Not sure whats wrong

Hey guys,

Firstly I just wanna say, how excellent this place is, excellent tips and information, something that we CCNA wannabies really need.

Anyways, ive got a bit of a problem that goes along with a bit of a story. Ill try and be as short as I can. Being a person that truely respects a company like cisco, ive been interested in networking pritty much since the day I got into computer over 13 years ago. Anyways, it was only after my graduation that I decided to go for it, getting CCNA. I knew that I would probably need a bit of a first push, so I began looking at boot camps....far too expensive. Being a national of another country as well as the UK I was lucky to find the american university in my country of birth offering full ccna bootcamp for next to nothing. So I went for it. 2 Months of pritty much very intensive learning. I hit various problems such as they didnt give me enough lab practise so my switching skills wasnt up to scratch, same with routing also. However, the theory was there, hell I knew those cisco press books inside out. Naturally I went for the full one shot ccna exam. Had a really bad testing experiance from the VUE center there, but anyways I came out with a score of 601 - fail

Having said that (I dont have my scores with me now) but I was pritty much clipping the 50% mark in everything except the operations (practical). I seem to remember the Sims were touch, and even worse I guess I lost a lot of marks cos I forgot to copy the config over to NV. So anyways, I returned back to the UK determined to have another go, and because of my bad testing experiance I managed to get a free exam voucher from VUE

.

Being a systems administrator for a large pharamcuitical company here in the UK, and the FDA dawning upon us for one of their godly audits, work really got on top of me, spending long hours in the office...usualy story really. Studying was hard, but I managed to pritty much refresh myself at least for the intro. So...I said, well im getting a free exam, I decided to go just for the Intro. I went through the Cisco Press Intro box, using sybex CCNA as reference, and even going through "various" practise exams. I also bough two 2500 cisco routers just to get more practise on the practical side.

Yesterday was the Cisco INTRO exam and I failed hitting the 600 mark as well. Believe it or not I acctually found the INTRO exam reasonbly easy, cos I hit over hte 50% mark on pritty much everything except once again the practical SIM questions. I remember I had one sim, that I really didnt understand, so I just guessed, the other one was SUPER easy, did that correctly, but im guessing again that I lost my marks on those. My result for the Practical side of things was 25%.

What my question is....im not sure what sort of percentage I should be hitting on those three sections. As I said im getting over 50% in two sections (design and support and Technology) but 25% on operations. Do you think if I concentrate more on my SIMs and make 25% to say 50% ill pass? As i said im not really sure what percentages is pass.

Also, im a believer in the more exams you do ie practise exams, the better you get, so can any one recommend something that will come close to the acctuall exams that will give me an accurate idea if I will pass or not?

Im determind to crack this, so im going through the cisco press intro book yet again, but would much appreciate anyones help and advise.

Many thanks Guys

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Comments

Alien

Judging from your results i think you tend to register for the exam before you are thoroughly prepared. Cisco stresses that you should only do so when your fully prepared. I missed 640-601 by 623. Later i hit the books and tried 640-801 managing a score of 814. On my final attempt i woke up on the left side, did troubleshooting on active directory for a client hours before the exam and got there half an hour late with half the registration fee

. I managed to talk the center into letting me take the exam and pay later. The whole ordeal got me so shaken i missed one simple sim and ended up with a score of 801. I'm gonna sit it again soon. My suggestion is try and read the topics over and do the practices. You are lucky enuff to have your own router. I use remote labs and boson simulator.

ciscolover

Alien

thank for your advise, but one of the key things I want to know is if I improve my SIM skills, am I far off? 600 odd seems along way from 825 for the INTRO, but is it? I mean had I didnt mess up that one sim in the INTRO exam do you think I would have made at least the 800 mark?

Alien

The only way to improve on the sims is to do more practice with routers.

600 odd seems along way from 825 for the INTRO, but is it? I mean had I didnt mess up that one sim in the INTRO exam do you think I would have made at least the 800 mark?

I'm afraid you are coz when i scored 814, i only had one sim which i'm quite sure i missed. Are you really comfortable with subnetting and VLSM? If not, you need to brush up on them and then go over the objectives making sure you grasp the concepts. I'm scheduling mine as soon as i get some cash and untill then its more study and more practice.

ciscolover

so percentage wise what should I be getting on each part?

Alien

Atleast above 85% since its the pass mark but targeting 100% on all of them is a sure bet. A minimum score on one part may be compensated by another e.g 75% in troubleshooting may be compensated by a 100% in technology.

ciscolover

gotcha

bare in mind im talking about the INTRO exam

Alien

Apart from the objectives and the level of difficulty, the pass mark is the same for both intro and 640-801. I have never taken the INTRO but i understand it's the easier of the two exams option and consists of plenty of subnetting, router basics and theory. I prefer the one exam option.

ciscolover

I can definatly vouch for the Intro, pass mark is slighty lower at 825. Not so much subnetting but yes alot of back to basics.