Passed ICND2 today - Officially a CCNA

A few notables:

1st attempt: Ran out of time, wasn’t able to answer several questions. Score: 734
2nd attempt: Family emergency the night prior to the exam, got about 3 hours of sleep. Score: 776
3rd attempt: Score: 888

Today’s exam was easily the most difficult of all three tries; I had several “WTF??” questions that I do not believe were in my text or other study materials. That being said, I was using Odom’s 2nd edition so perhaps that was my problem. Had I failed today I would have bit the bullet and purchased the 3rd edition.

Advice: Lab, lab, LAB! And Odom readers, buy the 3rd edition.

Thanks to everyone here, you are appreciated!

Next up: CCNA: Sec - And hopefully a network job by year's end so I can get 'in' before virtualized networking kills us all off

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Comments

Brain_Power

Congratz!!!

jamster2004

Congratz on the pass. I admire your determination. I hope to sit ICND 2 next month. apart from odoms book what other resource you used to prepare?

YFZblu

Thanks! Here is an itemized list of my materials:

-Odom's 2nd edition

-CBTnuggets - I wish I hadn't spent so much time here. IMO these videos should really just be used as "ice breakers" to introduce you to exam topics, and they really only skim the surface of what is required on the exam.

-TrainSignal - Very long videos, very dry. But very detailed.

-CCNA exam cram by Jeremy Cioara - Great resource! I discovered this before my 3rd attempt, and I think it put me over the top. Highly recommend it.

Roguetadhg

Congratulations, YFblu. You get rep for the tries.

sratakhin

Congratulations! I also passed mine today

maddem

Congrats on pass!!

Illumanati

YFZblu wrote: »

A few notables:

1st attempt: Ran out of time, wasn’t able to answer several questions. Score: 734
2nd attempt: Family emergency the night prior to the exam, got about 3 hours of sleep. Score: 776
3rd attempt: Score: 888

Today’s exam was easily the most difficult of all three tries; I had several “WTF??” questions that I do not believe were in my text or other study materials. That being said, I was using Odom’s 2nd edition so perhaps that was my problem. Had I failed today I would have bit the bullet and purchased the 3rd edition.

Advice: Lab, lab, LAB! And Odom readers, buy the 3rd edition.

Thanks to everyone here, you are appreciated!

Next up: CCNA: Sec - And hopefully a network job by year's end so I can get 'in' before virtualized networking kills us all off

I conjure up a mad Kudos spell upon you impervious to your thick plate of armor. And I love the tips, wow. Can you be my manager. lol

Vik210

good stuff.. congrats.. sure this will be motivating enough for your further certifications..

X10MMX

Congrats

MrBrian

Congrats on the CCNA!

_Marauder

Congratulations!

FloOz

congrats on the pass!!!

Ivanjam

Congrats. I admire your tenacity.

YFZblu

Thank you everyone - It feels good not to have the CCNA hanging over me anymore.

snokerpoker

Congrats! I just recently passed as well. I pretty much used the same study materials.

whatthehell

Congratz!!!

Chitownjedi

Congrats on passing.. good job at sticking with it!

FloOz

hey YFZblu, congrats on the pass! I was wondering what lab resource you used in your studies? thanks

YFZblu

Thanks! I used Packet Tracer during CCENT, but for the CCNA I bought three switches and three routers for a home lab.

Illumanati

YFZblu wrote: »

Thanks! Here is an itemized list of my materials:

-Odom's 2nd edition

-CBTnuggets - I wish I hadn't spent so much time here. IMO these videos should really just be used as "ice breakers" to introduce you to exam topics, and they really only skim the surface of what is required on the exam.

-TrainSignal - Very long videos, very dry. But very detailed.

-CCNA exam cram by Jeremy Cioara - Great resource! I discovered this before my 3rd attempt, and I think it put me over the top. Highly recommend it.

Thank you for the choke-full of tips. Can you expand on your theory or postulation of why you think the Jeremy Ciora Exam Cram put you over the top? Was it more of a facet of your already previous prodigious study PRIOR to this book or do you think there was something else like style or simplicity of writing? I agree with all of your logic if not for outright suggestion of version 3 of ICND book etc. I agree with CBT Nuggets being per-requisite "reading" for the miniscule labbing for ICND1 and a must watch for ICND2, infact don't pick up any book until you "read"(watch) CBT Nuggets videos for ICND2.

If you had to recommend a ICND2 book or even CCNA (since it covers ICND2), would you recommend Ciora's EXAM Prep over any of the others? Did you really like it that much and can you provide details since I have this book. I also have ICND 2 ver 3 when the time is appropriate for extra super detail coverage.

Btw, what labs did you work on for ICND1 as far as WAN protocols are concerned because I just don't see many apart form Frame Relay?

j.petrov

Congrats on the pass and not giving up!

FloOz

YFZblu wrote: »

Thanks! I used Packet Tracer during CCENT, but for the CCNA I bought three switches and three routers for a home lab.

yah but did you have a lab workbook to work from? something that gave you objectives to do

MAC_Addy

Most CCENT/CCNA books have labs at the end of each chapter.

YFZblu

pruspeter wrote: »

yah but did you have a lab workbook to work from? something that gave you objectives to do

I did buy the 101 Cisco Labs book, but I didn't really use it much. I just lab'd as I went along. IE after the VTP chapter, I tested it. After the STP chapter, I lab'd it....etc.

I had a whiteboard in my study that I wrote a list of the exam objectives on: VTP, STP, EIGRP, OSPF, Frame Relay, IPv6, NAT, etc. When I got closer to taking the exam I just ran through the list and spent an hour or so configuring each one every day. I also made a point to memorize what I thought the three most important 'show' commands were for each technology, and I would use those after I configured.

FloOz

okay cool thank you

lieuallen

Congrats!