Passed

Henry is God

Hi all,

Just found the site and wish to contribute as well as learn from others. I passed the CCNA on the second attempt in June with a passing score of 912. I failed the first time. I rebooked straight away and nailed it 2 weeks later.

In terms of study, I used the official CCNA book by Wendell, was in the CCNA academy through my university, some CBT Nuggets for topics I felt I needed just that little bit more understanding of, Packet Tracer labs, the real stuff when in class, and practice questions found on the net. I sometimes even found myself having a brain blank on a topic I actually knew, I would just pause and Google the topic and go through a mini refresher. Amazing some of the sites I found just by surfing. Alot of blogs I found to be useful and will check my favourites if anyone is interested in them.

I found the exam and material fairly straight forward as I actually enjoy learning about the material and have a passion for it.

Any questions I will be more than happy to help.

mapletune

congrats~! =D

It does sound like you have all the material down pretty well, thus the high score second time around.

as with every pass comes the unavoidable question: what's next? =p

MrXpert

Congratulations!

Henry is God

mapletune wrote: »

congrats~! =D

It does sound like you have all the material down pretty well, thus the high score second time around.

as with every pass comes the unavoidable question: what's next? =p

Bit of a crossroad in all honesty. My situation is that I just finished my degree in Computer Systems and Networking with a GPA of 80%. I have my option to go back and do my honours, but feel that a year in the workplace would be more beneficial than doing a year long dissertation.

We covered the MCITP in the second year and I enjoyed it. However, I got so caught up in the Cisco game I never got round to doing the exams. I went on a course over in Thailand in the summer to refresh the old melon so to speak, and found alot of what is required is already in there! Just a case of getting used to the configurations and Microsoft way again, all the concepts and stuff just needed to be lit up again.

Currently been studying for the 70-640 which all going well I plan to nail on Friday. If I feel confident I will book tomorrow. If I breeze that then straight on to the 70-642 and lab the hell out of it, as the networking side is already pretty much nailed on for me.

Looking at jobs, the experience is the issue for me. I only have part time helpdesk and installation tech experience. The degree and my certs stand me in good stead, but with the UK being a black place to be right now and only going to get worse, I am looking at all my options. I've not ruled out going back to university but consider it as a last resort at this stage. Only have 2 weeks left to find something though!!

In terms of Cisco, I am going to go with the CCNA Security as soon as I get the Microsoft out of the way.

Henry is God

MrXpert wrote: »

Congratulations!

Thank you.

The IT Guy

I have taken 70-640 and 70-642 and those were tougher than expected. I was really weak at AD CS and Direct Access because did not manage remote access or PKI on the job. You really need to know how to design and deploy a public key infrastructure. I picked up a couple servers and ran Hyper-V. do a couple labs configuring and deploying your root, subordinates and online-responders and you should be golden. Most other topics on the exam were not that bad for me because I manage a small 2008R2 LAN daily and have a sandbox to play in. Now that you have your CCNA, you definitely have a solid foundation for the 70-642. Good luck!

Patel128

Congratulations! Make sure you update your certification list on your profile. Gotta show off your achievement.

Henry is God

The IT Guy wrote: »

I have taken 70-640 and 70-642 and those were tougher than expected. I was really weak at AD CS and Direct Access because did not manage remote access or PKI on the job. You really need to know how to design and deploy a public key infrastructure. I picked up a couple servers and ran Hyper-V. do a couple labs configuring and deploying your root, subordinates and online-responders and you should be golden. Most other topics on the exam were not that bad for me because I manage a small 2008R2 LAN daily and have a sandbox to play in. Now that you have your CCNA, you definitely have a solid foundation for the 70-642. Good luck!

Thanks for the advice. Loving the golden comment, classic

I will keep you all posted on how I get on and will offer advice and experience where I can be of use. Totally agree about the 70-640 comment. I sat it last month thinking it would be fairly straight forward and got caught out well and truly! Definitely not to be taken lightly and the only saving grace is that it wasn't the price of a Cisco exam or I would have been in a dark room with a bottle of cheap vodka and a Hilary Swank movie.

AD CS and AD RMS seemed to be where alot of the 70-640 focus was.

Reixy

Hi, I'm going to take the ccna test like in two weeks and I'm so nervous and excited at the same time!!! Could you make a list of those blogs that you find useful??
Thanks and good luck with your next cert!!

whatthehell

Congratz!

Illumanati

Henry is God wrote: »

In terms of study, was in the CCNA academy through my university, some CBT Nuggets for topics I felt I needed just that little bit more understanding of, Packet Tracer labs, the real stuff when in class, and practice questions found on the net. I sometimes even found myself having a brain blank on a topic I actually knew, I would just pause and Google the topic and go through a mini refresher. Amazing some of the sites I found just by surfing.

I got a CIsco IV class coming up and wanted to know how I can make the most of it to get certified with CCENT?

Henry is God

Hi, I'm going to take the ccna test like in two weeks and I'm so nervous and excited at the same time!!! Could you make a list of those blogs that you find useful??
Thanks and good luck with your next cert!!

I'll look the list up later on today.

Henry is God

Illumanati wrote: »

I got a CIsco IV class coming up and wanted to know how I can make the most of it to get certified with CCENT?

Cisco IV class?