Cisco Academy Program

I'm in the Cisco Academy Program 2nd semester in college, and just took my routing test final and got a 98%...misssed one question. I start my switching course next week.

The Cisco Academy Program is a good program and contains a lot of important material. I do feel that the books for the program are not as clear as the Sybex book is.

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bighit1

I finished the Cisco Academy Program in August. I took the 640-607 in September and failed. I don't feel the program prepares you for the CCNA Exam. Another guy in my class took the test twice and failed. We both did very well in the program.

I'm thinking about taking a boot camp course.

Sartan

How did you find CCNA1? I took the cisco.netacad.net semester one and only managed a 77% average, whilst my classmates scored in the 50~60% range. We were taught the content, we had the materials, we knew the stuff, but the module exams were killing us. The multiple multiple choice bullshit. Is CCNA2 any better?
(This is for CCNA 3.0 levels 1-4)

2Tahoe

I finished all 4 semesters of the Cisco Academy in May. At the end of semester 4 there was a practice CCNA exam. The questions were a lot harder/more in depth than on all of the tests I took throughout the academy. After that practice exam I did not feel ready so I went out and bought the Cisco Press 640-607 Practice Flashcard Kit. I went through it very thoroughly and still failed the exam on my first try. That failure along with advice on this site focused my studying. I passed the exam just two days ago. I found out that you can't just memorize the material to pass the exam. You need to be able to recall and apply your knowledge. Although our instructor gave good instruction we did not spend enough time in the labs with him. The more time spent in the labs the easier the exam will be.

tolkienfan

I just finished taking the Managing Cisco IOS Software Module 5. I made a 78.3 on it. In fact this is third time in a row I have made 78.3 on these tests. The first Module I made a 95.7. So based on these my average is in the low 80s, a low B. The wording of the questions is only part of the problem. During CCNA1, if you studied the online material you could expect to make in the high 80s or higher. In semester 2, you MUST study the online material, your labs from your lab book and read the chapter in the textbook that corresponds to the material the online Academy is talking about. After doing all of this it is still very difficult to score an A on the test. I am taking the course at a local community college. Our class has 13 students and scores on the tests seem to average in the 60s and 70s.

mpugsley

I'm currently taking semester 3 at N.A.I.T, i've scored mid 60's low 70's on all my module exams in previous semesters. I find that the cisco academy marks do not reflect the actual knowledge i have of the material. However i have heard that cisco has changed their tests so that on the pick 3 or all that apply we will now receive part marks instead of a 0.

Webmaster

mpugsley wrote:

However i have heard that cisco has changed their tests so that on the pick 3 or all that apply we will now receive part marks instead of a 0.

I very much doubt that is true...

tolkienfan

I can easilly ace the practise test for the Module and answer the questions in the Companion textbook but when it comes to the actual online questions, I have a really hard time. All of this added to the fact that the online tests count 40% of my grade at the community college I attend.

Sometimes I wonder if the test writers are even looking at what information the online modules present.

viper75

It is true what Cisco is doing now in the Academy program. They are giving partial credit on multiple choice answers for the module test. Our Cisco Adacemy (Switching Basics) classes had a meeting this past Thursday night to discuss the new Curriculum because for those of you who do not know it Cisco made the Curriculum harder v3.0 and lots of schools across the country are complaining that the module test are way too hard and the course material is to difficult.

Cisco is is in the process of re-writing the curriculum and making it a bit easier.

tolkienfan

I hope that this is true. I know for one that our instructor has been catching a great deal of grief from students complaining that the tests do not accurately reflect their level of understanding the topics discussed in the modules. My instructor told us that the writers of the tests are CCNPs whose job it is to sit at home and create these tests while pulling down salaries of $100K+ a year. I do not know if that is true but I have looked over many of the questions that are on the CCNA and they are no where near as difficult as the Academy v3.0 tests.

An interesting thing we have noticed while going through Academy 3.0 is that on several tests, there have been questions that are not related to the module we were studying. Cisco goes back and regrades these exams and kicks those out.

There seems to be a lack of quality control when it comes to the CISCO Academy.

Webmaster

viper75 wrote:

It is true what Cisco is doing now in the Academy program. They are giving partial credit on multiple choice answers for the module test.

