Passed ICND1 !

Let me tell you guys, you all scared me! I did the Network+ prior to this and I found that test much harder, and also very very useful for the ICND1. When it came to the shift from Net+ to CCENT, it helped knowing how routers forward packets, switches with frames, OSI model, port #s, etc. When I got to the CCENT it was mostly just configuration of things I knew, plus obviously cisco-specific commands.

Let me tell you, the question set up is awkward. When you are on a simulator that has 4 questions, if you press next, it actually skips the entire simulator instead of going to question #2 of the simulator. It prompts you with a "ARE YOU SURE YOU WANT TO SKIP" message box, but I really hated that. What if someone was not aware of what they were doing? They would have lost the points on 3 questions.

The wording was much better than CompTIA.

I used the CBT Nuggets (liked it)
Boson Ex-Sim Max (loved it)
Lynda tutorials (ehhh. The vidoes were VERY bare, the total course was about 6 hours). BUT -- they do give you packet tracer labs with follow along instructions in the video. Very good aspect there.
Odom book. Probably useful, but it was such a dry read and I did more binge reading than understanding.

Things I did wrong:
Binge read
Binge watch videos

By the time I started taking practice tests I was like ummmm what did I read 20 chapters ago? So I would say the best option would be to:
Read a chapter of a topic
Watch the related video tutorial to help hammer things in
Try a simulation/lab/hand write the commands for that one topic

Then move to topic 2, and repeat.

I got a 919/1000.

I studied for many many months, much more than I needed to. I over-studied. The test was ZERO configuration, and more just diagnostics. If I knew that beforehand, I would have passed it much much earlier. But I guess the over preparation made it that much easier. Plus in real world you need to configure regardless.

So those are my thoughts.

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GDaines

Well done.

I've also been studying for far too long. Some of the questions that get posted on here I have completely nailed so have given answers, and I've got subnetting nailed too. That said, it's only the last month or so I've been doing labs (with the exception of a network design I did early on) which really helped make some subjects stick. I just wish there were more labs available to follow with my physical kit, maybe something we can all work on to put something together? It seems to be more on the theory side of things I fall down on rather than configuration and making things work in the real-world.

Within the last couple of weeks I've started doing practice questions/exams. I've done all the CCNA practice questions on here but failed all but the subnetting with typical scores around 65% (100% on the subnetting), and I've now done the practice tests at learncisco.net twice, and failed both times with I think 765 (?) and 764

I'm gonna give the Sybex tests that came with the Todd Lammle/William Tedder deluxe study guide a try next, see how I do on them before returning for a third try on LearnCisco.

My exam isn't booked yet but I'm hoping to call next week for a slot sometime this month with a bit of luck, so I still have time to get in some last minute revision.

My weakest areas seem to be the OSI model layers and what they do, along with PDU types and where they fit in the OSI model. I thought I knew the OSI model and PDU types, but the wording of the questions was just obscure enough to confuse me. Other questions I failed included output filters for show commands, which answers best describe anything such as describe NAT, describe distance vector routing protocols, describe link state routing protocols, describe IPv6 neighbor discovery (again confused by the wording), and one question that came up on both attempts had 'Interconnections' as the answer which isn't a term I've come across before.

Oh well, time to suck it up and get my study head on...

Remington1872

Congratulations on the pass. The instructor where I am going has us pretty worked up on how hard the exam is going to be. I just passed Security plus on Thursday so my time from here on out will be for the ICND1 I am going to get the bosun software this weekend. Subnetting is my weak point for quickness, I can do it just I am not fast with it.
[h=2][/h]

sillymcnasty

GDaines wrote: »

My weakest areas seem to be the OSI model layers and what they do, along with PDU types and where they fit in the OSI model. I thought I knew the OSI model and PDU types, but the wording of the questions was just obscure enough to confuse me. Other questions I failed included output filters for show commands, which answers best describe anything such as describe NAT, describe distance vector routing protocols, describe link state routing protocols, describe IPv6 neighbor discovery (again confused by the wording), and one question that came up on both attempts had 'Interconnections' as the answer which isn't a term I've come across before.

