ICND 2 - Passed!

jsb515 · March 2013

After passing my ICND 1 test back in November I wasted no time in preparing for ICND 2 test. I literally started studying for it the day that I passed ICND 1. My wife thought I should take a break but I wanted everything fresh in my mind going into ICND 2. I went in yesterday to sit the test for the first time but was really confident I would do fine. Once I got into the test my nerves started to come over me a little so I had to pause get my mind straight and continue on. At end of test the print out said PASS (trying to remember my score, don't have the paper with me I believe it was a 902). I felt a ton of bricks fall off my shoulder and went home to celebrate with my wife and daughter. Thanks to all of you who have helped me with all my questions, and also over on the CCNA Study Group on Learning Network.

After I passed my CCENT back in November my work allowed me to shadow and work a long side the network team more and I believe this was a great opportunity and one that really help me drive in all the stuff I've been studying. I encourage others to check with their bosses to see if they would allow you to shadow a network engineer.

For the curious here are the tools I used to study with:

ICND 2 - Wendell Odom, I used this book mostly and used Todd Lammles CCNA book as a supplement to things I could not understand in Wendells book.

Chris Bryant CCNA on Udemy - For $40 this video series is super valuable and affordable. Plus he updates them all the time and answers any questions you may have. I've already purchased his Security series and waiting for his Voice series to be released.

Boson ICND 2 Ex-Sim, and Netsim - The practice test are way way harder then the actual test but it will force you to learn and understand the material. I used the Netsim when I did not have access to my real Cisco equipment. I also used this site from time to time Free Cisco Catalyst Switch Lab for labbing.

Exam Cram CCNA - The questions not as hard as Ex-Sim but still good to dig out those weak areas with different questions from Ex-Sim. The Cram sheet in front of the book was super valuable to read over before going in for the test.

Free Practice Exam - On FreeCCNAworkbook.com, yet another practice test I used.

LAB LAB LAB LAB and LAB some more. I had so much fun with ICND 2 over ICND 1 because I got to lab a lot more with my real equipment. I used FreeCCNAworkbook.com a lot.

Best of luck to everyone in their Cisco adventure! i'm moving on to Voice now.