I'm sorry, I thought he meant the CCNA exam itself...

viper75

If you login to the Cisco Academy site with your username and password you can do a search and see for yourself on what's going on with v3.0. A lot of complains by Professors and students. The module test are made to be more difficult from the actual CCNA Cert exam. I hope they fix this soon because it's really frustrating when you go into class and you can't really understand what is being taught because of thew difficulty of it. Plus the book does not correspond to the online material.

illusha

I am a ccna 2 student at the high school I go to. Last year I took ccna 1 and it was easy with the help of my teachers and generally just reading the material. I didn't even study, but i still got good grades maybe it was because we could look in the cisco books while we were taking the tests and use notes. This year I started ccna 2 and was happily going along for a week or 2 in which the first chapter test a got a A. Then cisco version 3 came along and it erased our previous score which was very annoying. I have taken tests up till chapter 7 and I have to say I am very mad with cisco. One of the things that helped me the most last year was the after test review where it saids what content (not question and answer but the subject) I got wrong which made me look and study hard at that and i improved the next time I took it. Now that option is no longer availble which has made the tests very hard along with the wording and multiple choice which i do not like. Now I have about 3 weeks left to take finish 6 tests and get 70%+ or higher . I hope I do make it, if i do I don't know if i want to take the BIG CCNA EXAM

viper75

Yeah, the Cisco Acad. v3.0 is very difficult. A lot of my peers from my night course have dropped out of the class because of the material and how difficult Cisco made their program. Cisco is changing their material again not sure of the ver. number but from what I have read they are going to make it a bit easier. They are going to have have practice finals like ver. 2.1.4 did.

Todd1225

Well, it has been my experience that it's rare for a course and official cirriculum to prepare you for the exam. Here is my two cents on what we really should do to prepare.

- Know the cirriculum inside and out, also practice the drills over and over.
- Take enough time to really learn it.

In a perfect world, those would be great. I face the same challenge, I want to really learn it to be able to kick butt in a new job, but then again I wanna hurry up and get out of this job i'm in....

illusha

do you know when that version is coming out?

viper75

The new ver. is coming out in the middle of January I think. It's supposed to be easier then the ridiculous one they have now.

illusha

well that sucks, that's next semester. I hope i pass this semester

illusha

what do you think is easier? taking ccna at a highschool or at a college? at my highschool you need 70+ to pass and the teacher will reactivate a test even if you took it 3 times and failed, futhermore my teacher grades differently from cisco and takes the participation and drawing journals and stuff like that into account, basically my teacher makes this class so much easier than it would than in college, I am not happy because my teacher does not teach, she hardly knows anything about cisco and I am not learning as much as I have hoped and this is a high school ccna class

viper75

Not sure about that...in college the passing grade is 70 too or 75. If you feel like your teacher is not prepared and is not teaching you what you need to learn you can get intouch with the Cisco Acad. via email or even by calling them. Let them know how you feel. Not sure what they will do about it but it's worth a try.

illusha

I was wondering if taking 4 semesters of cisco without taking the ccna exam if employers would look at you and say that's not a big accomplishment because I am not sure if I want to take the cisco exam cause of money and lots of time to study but I want my employer to recognize that I did take ccna and I did do a good job with it like I would do a good job if he/she hired me

Caveman2001

Your employers will say that's not a big accomplishment. If I walk in and you and I were fighting for the same job, the employer will put me above you in the stack of possible hires because I'm more qualified than you are. As I've learned so far in my short career in the IT industry, you need certs and/or experience to get yourself in the door, and then you better be able to make things work to keep your job.

I went through the tech academy myself and I just passed my CCNA exam 11/15/2003 and I believe the tech academy did NOT do a very good job preping me for the actual exam. I did pass on my first try, but it was by far the most difficult test I had taken after 2 semesters of schooling and like 6 to 8 transcender tests.

The actual cert means more than taking classes, but solid work experience is the best I believe.

triple J

I'm getting ready to take CCNA 3 ver 3 in college. I'll agree it's a tough course but I scored a 94% and a 95% in the first two classes. We couldn't use notes or the textbooks and had to get at least 80% or you had to retake it. If on the second try you passed you only received 80% for it. If you read the book, read the online material, and did the labs I feel you can get at least an 80% on the tests. This monday I'm going to take the first half (cisco 641-821) and I feel pretty good about it. Just going to cram on port numbers and transport layer protocol.

