Just passed CCNA!

I took the 640 801 exam today! passed with 949
For those who have already taken it I don't think I need to explain how nervous I was at the moment!
My mind is completely empty now, I left everything in the exam...I should relax for a while now. I haven't decided what to do next (certification wise). Apparently CCNP is undergoing some modifications...but being CCNA my only certification at the moment I've got a wide choice including the Microsoft entry level ones (what certifications can I tackle down easily with the CCNA knowledge just gained, I want to take advantage of it before it starts leaking out of my brain!).
I can post more details on the exam if somebody wants (without violating any rule!).
Thank to everybody in the forum, I spent quite a lot of time viewing new and old threads and it was very helpful.
cheers

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Comments

steve-o87

Congratulations man

Any plans for the future certs?

loboernesto

I want to, but I don't know what yet. I could go for some microsoft one or directly to study for CCNP. But not sure yet...I'm on holiday in a couple of weeks and I owe my girlfriend a lot of time together since it's been only me and my pc for a long time, so I'm gonna give it a break until I come back from holiday. Any suggestion on what to go for next?
cheers

steve-o87

loboernesto wrote:

I want to, but I don't know what yet. I could go for some microsoft one or directly to study for CCNP. But not sure yet...I'm on holiday in a couple of weeks and I owe my girlfriend a lot of time together since it's been only me and my pc for a long time, so I'm gonna give it a break until I come back from holiday. Any suggestion on what to go for next?
cheers

Hmm...

It depends at what you want to do. I dived straight into my NP after the NA and I just got the IE books too, I would like to start juniper certs as well. That's my personal plan but it all depends where you want to go with regards to your career.

There's nothing wrong with MS certs either. A lot of employers are looking for MCSE/A's, I would say with a score like that you would do pretty well on an NP.

However, variety is the spice of life.

Good Luck and enjoy your holiday - I'm sure it's well deserved

bmauro

loboernesto - Congrats man!!!

I'm kinda in the same boat as you. I would like to start on my CCNP right now, but like you mentioned, the CCNP will be revised in 2007 (January).

I've heard that good study material will not be available until early next year (February-March) so that would give us at least three-four months until we could start studying for the new CCNP exams.

I'm using that time to finish up my MCSA - who knows - I might just stick with Microsoft and get a MCSE before going onto the CCNP.

Look into Microsoft's track either the MCSA

http://www.microsoft.com/learning/mcp/mcsa/windows2003/default.mspx

It's four exams - three if you already have an A+ and N+.

and the MCSE

http://www.microsoft.com/learning/mcp/mcse/windows2003/default.mspx

I talked to the Network Manager were I work asking if I should just go down the Cisco tracks or diversify with some Microsoft. He quickly answered with getting my MCSA or MCSE - then head on to the CCNP.

Also - if you're planning on looking at Cisco's Voice (CCVP) the expirence with Exchange will be very helpful.

Let us know what you decide!!

james_

Hi and congrats loboernesto! Great Score. I am sitting the INTRO next month. After CCNA I plan on taking MCP, employers just love to see a M$ cert there somewhere, and considering all the revision going on in the NP, I figure it would be a good time filler whilst the revisions are being made.

mikej412

Congratulations!

The Network+ could be a quick and easy cert to get right now without too much more study.

malcybood

Congrats man, glad you passed as I've seen you about on the forums for a while now so congrats!

How long did you take to study for CCNA that you were confident you were pretty comfortable? What did you focus on more when studying, learning the actual theory or more towards router and switch config practice?

I done the CNAP 4 years ago now but I think if you learn it well it seems to stick i.e. subnetting etc and I feel like I am reminding myself than learning from scratch. Been studying for a couple of months now since I passed Net+ in Aug.

I sit my exam on 23rd Jan so a while to go yet but I'm sure it'll creep up on me! I am doing the 640-801 as opposed to the 2 exam route!

P.S. I reckon you should do CCDA next as it overlaps quite heavily with CCNA even if it's just to get another cert. You shouldnt require silly amounts of study for this while the CCNA stuff is still fresh......this and as Mikej says Net+ should be quite straight forward

More advanced certs when you get your head straight you could look into the ccsp and the VPN, Firewall Specialist exams....one step at a time though have a good holiday

Well done again

bmauro

The only thing I would through in there about the CCDA.

I was seriously looking at that for my next cert - but after reading the posts here it didn't look to be the best idea.