Well if it's any help, I learned these shortcuts for the PDU names. SPFB, Some people fear birthdays. Segments, Packets, Frames, Bits. That's for layers Transport, Network, Data Link, Physical layers, respectively. (Going down from Layer 4 to 1). OSI is remembered as Please Do Not Throw Sausage Pizza Away (going upwards from level 1 to 7).

NAT differentiation should be easy enough. STATIC is a 1 to 1 mapping. Dynamic is allocated through a pool. And PAT/NatOverload is using 1 IP address with different TCP source ports, and is required to end the command with the overload command.

Distance vectors go by Hop Count. (How far something is).
Link state goes by speed/bandwidth.

Interconnections, yeah.. I don't know. lol

Also, yes I agree 1000000% on the labs. I bought routers and switches and they just ended up sitting there because there's no real clear cut labs differentiated by the number of equipment and type of equipment." Like, it could be nice if I could find a "1 router and 1 switch config lab" or "2 routers and 2 switches lab" or "5 routers and 3 switches (like I have lol)." lab. Granted the 5 and 3 is a bit overkill but hey. If I could use OSPF and hop through 3 routers and get to a vlan by trunking my way through 3 switches, why not? lol

sillymcnasty

Remington1872 wrote: »

Congratulations on the pass. The instructor where I am going has us pretty worked up on how hard the exam is going to be. I just passed Security plus on Thursday so my time from here on out will be for the ICND1 I am going to get the bosun software this weekend. Subnetting is my weak point for quickness, I can do it just I am not fast with it.

Yeah, fast subnetting I would say is a requirement. I am able to do it in my head/on my fingers. I got it just through repetition. First, if it's a /28, I start counting on my fingers.. "Okay, so, starting from 24, a 28 is.. 25 26 27 28. So that's 4" then I count on my 4 fingers "128 192 224 240" then I say "Okay, its 240, 240 is a block size of 16." and if it says what is the broadcast address for 192.168.30.83/28. I say "Okay, going by 16.. 16, 32, 48, 64, 80.. okay so it belongs to subnet 80. Next subnet is 96, broadcast mean its 95).

DAVIS NGUYEN

Congrats!

GDaines

sillymcnasty wrote: »

Well if it's any help, I learned these shortcuts for the PDU names: Some People Fear Birthdays = Segments, Packets, Frames, Bits.

I like that one, all I have to do is commit it to memory to remind me in which order they're created down the stack. For the OSI model I have always remembered 'All People Seem To Need Data Processing'. Works for me.

sillymcnasty wrote: »

NAT differentiation should be easy enough. STATIC is a 1 to 1 mapping. Dynamic is allocated through a pool. And PAT/NatOverload is using 1 IP address with different TCP source ports, and is required to end the command with the overload command.

The question that got me was this one:

Which of the following describes a dynamic NAT configuration?
A. Manually configured, one-to-one address mapping
B. Automatically assigned from an address pool, many-to-many address mapping
C. Many-to-one address mapping

I went with C as you often have to share one public address between many clients, but as I'm typing I'm thinking to myself that that's PAT as I had to set it up on my lab for internet access. The correct answer was B, and A is obviously static mapping. I might have faired better if I had to pair each of the statements with NAT, PAT and Static, but we'll never know.

sillymcnasty wrote: »

Distance vectors go by Hop Count. (How far something is).
Link state goes by speed/bandwidth.

Two questions, each with 2 correct answers from the same 4 possible answers. Would be easier if asked to identify which two relate to distance vector and which two relate to link state as you could use a process of elimination, but as separate questions at different times I slipped up on both:

Which two of the following statements describe a link state routing protocol?
Which two of the following statements describe a distance vector routing protocol?