Drakonblayde

*peaks out from around the corner*

Well, I'm 4 weeks into the Cisco Academy curriculum at school, and let's just say it's been a bit overwhelming. I knew I was in for a lot of work, but I didn't expect just how much. The fact that I'm coming in on a curriculum shift is a bit irritating because I know there's going to be mistakes. So far, from the CCNA1 book, there have been several errors and typos. The Engineering Journal that we're required to work through does not ask questions that are in the reading or the online curriculum. I'm scoring well on the module exams, all 100's so far except for one 97.7 where I received partial on a Multiple Choice, Multiple Answer question. This was the only class I took this quarter because I knew it was going to be a boatload of work, and I wasn't wrong. On average, I spend an additional 2 hours per day outside of class preparing for the module exams. Right now it's on basic crap like the basics of electricity and sound waves and light waves and stuff like that for which I have no background, so it's a bit of a steep learning curve. I'm hoping that when we get past the conceptual basic BS that the curriculum and book will be of more benefit and I won't have to do as much research outside of the curriculum.

Our instructor is being realistic, they changed the curriculum on him and he's not really fully prepared for it either. It's harder than it needs to be, but to help us out, he gives us study guides that track pretty much exactly to the test, so we know exactly what we need to study to pass the modules. Now, whether or not this prepares us for the certification exam is questionable, but I always do a boatload of outside preparation for any exam I'm going to sit anyway. We have a brand spanking new lab with each student getting their own router to play with, so I'm confident that I'll get all the hands on experience I need. The rest is just skullwork, and I can prep for that just fine on my own.

All in all, I knew it was going to be alot of work, and I haven't been disappointed. I'm not going to rely on just Cisco's published material to prepare for the exam because for me it's not enough to just pass the exam, I have to understand the underlying concepts and be able to apply them instead of just regurgitate rote memorization

jamesmilby

I agree that the new 3.0 is difficult but things could always be worse. We are taking all 4 semesters in 8 weeks. I just passed semester two last week at 2 modules a day. Needless to say I am at pure saturation. here is a link that has helped the others in our class with the material. It has a ppt jeopordy and some question/answer sheets that really help. Enjoy http://www.wrhs.net/messages_from_staff/greenciscostudyguides_v30.htm

Drakonblayde

Ah, now those look familiar

Those are the same study guides the instructor has been giving us before the tests, and they track almost exactly to what's actually in the module exam. Thanks!

madhu_kongoti

i just completed my course in zoom tech.

Sartan

I'm SO glad that wasn't one of my assignments (jeopardy) lol!

illusha

I got a email a few days CCNA 4 Version 3.1 was released in late December 2003. CCNA 1-3 Version 3.1 will be released incrementally beginning in April 2004 starting with CCNA 2 followed by CCNA 3 and CCNA 1.

CCNA Version 3.1 will contain the following enhancements:

1. CCNA Version 3.1 will contain Personalized Feedback.

2. Technical Errors will be corrected.

3. Grammatical and Readability Edits will be implemented.

4. The Downloadable version of CCNA Version 3.1 curriculum will contain dynamic Search and Web Link features.*

In order to use the Search feature embedded in the downloaded curriculum, a valid Academy username and password will be required. Additionally, these features can only be used when a student or instructor is enrolled in an active CCNA Version 3.1 class.

As a reminder, Personalized Feedback will enable students to see a personalized map of the Target Indicators associated with the exam items they answered incorrectly on the online assessment.

CCNA 3.1 was originally planned to be released in its entirety in December of 2003, however, Cisco experienced delays in utilizing the functionality of the tools used to transform the curriculum from static to dynamic (non-Personalized Feedback enabled to Personalized Feedback enabled). ago that cisco curriculm is upgrading to 3.1,

Hopefully this will make the tests much easier so we can actually pass it. The best cisco student in my class took chapter 1 in cisco 3 3.0 and failed it, he didn't have any notes, but he read the chapter and took it. Cisco upgraded last year and we had to enroll in 3.1 class and all our test scores were erased, will the same thing happen here?

tweak

I too am a third semester student at Cisco's netacademy and have been enjoying some of the moaning here. I was afraid that it was just me.

I was surprised to see "illusha" remarks about Module tests.

we could look in the cisco books while we were taking the tests and use notes.

and

the teacher will reactivate a test even if you took it 3 times and failed

Is this common? My first reaction is frustration that I have a stricter curriculum but then I realized that my curriculum would probably prepare me better for the Cert Exam. Anyone have thoughts on this?

tweak

dpr1011111

HERE ARE MY CURRENT GRADES IN CISCO II CCNA 3.0
module

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
84.1 85.4 83.7 67.4 93.0 95.3 94.0 98.2

I just study the ciriculumn and find the tests mediorce....

-David
the CCNA wizard

if you need proof just leave a post and ill show u via screen shot /html code /phone/ aim/ email how ever u want the proof