Most of the people that posted recommended that you should have a CCNP before going for a CCDA, even though it isn't required. The feeling was to get the most out of a CCDA you need to have the material in the CCNP tracks covered already, and that there was little overlap from the CCNA to the CCDA.

http://www.techexams.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=18361

If anyone has any first hand experience I would love to be corrected - since I wouldn't mind having a CCDA either

malcybood

bmauro wrote:

Most of the people that posted recommended that you should have a CCNP before going for a CCDA, even though it isn't required. The feeling was to get the most out of a CCDA you need to have the material in the CCNP tracks covered already, and that there was little overlap from the CCNA to the CCDA.

My Cisco Instructor at college advised us to do the CCNA (was part of the college course) and sit the exam, make that our main aim....then pursue the Net+ and CCDA as what we learned at college through the degree course and CCNA is enough to equip you for these certs. Dunno if he just meant this to give us a better chance of getting a job with more certs but it is what he done himself and I think it's definately do-able and would benefit you even without the CCNP!

It just depends on how you understand things and take things in and also what you're interested in learning about i guess. "Different strokes for Different folks"

I plan CCNA in Jan, CCDA 2 - 3 months after that, then I think I may move to linux for a while. Play about with it a bit and go for Linux+

netteaser

hey malcybood are you from edinburg, tx?

soulchild10011

I'm wondering what did you study to take the exam?

zenlakin

I second that. I am wanting to start studying for the ccna and I am curious what material you studied from. I also want to mention that I have access to the cisco net academy ccna and ccnp material. Just wanting to know if that is enough or if I should get some books, practice exams, etc... Thanks

malcybood

netteaser wrote:

hey malcybood are you from edinburg, tx?

No I am from Edinburgh, Scotland

loboernesto

Hi, for those wondering how long I studied for and what I studied:

I attended to the first module of the CNAP back in april (I read the second module at the same time). after passing the final exam of that module I decided to spend the money of the other modules in equipment in order to set up a home lab and thus study by myself. (this first module really helped me though since I didn't know much about networking)
As for materials I used the curriculum provided by CNAP (you can access any module once you assisted to the first one), it has one or more labs for each topic so is quite good if you have the equipment (or sim) to do them.
I did the other two modules left (3 an 4) by myself and when I had the last one almost done I booked an date for the exam a month in advance. In that month I spend quite a lot of time on the web reading on the subjects for which I needed more than one explanation, I found this forum and I dig quite a lot aswell (what really helped me was answering questions even if I had to learn it myself prior to post, things really stick that way!). In the last week I reviewed with wendell odom's cert guides which was good because there were some topics I hadn't seen in the other material.
And finally what I most focused on was OSI layer model, TCP/IP, STP, PPP and HDLC, VLANs and VTP, Frame Relay, ISDN and all the Routing Protocols and the respective configurations and troubleshooting methods for each of this topics(lots of debugging!! and pay attention to details when debugging)

Subnetting, ACLs, NAT and the others were a one of, once I learned them and did the labs I was able to put them aside (they seem to be very heavy on the exam though particularly subnetting), but for the topics above I had to re-read the concepts and theories from various sources.

I didn't have hands on experience or had ever had a job in IT before taking the exam. (I hope to get a job related to IT soon! working 4am to 12am for sainsbury's as a baker really sucks...and it was difficult to study without falling asleep in front of the monitor!!)

So for those who are in the same situation as me (no experience), i think is doable with re right amount of study time per day (watch out for the girlfriend as well! it almost cost me my one!!).

for the exam in particular my one advice is to be careful with the time, I finished with 20 minutes spare and I think that cost me a few points. I was rushing quite a lot and since I don't remember facing any question on a topic I didn't know my guess is that I missed a few points because I rushed. The questions are really tricky and it's easy to misunderstand what they are asking or choose one of the options that are there just to confuse you.

Hope this helps others. I'm sorry, i didn't mean to write such a long post! cheers.

kobem

congrats man , now turn is on me

keenon

finchx6

Congrats! I'd personally recommend taking it easy for a while. With all the knowledge needed for the CCNA, the Network+ should be no problem at all, and theres always the A+ as well... neither are THAT highly regarded (both entry level) but its more to list on the resume regardless, and I'm pretty sure you'll find both quite easy. I'm currently doing the opposite, I got the A+ and Net+ a LOOOOONG time ago, and now I'm being forced to study up and prepare for the CCNA 801 exam in one month, so I'm sweating bullets over here...LOL