Boson ExSim vs the real exam?

draught

I recently purchased Boson's Exsim as I plan on taking the ICND1 640-822 this month as soon I'm ready. I expect in the next few weeks. I was a little weary but not a bad purchase as I consider it a study aid and it's been very helpful showing me a glaring weakness.

I was really surprised so many lab questions. Also interesting that I got the exact same score: 556 on two different practice exams.This all is pointing me toward the same thing: lab work more lab work! I definitely see now there is no way you could pass this by just reading and studying. I have everything down but the implementation portions. Are there any videos that might help with just lab work? Say videos on setting up your Cisco simulated lab? Something other then CBT nuggets, more detailed?

Also I like it better to be given a task then simply follow guide that gives you the commands. Obviously a better way to learn.

And to the title: just wondering for those who have taken the actual test how does Boson's Exsim compare to the real thing? I'm guessing my score would be pretty close to what I'd actually get right now? of course not ready yet so that score isn't bad considering I need at least two more weeks worth of lab work a few hours daily. I'm using the network simulator that came with the odom's books.

SharkDiver

In my experience, the Boson Ex-Sim Max practice exams are pretty much right on the money.
For simulated CCNA labs, look into Odom's Network Simulator. It is about $100 on Amazon.

The exact title is CCNA 640-802 Network Simulator (2nd Edition)
It has 100s of hours of simulated labs.
I used it and thought it helped a ton.

theodoxa

I scored 914 (?), 930, and 930 on the Boson Practice Tests. I scored 912 on the real thing, so it was pretty close. The format of the questions and Sims is virtually identical to what you will see on the real exam, except that Cisco includes a second type of Simlet (older and cruder looking graphics), but it still works basically the same way as the nicer looking Simlets. I figured that these are probably just old Simlets and they just didn't bother updating the graphics/formatting.

BTW, each of the tests contains a small amount of material that you probably won't see on the real exam [though I can't say for sure since I don't know every question in the test bank]. In each case, it was something Lammle covers briefly, but Odom doesn't cover, which would probably mean its not covered (Lammle tends to cover some extra stuff that you probably should know, but is not on the exam whereas Odom seems to stick to only topics covered on the exam, but with more depth). So, if there is something that comes completely out of left field (e.g. configuring Wi-Fi on a Cisco 800), look it over, but don't let it get you too down.

jsb515

I love Boson's stuff. I scored high on the real test also using and studying Boson Exsim and using their practice test. Sometimes their practice test can be frustrating but they make it hard to make you really understand the questions, if your not using any practice test I would highly recommend that you get some practice testing in before taking the real test and drill out the weak areas.