640-801 JUST PASSED!!

Just finished my 640-801 first attempt. I scored a 923/1000. It was definitely difficult, but not impossible by any means. I had no idea I would have so many questions on NAT and ISDN/PPP/HDLC.

I'll be glad to answer any questions I can!

Josh Gibson - CCNA =o)

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Comments

remyforbes777

I am studying for the CCNA now. What equipment did you use? What books did you use to study and what study techniques did you implement?

Humper

Congratulations

Ricka182

congrats!

gibby1801

remyforbes777 wrote:

I am studying for the CCNA now. What equipment did you use? What books did you use to study and what study techniques did you implement?

I used the Cisco Press books for (INTRO) and (ICND). I also bought the Exam Cram books but they are not really any good. Cisco Press is much better. I also used practice questions from thebryantadvantage.com. As far as lab equipment goes, I've used all kinds of things at work to get experience. I work for a fortune 50 company and have anything from 7206's to 1811's to 3560's, you name it, we got it. Nothing replaces hands on experience, so I would advice using the Boson Network Simulator often.

Hope that helps!

steve-o87

DirtySouth

Congratulations!!! Were there any questions in particular that you weren't prepared for? Anything that caught you off-guard that we should look for?

mikej412

Congratulations!

ITdude

Congrats!!!

Slowhand

Congratulations! How long did you spend preparing before you took the exam?

gibby1801

I was caught off guard by one of the screens I saw from a "show run" command which had a ...... configured. The question wanted to know what need to be done (what was left off the configuration) in order to allow ........ Luckily, I have configured DHCP pools on routers at work, so I knew how to do it, but I had not seen that anywhere in any of the material I have studied.

To answer another question, I studied on and off for about a year, but when I scheduled my exam, I gave myself two months and oh by the way, I got married in between those dates haha! It was a hectic two month stretch but I got through it and have already gotten 3 emails from recruiters since I updated my resume on dice, montster, and careerbuilder.com. I think the certs more than pay for themselves!

Later,

gibby1801

Make that 4 emails!

Humper

gibby1801 wrote:

I was caught off guard by one of the screens I saw from a "show run" command which had ....

I think thats a possible NDA violation

mikej412

ModemHumper wrote:

I think thats a possible NDA violation

Yeah.... probably.

But I don't see anything in the exam blueprints (old or new) that would point anyone to study "that." And I can't remember if it was covered in the Cisco CCNA Network Academy stuff.... It was in the CCNP stuff somewhere. Maybe it was an ungraded question indicating a possible shift of CCNP material to the CCNA.

I guess I shall exercise the moderator edit power, as related to the question.

I ....'ed out the question related material. So assume any statements of experience are now "stand alone" and have no relation to any questions that may have been asked.

bmauro

I will add that I agree with mike that the subject of the "possible" NDA infraction was not covered in any of the books I've read for the CCNA.

Like gibby - I've configured the said subject at work, so I would be ok, but if that had not been the case I would be screwed. Not included in the blueprint...the only thing I'm hoping is that question was one of the "beta" questions that wasn't scored.

Cisco does do that right? Asking beta questions for future tests that aren't scored?

loboernesto

I'm not sure if this is what you are talking about...I hope I'm not playing the fool!!
in the cisco network academy program..: CCNA 4: wan technologies --> Module 1: scaling IP addresses --> chapter 1.2: DHCP)
is all about DHCP and its configuration....Is it what you were talking about??

Hope it is, otherwise i really got it wrong.
cheers

bmauro

Well all I can say is that DHCP isn't covered at all in Lammle's Sybex book, and isn't covered at all in either the Cisco Intro or ICND books.

The only subject that I believe comes close to this is the nat pools that need to be created for dynamic nat.

Not saying that every study source does or does not have this subject, all I know is that two of the more popular books - Sybex and Cisco Press don't cover this subject at all.

Paul Boz

So how much WAN stuff was on it? That's the only thing that's even remotely giving me trouble (simply because I don't enjoy it at all, hehe).

bmauro

What WAN subjects are giving you problems?

I would say know Frame-Relay, PPP, HDLC very well since those are subjects that you will need to know down the road.

ISND - you should understand the basics from what I hear. Although DDR is used beyond ISDN and should not be skipped.

mikej412

loboernesto wrote:

CCNA 4: wan technologies --> Module 1: scaling IP addresses --> chapter 1.2: DHCP)
is all about DHCP and its configuration....Is it what you were talking about??

I've always said the Network Academy Course does cover more material than you need for the CCNA. Yep -- I just checked.... that's it. But I don't remember needing it back in the old days. But I guess you may now want to stay awake while reading this now. And it even has a couple of labs!

I think there were DHCP Pools in BCRAN -- in relation to PPP and Modems and assigning the dial-in hosts IP addresses....

There was a thread here already about routers & DHCP -- and in real life it makes sense to use a "real DHCP server."

J2tehk

I did notice that there was a section in the CCNA Command Book for DHCP Pools, but not int he regular cisco press study books.

deneb829

excellent! Congrats!

romain

Nice score ! Congrats

Paul Boz

What was your preparation like before the test? If you had to rank the difficulty of the test how would you? While you were taking it where there any parts that made you wish you'd paid more attention to it in practice?

keenon

Overlord1

Congratzz

Alien

Congratulations. My best advice is dont stop now. Party today and then get back at it tommorrow with MCP, CCNP or whatever.

EdTheLad

Alien wrote:

Congratulations. My best advice is dont stop now. Party today and then get back at it tommorrow with MCP, CCNP or whatever.

Over a week of partying? maybe a bit excessive but it normally takes me about a week to settle into study again.