Testing on Monday

maderj241

Hey, all, this is my first time posting here, but I've been off and on the site a bit since I decided to take the Net+ exam. So far, I've studied Mike Meyer's Network + book, did a bunch of port memorizing and studied Darril Gibson's Comptia Network+ N10-005 Practice Test Questions. I'm confident in all of that and am in fact retaining easily 97-98% of it. However, with the test coming in two days I had a friend offer me another resource and so I started studying some exams from quizlet. About 10% of this material is either completely new to me or baffling as it doesn't seem to be covered or listed anywhere else I've been and I'm more than a little worried about it. Some of it I've had difficulty finding information for it online.

For example, this one has been really bothering me....
what does "Drop 19:21:68:10:20:00" mean? It's listed as the correct answer for a question about stopping worms from spreading throughout a network by disabling ACLs in a layer 2 switch. The problem is, if I search that on google, the only return I get is test websites listing it as an answer with no explanation as to what the heck it even means. Are those ports? and if so, why would I be stopping them from being able to forward? I can't imagine that's true, it would seem more prudent to unplug the thing and deal with the worm on a computer by computer basis. Any advice? Or am I studying material way too deep for the Network+

Justin Mader

Concerned Water

Welcome to TE.

You should make sure that you understand the Network+ objectives from the CompTIA website. As for your question, I don't think that's relevant for the Network+.


Good luck!!

Darril

Welcome to the forums maderj241.

One thing that comes to mind is "what does the question's explanation say?" If the question doesn't have an explanation, I would set it aside. Practice test questions without explanations encourage you to memorize specific questions and answers but if you see a slightly modified question, you'll likely miss it.

Similarly, when studying questions with explanations it's best to use the explanations. Ideally, you should be able to identify why each correct answer is correct and why each incorrect answer is incorrect and the explanations should help. This way no matter how CompTIA words the questions, you'll be able to answer them correctly.

Seeing some new material with practice test questions isn't that surprising though. Authors interpret the objectives as best as they can and develop materials to help you pass. If it's not repeated, it's often because the author unintentionally veered away from the objectives. Don't sweat it. Your goal isn't to pass practice tests but instead to pass the live exam.

That said, there is an important concept in the quote: "19:21:68:10:20:00"

Do you know what this string of numbers is? Do you know how it relates to a layer 2 switch?

It's a media access control (MAC) address and switches use MACs. You can create a MAC address filter in a managed switch and the "drop" command indicates they are suggesting to block traffic from this computer based on its MAC address. Your thoughts are much more realistic though - if a worm is emanating from a specific computer, unplug it.

Hope this helps.

One last thing. Make sure you read up on the new performance based questions if you haven't yet.

Good luck and let us know how you did.

Samo3411

Mike Meyers book is great check professor Messer on YouTube is also good.....good luck

N2IT

Gibson/Meyer and Messer for the win.

maderj241

Thanks all for the replies I appreciate it. I should have realized that the drop command was to for a MAC but without any further information in the question I just couldn't make the leap. I guess you would have to assume the worm was originating from that MAC and, here's the key, had not gone any further throughout the system. Definitely more of a jump to conclusion than I'd like to make.

I definitely appreciate the explanation Darril, I think I'm going to just not worry about those types of practice questions I come across. Mike Meyers book was great, it just seemed like he was a bit meager with some of the more in depth explanations. I was having serious trouble with some of the fiber cabling labeling schemes until I read Darril's practice exams and he explained how to read them. Meyers gave you specs to memorize on what they were, but Darril gave you how to translate the name to a spec in a much more concise way. Helped a lot. I'll let you know how I do when I get out tomorrow.

Justin Mader

Darril

Glad that helped. Good luck on the exam.

maderj241

Passed with 88%, those performance questions freaked me out, I was totally unprepared for those, never did anything like them. The rest of the test was a breeze. Thanx for all the help

Darril

Congratulations on the pass. Good luck on your next adventure.

droolmonkey

congrats on the pass! ..would it be possible to get an example of the way the performance questions were asked?? or is that against the rules?

Mkroadrush

How long did you study for the network+ maderj241

thecoolnerds

Congrats on the pass. I just passed mines earlier today with an 835. The performance questions were okay.

One of them for me was Reconfiguring a replaced Wireless Access Point.
The 2nd was a switch that had a loop.