Subnetting speed

surfthegecko · March 2009

Hi,

I was just wondering what most people thought was an acceptable time for working out subnetting questions.

I am consistantly hitting anywhere between 30-60 seconds per question depending on the depth of the question.

Is this quick enough. I feel it is probably a good speed, but did read somewhere that 20seconds is the ideal time for all subnetting questions.

I know it doesnt sound like a lot in it, but when you only have 90 minutes for 50 questions, it only gives you 1.8minutes per questions. If you get a couple of sims thats a chunk of time gone already.

Trying to maximise my time.
Thoughts?

Thanks
Nick

Morty3 · March 2009

Keep subnetting for 15 minutes a day and you will be hitting the 20-secs in the matter of weeks. You will start recognizing the masks and it will really be fast.

yanks4everontop · March 2009

I'll tell you from my experience taking ICND1, you really just need to know subnetting inside and out. I didn't have a single question that was specifically about subnetting. I can tell you this though, probably 60-70% of the questions required you know subnetting inside and out to complete them, including the sims. I think the important thing is not so much how long it takes you to complete a subnetting question, but if you really understand the entire concept completely. That way it doesn't matter what format the question appears in.

surfthegecko · March 2009

Morty,
err....unfortunately I dont have weeks.

I did something daft

and just booked my exam for this Tuesday.
I knew I wasnt ready but I only really work well under pressure, otherwise I tend to put everything off and never achieve anything.

I would rather fail quickly so I can learn my weaknesses faster than never do it at all.
Thats just me though.

Fingers crossed.

Yanks
good advice, I will just practice loads more, like you say its knowing it inside out. I think im almost there, its normally when I rush too much that I make a silly mistake eg misread the question and put down the first host address rather than the last.

So far so good, nobody has really said its bad to take 30-60 seconds, the main thing is getting it right I suppose.

amp2030 · March 2009

This may not be a popular opinion, but if you are going for speed, stay away from the binary subnetting method. There, I've said it. It simply involves way too much computation to be done consistently, accurately, under 30 seconds.

maumercado · March 2009

Check this out... its a video promoted by cisco...

YouTube - Subnet the Easy and Fast way

surfthegecko · March 2009

amp, i definitely agree with you on the 'Say no to binary' when subnetting campaign.
It just seems like a waste of time to be honest, it just slows you down.
I did it to start with when I learnt the very first time. Did about 8 questions and then got tought to just do it without it.

Much better.

Kaminsky · March 2009

Subnettingquestions .com

Good luck Tuesday

tech-airman · March 2009

surfthegecko wrote: »

Hi,

I was just wondering what most people thought was an acceptable time for working out subnetting questions.

I am consistantly hitting anywhere between 30-60 seconds per question depending on the depth of the question.

Is this quick enough. I feel it is probably a good speed, but did read somewhere that 20seconds is the ideal time for all subnetting questions.

I know it doesnt sound like a lot in it, but when you only have 90 minutes for 50 questions, it only gives you 1.8minutes per questions. If you get a couple of sims thats a chunk of time gone already.

Trying to maximise my time.
Thoughts?

Thanks
Nick

surfthegecko,

It is better to take the time to eventually arrive at a CORRECT answer than to quickly arrive at the WRONG answer. It's even worse that in your quest to be quick, even though you calculate the correct answer, you make a typographical error when entering the correct answer. Imagine the reason why there is suddenly trouble in the network because the person who caused the trouble to occur was in a rush trying to solve the problem by working quickly to arrive at an incorrect answer thus why you involved to fix the problem. It's also important to wonder WHY you're subnetting and the thought processes involved in figuring out the solution.

You mentioned "I would rather fail quickly so I can learn my weaknesses faster than never do it at all." For that, it's cheaper to get and use an authorized exam simulator than to pay for the exam and fail it at US$125.00 each exam attempt. So if "...Thats just me though..." is worth US$125.00 per 640-822 ICND1 exam or 640-816 ICND2 exam attempt, US$250.00 for the 640-802 CCNA exam, knock yourself out.

You mentioned "...I did something daft..." which makes perfect sense along with "...I knew I wasnt ready..." Would you go driving without the critical preparation like making sure you have enough petrol in your tank? Would you walk across the street without making sure that there's no cars coming? Would you go skydiving without being ready by wearing a parachute? So why be careful with the abovementioned activities but not with your certification studies for a certification exam?

surfthegecko · March 2009

Very good point about arriving at the correct answer, as this is the ultimate goal for any test question. I am fairly certain I am getting a good speed consistantly and arriving at the correct answers now *Phew*

on a more light hearted moment I have on numour occaisions been out on a drive not knowing if I have enough petrol/diesel in the tank to make it to my intended destination.... although not so much now that I drive a diesel as its far more awkward running out of diesel than petrol.

Subnetting speed

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