CCNA: Crashed and burned!
I took the 840-802 CCNA exam today and failed! Ahh!
Passing score 825
Your Score 815
Describe how a network works 75%
VLAN and interswitch communications 62%
IP addressing and IP services 83%
Basic router operation 77%
Admin tasks on WLAN 100%
Identify security threats 100%
NAT and ACL’S 25% - poor
Implement and verify WAN links 100%
It was defo the sims that got me, spent way to long on them, I thought had done plenty of labbing on both real and simulated gear, but just was not getting the desired results on the exam. I need to work on my speed, it didn’t help that I use the tab key a lot on the real routers. The use of “no” to negate a command did not work for all commands (like it does on real routers), and if you make lots of typos (dyslexic fingers), like me, then it’s bad to have to start from the beginning of a series of commands.
On a plus the exam was free, as part of the network academy course I done, I now know what’s expected of me, and I am glad I practiced my subnetting. Up until last week, I had been doing it the official Cisco taught way, which I still like, and I have got quite good, but compared to doing it in your head, it’s no contest. For me the Cisco way took 1-2 min per subnet, and doing it in my head takes 10-30 seconds per subnet – which is great for the “why won’t these hosts talk to each other?” type questions, and any other for that matter. Although I still find doing VLSM questions easier writing out the binary, I can roughly find a subnet every 30 second on average.
I am planning in retaking the test in about 2/3 weeks time, I have a voucher to use from passing CCNA 4 at my local netacad, does any one know how much discount this gives on the CCNA exam (I’m in the UK). I have not yet requested it, as I have yet to speak to the boss, aka the misses about me paying for a re-sit.
Apologies for the rant, just need to vent a bit, as is was so close. AHHHH!