A. Each router builds its own internal map of the network topology
B. Update messages are propagated to all routers running the same routing protocol
C. Periodic update messages are sent whether there is a change in the network or not
D. Only concerned with how far and in what direction the destination is

sillymcnasty wrote: »

Also, yes I agree 1000000% on the labs. I bought routers and switches and they just ended up sitting there because there's no real clear cut labs differentiated by the number of equipment and type of equipment." Like, it could be nice if I could find a "1 router and 1 switch config lab" or "2 routers and 2 switches lab" or "5 routers and 3 switches (like I have lol)." lab. Granted the 5 and 3 is a bit overkill but hey. If I could use OSPF and hop through 3 routers and get to a vlan by trunking my way through 3 switches, why not? lol

I'm up to 5 routers and 4 switches right now, but the most I've used to date is:
> 1 router/3 switches/3 PCs for my first lab which reflected a possible real-world setup.
> 3 routers for the routing protocols RIP, EIGRP and OSPF.
> 3 switches for STP (I posted a thread not long ago regarding some fairly extensive testing on STP I did, and I'm planning to go even further with a 4th switch).

I really need to do something with ACLs and IPv6 next.

gncsmith

Congrats!

sillymcnasty

GDaines wrote: »

The question that got me was this one:

Which of the following describes a dynamic NAT configuration?
A. Manually configured, one-to-one address mapping
B. Automatically assigned from an address pool, many-to-many address mapping
C. Many-to-one address mapping

I went with C as you often have to share one public address between many clients, but as I'm typing I'm thinking to myself that that's PAT as I had to set it up on my lab for internet access. The correct answer was B, and A is obviously static mapping. I might have faired better if I had to pair each of the statements with NAT, PAT and Static, but we'll never know.

Well, you just proved if you break down each choice, the answer is obvious!

Two questions, each with 2 correct answers from the same 4 possible answers. Would be easier if asked to identify which two relate to distance vector and which two relate to link state as you could use a process of elimination, but as separate questions at different times I slipped up on both:

Which two of the following statements describe a link state routing protocol?
Which two of the following statements describe a distance vector routing protocol?

A. Each router builds its own internal map of the network topology
B. Update messages are propagated to all routers running the same routing protocol
C. Periodic update messages are sent whether there is a change in the network or not
D. Only concerned with how far and in what direction the destination is

I would say AB is link state, and CD is distance vector. RIP goes by how far (hop count). Also, RIP always sends updates whether there are changes or not, that's just how it works. By process of elimination, the link state ones answer themselves. lol. But yeah, OSPF for example updates when there is a change (update messages).

I'm up to 5 routers and 4 switches right now, but the most I've used to date is:
> 1 router/3 switches/3 PCs for my first lab which reflected a possible real-world setup.
> 3 routers for the routing protocols RIP, EIGRP and OSPF.
> 3 switches for STP (I posted a thread not long ago regarding some fairly extensive testing on STP I did, and I'm planning to go even further with a 4th switch).

I really need to do something with ACLs and IPv6 next.

You seem to be have labbing down very well, so you should be okay for the test. You just need to memorize facts, like the questions you posted. For what it's worth, I was trying to kill myself with the ACLs... I don't even think I had any ACL work in the simulators. I didn't have a single ipv6 question. Supposedly there is a max of 2 IPv6 questions on the test. I can't verify that, obviously.

Thanks everyone else for the congrats!

8thdegreepwnologist

Congrats!

D2P

Congrats. Thanks for the tips.

Trucido

Congrats and thanks for the tips (everyone)

Snow.bros

Good score.

Congrats on the pass and all the best with the next exam!!!

Darkey15

Well done keep on pushing!

koz24

Congrats man!

Koolster

Hi there! Congratulations! I will be going for my exam in about 2 weeks. Did you take any practices tests, if so are the ones in the CD that came with Odom's book enough, the Pearson VUE?

And, for labs I have been watching Danscourses and Laz's videos, and have been practising them in packet tracer. How useful is Boson Ex-sims if I am already doing labs in packet tracer for ICND1? Thank you

Magmadragoon

Congratulations

WastedHat

Congrats and thanks for the info. I finished Odoms book a few weeks ago and I was tempted to skim through it once more but I found this post and I'm heeding your warning about binge reading. Doings lots of pratice exams and then labbing/reading about my weak areas now.

