much time studying OSI crap and not enough time on being able to subnet quickly. Anyways, I'm not sure if I should just sudy for a few weeks maybe buy another book and retake the 604-801 or whether I should do the two test option instead.

Here are my scores, maybe you guys could offer me some more advice.
Total Score: 775 / 1000 (849 is passing)
Planning & Designing: 85%
Implementation and Operation: 75%
Troubleshooting 42% (damn router sim)
Technology: 90%

Is 775 a bad score relative to failing? I honestly felt I would pass when I went in there until 5 questions in, then I grew more confident that I may pass until the last question, after that I assumed a 600-699 grade.

mwgood

I haven't failed many exams - but I did fail the CCNA exam the first time. What I did was to zero in on the areas I found difficult or hazy on the exam, review those areas until I had a solid understanding - then just retake the exam.

I found that the exam seemed MUCH easier the second time around - not just because I had sharpened my skills in weak areas, but also because I was already familiar with the exam engine and knew exactly what to expect.

DodgeCar101

You guys are scaring me....I am taking the exam on the 29th of June. I have gone through the Cisco Academy at the local 2 year college, got 3 A's and 1 B so I feel or I should say FELT comfortable with just review. So, any tips or hints on what to hammer on so I can HOPEFULLY pass this thing and not throw away 125 bucks??

hellopaul2000mail

dont worry mate you were not the only one to fail today. first attempt too. £80 and 300 miles later wasted

s0c0

Again I got hit hard with subnetting. Just make sure you can subnet quickly so it does not eat up all your time. Troubleshooting was a decent portion as well. So you will need to be able to indentify the issue or atleast use reasoning to eliminate the absurd answers.

Then again...I failed! So do you really want to take advice from me?

Thanks "hellopaul" I know lots of people fail there first time. I still feel like kind of an ass though. Oh well I will just study real hard and not take until I am confident I will pass. I'm not going to let Cisco defeat me, as my friend told me earlier. "Hey, **** Cisco. You're better than those bastards." Okay, it's not true, but still....**** Cisco. I will earn the CCNA!

kypumper

here is a tip does the test center give you a piece of blank paper and a pen to scribble on. if so like mine I did this I wrote these numbers down before I took the test to simulate a 28 bit subnet mask start at 16 and go up by 16 until you get to 255. if they ask you for broadcast address just look to see if it is one number below any of the numbers you wrote down.
it works for 27 bits that would go up by 32 and 26 bits would go up by 64 numbers at a time. Try that it will speed up your subnetting questions. You are allowed to write what is down in your head, just not bring any pre written information with you.

kypumper

obviously if you can't subnet you won't pass a cisco exam they hit that hard, OSPF sim so remember those commands, and I heard they hit Frame Relay pretty hard.

s0c0

Yeah they gave me some crappy dry erase board instead w/o an eraser of course. I much rather have had the pencil and paper. I didn't get much frame relay though. Actually there was more ISDN than frame relay.

My plan now is giong to be asking my school if I can use their lab equipment whenever a class is not using it. I'll just have to go in whenever. Weekends, nights, or mornings doesn't matter. I'll also have to become a subnet ninja.

stanley4le

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
128 64 32 16 8 4 2 1
128 192 224 240 248 252 254 255


so say you have a /25 thats 255.255.255.128 so you look at range real quick 128 take 2 of u got 126 usable host