Just failed ICND2

As the title says, I just failed ICND2. I scored 734. This is my first exam fail, so it's extra lame. Anyway, I thought I'd write about the experience:

I actually ran out of time - I was getting absolutely hammered for the first 25 questions with sims and an insane amount of subnetting. Some of the sims were really confusing, and I spent valuable time just figuring out what the question was asking of me. The exam was back-loaded with multiple choice and 'select 2' questions that weren't difficult, but I spent far too long on the first half of the exam. I looked down at one point and realized I had spent over 14 minutes on one of the sims. In fact, I had to click through the last six questions of the exam without reading them at all just to finish. Not good at all.

The 'regular' questions weren't bad - I feel like I have a strong grasp of the concepts overall, and given more time I believe I would have passed - But being quick and managing the clock is part of the game, so I definitely have a lot of room for improvement.

Plan: Learn to subnet in my head. I'm still writing my binary subnetting out, and IMO it was the reason I failed the exam. I'm going to spend the next week learning to subnet in my head and practicing VLSM in order to improve my time. I'm hoping to retake this exam next weekend and pass comfortably.

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Comments

Cerebro

Goodluck with the next try!

At least you know what to work on, have you tried subnetting secrets? I understand the binary method, but memorising/writing down the quick chart has been very helpful.

What other areas are you going to focus on?

oli356

Good luck next time (y)!

NetworkVeteran

But being quick.. is part of the game.

Aye, on the exam and in the real-world, too!

Good work identifying your weaknesses. If a sim took you 14 minutes, hopefully you are also working on speeding up your configuration as well. May your next attempt bare fruit.

YFZblu

Cerebro wrote: »

Goodluck with the next try!

At least you know what to work on, have you tried subnetting secrets? I understand the binary method, but memorising/writing down the quick chart has been very helpful.

What other areas are you going to focus on?

-Subnetting in my head
-ACL's
-Show commands

Those are what I'll spend my time on - I haven't seen subnetting secrets yet, I'll definitely check them out. Thanks!

Chitownjedi

Just hit it hard

... the best part of this is you know what you need to improve on and that's like 90% of the battle. Good luck man! Stay positive and keep trucking.

elderkai

I had a bunch of hard hitters like you described with the same amount of questions. I was able to pull through, though. Lab some scenarios and try to regularly use different show commands and every day do about a five minute study of subnetting/conversions/etc to help it become natural. After that, you should be ready to own your next attempt.

sratakhin

Good luck next time!
P.S. I thought there aren't any subnetting questions on ICND2...

YFZblu

Subnetting is just as important in ICND2 as it is in ICND1 - Perhaps even more important now that VLSM has been introduced.

Ivanjam

YFZblu: sorry to hear, man... but now you are certainly motivated to pass the next time around so I am not worried for you...

alliasneo

exactly the same thing happened to me the first time around. I spent waaaayyyyy to long on some multiple choice questions. I kept checking my answers and making sure I'd clicked the right one's but I realised after you can't do that. You've just got to plow through them and be confident in yourself that you know the answer(s)

astrogeek

The only people who never fail are the ones that aren't learning anything - I'm paraphrasing a famous quote I read a few days ago so hopefully I didn't screw it up too much....but the point is that failing a Cisco exam should be expected, and as long as you learn from the failure it's nothing to be ashamed about.

swild

I highly, highly, highly recommend the Boson Ex-Sim Max tests. Worth every penny. It took me 4 tries to pass it but that's all on me. I wasn't ready the first time, VLSM screwed me on the 2nd, and the 3rd was seriously just harder than the others. I also really liked the CCNA IOS Command Survival Guide. I used that as my refresher/cram book for the last test.

Don't let this fail get you down. It's not an easy test.

YFZblu

Thanks everyone for the encouraging words - ICND2 is definitely a difficult exam, and I wouldn't have it any other way.

Somnipotent

everybody fails at some point. if it makes you feel better, i failed ICND2 TWICE. it's not an easy test, but once you overcome it, the rest will come easier.

mitch179

Good luck on your next attempt!

It's worth getting the Boson test exams for sure, it really helps you nail down your weak areas.

It's definitely a difficult exam and you'll feel great when you conquer it

NotHackingYou

Glad you are taking it as an opportunity to improve. IMO, you need to know subnetting in your head, cold if you want to not struggle during the exam. This was a subject where I struggled so I did at least 20 questions every day from subnettingquestions.com - Free Subnetting Questions and Answers Randomly Generated Online. Basically, I would look at a question and answer it without using a calculator or writing anything down. Before starting, I would mark 20 x's in note pad.

If I got the question right, I deleted an x. If I got it wrong, I didn't delete any - but I worked through the problem for as long as it took to understand why I was wrong and how to get the right answer. I did this every night while studying for ICND1 and ICND2. Every subnetting question on both tests was a breeze for me thanks to this method.

elderkai

What Carl suggested would be very helpful. I loved doing subnetting quizzes when I was learning it and VLSM. Definitely the way to master and make it a natural skill of yours.

dave330i

Don't need to subnet in your head. You have to be quick, but not that quick. Write out the power of 2 to 4048 and a conversion table to CIDR notation.

swild

dave330i wrote: »

Don't need to subnet in your head. You have to be quick, but not that quick. Write out the power of 2 to 4048 and a conversion table to CIDR notation.

This is exactly what I did.

ToddB

Now the key is get subnetting down, I was told know it like you know 5+5=10. If you don't you'll have real trouble in the route summerization questions. It takes awhile, but the work will pay off when you can add 100 pts to the test, and you will.

Now good luck and go get it!

mguy

Somnipotent wrote: »

everybody fails at some point. if it makes you feel better, i failed ICND2 TWICE. it's not an easy test, but once you overcome it, the rest will come easier.

CCNP who failed ICND2 twice. Yup, its part of the process. Thanks for being an insipration

kurosaki00

did you got the print of your scores?
be sure to make your studying based around that

also, only 100 pts off man!
Hit the books and labs for a couple of weeks
do some practice exams
and hit the exam again!
Make your goal not to pass the exam, but to totally obliterate it!
go for it!

joemendola

use these 2 sites:

subnettingquestions.com - Free Subnetting Questions and Answers Randomly Generated Online it was already mentioned above

subnetting.org - Free Subnetting Questions and Answers Randomly Generated Online

NotHackingYou

I wanted to add that I found this site very helpful. Free CCNA Tests

They explain why the wrong answers are wrong and why the right ones are right.

4_lom

What were your scores in each domain?

pipemajor

Count me in also as one who has stumbled twice on the ICND2 exam as well as the older ICND and the 640-801 and 640-607 exams. I passed 640-821 INTRO back in '06, the 640-822 ICND1 in '09 and just recertified @ ICND1 yesterday. My career path is no longer network-centric (for now) but I'm determined to conquer CCNA. It's become a personal challenge.

I truly believe I would have passed the earlier attempts had I been more adept at my SHOW commands. Got bunged up in each time in one of the sims, ran short of time and, well, you know the rest.

Roguetadhg

I think the personal challenge is what kept me going. Failing just made me stronger. Keep with it