Koolster wrote: »

Hi there! Congratulations! I will be going for my exam in about 2 weeks. Did you take any practices tests, if so are the ones in the CD that came with Odom's book enough, the Pearson VUE?

And, for labs I have been watching Danscourses and Laz's videos, and have been practising them in packet tracer. How useful is Boson Ex-sims if I am already doing labs in packet tracer for ICND1? Thank you

Hey, I've done all the Pearson VUE pratice exams (including the extra 2 from premium edition) and I found them to be a bit easier than expected. I think it's because the questions follow a similar style to the pratice questions that the Odom book recommends you do as you go through the chapters. For example in the practice exams, the easy questions that test your theory are similar to the DIKTA questions and the harder more detailed questions are similar to the Part Review questions.

I recently got the Boson ExSim because it's supposed to be more similar to the exam, with the drag and drop and similator questions. I don't know how the written questions compare because I've not sat the exam but its definetly different to the pearson questions. I passed all the Pearson pratice exams first time and failed the Boson one I did. Some questions were outside the scope of the Odom book but theres detailed explantions in study mode. I think the Boson questions are actaully easier once you get used to them, there is far less detail compared to the Part Review questions from Pearson.

sillymcnasty

Koolster wrote: »

Hi there! Congratulations! I will be going for my exam in about 2 weeks. Did you take any practices tests, if so are the ones in the CD that came with Odom's book enough, the Pearson VUE?

And, for labs I have been watching Danscourses and Laz's videos, and have been practising them in packet tracer. How useful is Boson Ex-sims if I am already doing labs in packet tracer for ICND1? Thank you

The boson's best part is the way it makes you think. It will have a simple question like why can't Host A ping host B, but to answer that you have to know the ACLs applied, the inside NAT, the outside NAT, routing, etc. So it makes you think of all the ways and once you can get through the Boson easily, you are more than ready. So I highly recommend that over everything else.

londonlad

Sillymc - I had that awful question today which skipped questions!! Totally ruined my concentration. I did get a sim later on though . Was it a demo I wonder ?

Koolster

Thank you so much for the advice! I bought the practice exam from Boson. Another 2 weeks and then it's exam time. Thank you

sillymcnasty

londonlad wrote: »

Sillymc - I had that awful question today which skipped questions!! Totally ruined my concentration. I did get a sim later on though . Was it a demo I wonder ?

Something skipped questions ? How? Did you press next on a 4 part question instead of pressing 1-2-3-4?

Koolster wrote: »

Thank you so much for the advice! I bought the practice exam from Boson. Another 2 weeks and then it's exam time. Thank you

Good luck! It was rough to start out and seems overwhelming, but you'll be ready.

redgunner

Can I ask? Did you find Lynda Tutorials any use for packet tracer? Would you have a direct link?

jetfan

I am studying for the ICND1 exam now and am thinking 3-4 months would be sufficient. How long did you study for? Thanks.

sillymcnasty

jetfan wrote: »

I am studying for the ICND1 exam now and am thinking 3-4 months would be sufficient. How long did you study for? Thanks.

Much longer, but that is not necessary. 3 to 4 should be fine.

sillymcnasty

redgunner wrote: »

Can I ask? Did you find Lynda Tutorials any use for packet tracer? Would you have a direct link?

It is on the Lynda website

GDaines

jetfan wrote: »

I am studying for the ICND1 exam now and am thinking 3-4 months would be sufficient. How long did you study for? Thanks.

I studied for considerably longer and in the end didn't need the majority of the configuration knowledge, perhaps that'll appear on ICND2. It's more theory of how something works, paths that data will travel, what devices do with the data etc, and less configuring anything specific.

Exam objectives can be found here. I'd love to give you some pointers as to the subjects I was questioned on in my exam, but a previous post I made was censored and a paragraph deleted even though I didn't give specific questions, so I don't think I can. Even if I did, exams are different each time so there's no guarantee you'd see similar questions anyway.

Good luck. I only just scraped through, but in the end a pass is still a pass.