Plan of Action

Magic Johnson

So I've finished my Cisco Press book, and I'm just watching some CBT Nuggets of topics I think I'm not getting that well, doing labbing etc but I can't help feeling that I'm stagnating. I...HATE...this feeling. Feels like total limbo.

How do you attack it from this point? Should I do some practice exams? The thing is I've read you can only do 'em once then they become useless because you memorise the answers, so I'm scared to do it haha. I also don't want to book the test in case I'm not ready. I think I'm so nervous because it means that much to me, and possibly that I'm scared to fail, because it'll mean all the fall outs, the lost time with the family, the falling behind a bit at work wouldn't have been worth it.

Anybody else feel/felt the same and what did you do about it? Some advice greatly appreciated, this is my first professional exam too.

bobfromfpl

You should most definitely do the free practice exams on Ciscos website. If you miss a question go research why you missed it. I find that sometimes I just misinterpret the questions being asked because I over think it. If you're feeling stagnant goto the NP forums and try solving some issues there, it may further help your understanding and perhaps even clear any doubts you have.

Honestly once you feel ready and confident with the material you just need to go for it, otherwise you could find plenty of reasons to delay. Experiencing failure is part of the learning process which everyone eventually goes through but if you stick with it and learn from your mistakes it will pay off dividends! (Personal gratification and financially )

tstrip007

I felt the exact same way when I was studying for the VCP and now im in the same boat with CCENT. What I did for the VCP will be the same here with the CCENT. I will make sure I have covered each of the blueprint objectives, lab things that need labbing, and book my exam date. Once I have covered the materials it's important for me to book it (little extra drive and motivation follows the booking). I went into my first VCP exam with the following mentality, "If I pass great, if I don't, I'll know what to expect and what I need to go back and cover". Failed the 1st attempt, passed 2nd time easily. It's not the end of the world if you fail, and if you do, you will more than likely be very motivated to go back and learn the things you struggled with.

Gngogh

Hi,

im doing self studying and i dont feel confident yet to. i watch a lot of videos on youtube, because cbt nuggets you have to pay. i have the book but havent reed it yet.

i would do pratice exams, is always good, but i think doing labs and understanding how protocols work in deep is much more important, this is good for troubleshooting and understanding routing problems.

rowelld

There are a number of practice exams out there for free. Utilize each of them to your preference. Don't get hung up on passing or failing. Just focus on the objectives.

CoolAsAFan

Just keep at it, you will get there eventually! I actually just had my "aha" moment last night, where everything just suddenly clicked in my brain and it felt amazing. I went through CBT Nugget vids, then Odoms Cisco book, which I would advise this order because I felt that Odom's book really built upon CBT vids. As for the practice tests, you should absolutely use them! Just remember, they are there for you to find out where you are weak and review those topics. If you start accidentally memorizing q/a's, then switch to a different practice exam.

I don't know if other people would agree with this statement, but I feel like you should definitely learn all the theory and concepts before you start "memorizing" commands. The commands just seem intuitive once you understand their purposes.

I would also advise to get a firm grasp on IPv4 before you move on to the IPv6 topics (which aren't heavily tested on). This caused a bit of confusion for me at first, but once I really understood IPv4, IPv6 came extremely easy.

Good luck!

Staunchy

CoolAsAFan wrote: »

I don't know if other people would agree with this statement, but I feel like you should definitely learn all the theory and concepts before you start "memorizing" commands. The commands just seem intuitive once you understand their purposes.

I second that if you understand the theory and how things work than you golden, every vendor does things differently but the concept remains the same. Commands you will get familiar with as you lab and work with it.

Setting an exam date motivates yourself to keep on learning more for example I was telling myself I want to write ICND2 now in december but I never set a date which ended up me to be not as dedicated to my studies as well as all the dates to be booked out until the 6th Jan 2014.

TechGuru80

I personally would go for it if you have quite a few hours of studying under your belt…which it sounds like you do. Although practice tests do a decent job of knowledge validation, you won't know until you actually sit for the exam. Does it suck to fail? Without question it is not the best feeling ever but you get a realistic picture of where your knowledge level is at. Also by sitting for the exam you will remove any nerves if you have to take the exam again. Nothing better than seeing "Congrats" on the screen after all the hard work.

jayskata

Magic Johnson wrote: »

So I've finished my Cisco Press book, and I'm just watching some CBT Nuggets of topics I think I'm not getting that well, doing labbing etc but I can't help feeling that I'm stagnating. I...HATE...this feeling. Feels like total limbo.

How do you attack it from this point? Should I do some practice exams? The thing is I've read you can only do 'em once then they become useless because you memorise the answers, so I'm scared to do it haha. I also don't want to book the test in case I'm not ready. I think I'm so nervous because it means that much to me, and possibly that I'm scared to fail, because it'll mean all the fall outs, the lost time with the family, the falling behind a bit at work wouldn't have been worth it.

Anybody else feel/felt the same and what did you do about it? Some advice greatly appreciated, this is my first professional exam too.

Mate take Jeremy's advice and book the exam sched..that way it will add pressure to your study and motivate you to be focus at the same time. We all made a lot of sacrifices here to pass the cert exam. However, failure is also a possibility, what you can do the most here is "expect less and do your best". You might want to visit www.9 t u t.com (w/out spaces between letters) and test your knowledge there. There are lots of good CCNA Questions/Lab Sim you can do there.

Magic Johnson

Thanks so much guys, its nice to know that I'm not alone in feeling this way and you guys did overcome it and achieve what you wanted.

Funnily enough, Odom advises to hold off booking the exam until you're ready, where as Ciora advises to book it and that will motivate you!

I'm going to actually smash this out now, over Christmas period when I'm w̶o̶r̶k̶i̶n̶g at work I will be able to put in at least 5 hours a day, maybe more, then I'll think about booking it. I'm too focused on perfection, the 1000/1000, the holy grail. Its what I'll aim for at least! Haha.

Thanks again!

Staunchy

Good luck and keep us posted on your progress. Are you going the 2 exam route or composite exam?

Working on networks daily help reinforces your knowledge that you gained.

Magic Johnson

Staunchy wrote: »

Good luck and keep us posted on your progress. Are you going the 2 exam route or composite exam?

Working on networks daily help reinforces your knowledge that you gained.

2 exam route. I use the Boson lab basically daily just picking random labs here and there. We have HP switches so some of the syntax is the same-ish but our CISCO kit is managed so it is purely lab environment for me!

Staunchy

Magic Johnson wrote: »

2 exam route. I use the Boson lab basically daily just picking random labs here and there. We have HP switches so some of the syntax is the same-ish but our CISCO kit is managed so it is purely lab environment for me!

Feel the pain if everything is managed by 3rd party companies

Magic Johnson

BTW I had a look at ****, basically same questions as Pearson except some of them have incorrect answers (I guess this means I am paying attention?). Is it legit or a dodge website?

EDIT: LOL I guess the stars answer my question!