Sims in CCNA exam?

I'm writing my CCNA exam next week. I'm a bit worried about the time on the exam. Everyone always says you have to be very quick to finish it in time? I'm fine with the theory and subnetting questions, but a bit worried about the sims. I don't have a problem with the questions and doing the actual sims, but it takes me a while to complete them.

How many sims are normally in an exam? Is it not maybe better to skip them and complete the rest of the questions first, and then go back to them? Can you actually do it that way?

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lon21

Spoonroom wrote: »

I'm writing my CCNA exam next week. I'm a bit worried about the time on the exam. Everyone always says you have to be very quick to finish it in time? I'm fine with the theory and subnetting questions, but a bit worried about the sims. I don't have a problem with the questions and doing the actual sims, but it takes me a while to complete them.

How many sims are normally in an exam? Is it not maybe better to skip them and complete the rest of the questions first, and then go back to them? Can you actually do it that way?

I was told that one you go past a question there is no going back. So you really have to make sure that the answer which you give it correct.

Wish you all the best mate.

CompuTron99

There is no going back. It's a matter of knowing the material well and good time management.

mikej412

Spoonroom wrote: »

How many sims are normally in an exam?

No one can tell you -- the number and/or types of questions you've have on an a Cisco exam are covered by the NDA: Cisco Career Certifications and Confidentiality Agreement

AD227529

As a rule of thumb, don't spend more than 10 minutes on a sim. If you can't get it after 10 minutes, move on or you will run out of time. You can't go back on the exam; you can only go forward. If you know the material you shouldn't have any problems. Good luck!

Spoonroom

AD227529 wrote: »

As a rule of thumb, don't spend more than 10 minutes on a sim. If you can't get it after 10 minutes, move on or you will run out of time. You can't go back on the exam; you can only go forward. If you know the material you shouldn't have any problems. Good luck!

Ah ok, 10 minutes per sim actually sounds good. I thought it was a lot less than that.

How complicated are the sims? The examples I'm doing can get quite complicated, is it like that in the exam as well? And does it show how far you are with the sim percentage wise? As far as I understand, you get points in the sim for what you've done correct, even if you don't complete it 100%?

Some of the examples I've done, shows like 80% or 90% complete. Then I can do what the end result requires, but I'm obviously still missing something.

cyberguypr

Do they allow clocks/watches? The Prometric center I usually go to prohibits them.

instant000

the test itself has a timer. look at what question you're on, and gauge how much time you have to finish the test from where you are.

j-man

Spoonroom wrote: »

Ah ok, 10 minutes per sim actually sounds good. I thought it was a lot less than that.

How complicated are the sims? The examples I'm doing can get quite complicated, is it like that in the exam as well? And does it show how far you are with the sim percentage wise? As far as I understand, you get points in the sim for what you've done correct, even if you don't complete it 100%?

Some of the examples I've done, shows like 80% or 90% complete. Then I can do what the end result requires, but I'm obviously still missing something.

The first rule of Cisco exams is you do not talk about Cisco exams
The second rule of Cisco exams is you do not talk about Cisco exams

JaCkNiFe

j-man wrote: »

The first rule of Cisco exams is you do not talk about Cisco exams
The second rule of Cisco exams is you do not talk about Cisco exams

This made my day

instant000

Hahahaha, funny.

MrXpert

mikej412 wrote: »

No one can tell you -- the number and/or types of questions you've have on an a Cisco exam are covered by the NDA: Cisco Career Certifications and Confidentiality Agreement

over here in Europewe have this Freedom of speech - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
which supercedes the almighty Cisco

the right to seek information and ideas;
the right to receive information and ideas;
the right to impart information and ideas

VAHokie56

Spoonroom wrote: »

I'm writing my CCNA exam next week. I'm a bit worried about the time on the exam. Everyone always says you have to be very quick to finish it in time? I'm fine with the theory and subnetting questions, but a bit worried about the sims. I don't have a problem with the questions and doing the actual sims, but it takes me a while to complete them.

How many sims are normally in an exam? Is it not maybe better to skip them and complete the rest of the questions first, and then go back to them? Can you actually do it that way?

In any case...expect and study for the worst , hope for the best and you will be fine

instant000

MrXpert wrote: »

over here in Europewe have this Freedom of speech - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
which supercedes the almighty Cisco

the right to seek information and ideas;

the right to receive information and ideas;

the right to impart information and ideas

What is the value of a test, if the students have already shared the questions and answers beforehand?

By the way: I hope you're only joking. (I'll admit not sensing the apparent humor at times.)

Right to information .... does that supercede the right of the company to try to have some sort of integrity in its testing process?

I think it would be quite ridiculous if test providers weren't allowed to try to get some type of non-disclosure agreement with their test takers.

You can prepare for their tests solely using the information available on their website: cisco.com
There are configuration guides, design guides, case studies, white papers, FAQs, etc. They even give you a syllabus, listing exactly which areas will be tested on the tests. If you want to go a step further, you can optionally "purchase" books to study for the tests, but it is by no means a requirement.

By the way: I hope you're only joking. (I'll admit not sensing the apparent humor at times.)

lrb

j-man wrote: »

The first rule of Cisco exams is you do not talk about Cisco exams
The second rule of Cisco exams is you do not talk about Cisco exams

brilliant!

ehnde

I think I can give you more info about the sims without violating the NDA. You configure routers and/or switches, but it could be an entire virtual network and you would need to have all of the appropriate background info.

Any number of things could be misconfigured in a sim. If you are comfortable with subnetting but don't know your protocols, you might miss an error. After you complete a sim, before moving on, you can sometimes test connectivity to ensure the sim was done correctly.

A single sim can test your knowledge in multiple domains, just like real life.

alan2308

MrXpert wrote: »

over here in Europewe have this Freedom of speech - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
which supercedes the almighty Cisco

the right to seek information and ideas;

the right to receive information and ideas;

the right to impart information and ideas

And regardless of where you are in the world, we have this thing called honoring the agreements that you enter into. This includes the NDA you consent to before taking a cert exam.

Spoonroom

ehnde wrote: »

I think I can give you more info about the sims without violating the NDA. You configure routers and/or switches, but it could be an entire virtual network and you would need to have all of the appropriate background info.

Any number of things could be misconfigured in a sim. If you are comfortable with subnetting but don't know your protocols, you might miss an error. After you complete a sim, before moving on, you can sometimes test connectivity to ensure the sim was done correctly.

A single sim can test your knowledge in multiple domains, just like real life.

Thanks for the reply.

Do you get points for the parts you've done correctly, even if you don't complete the whole objective of the sim?

mikej412

Spoonroom wrote: »

Do you get points for the parts you've done correctly, even if you don't complete the whole objective of the sim?

Cisco has admitted two things about exam grading -- the SIMs are worth more points than other question types and you do get partial credit on SIMs.

alan2308

nevermind

aldous

AD227529 wrote: »

As a rule of thumb, don't spend more than 10 minutes on a sim. If you can't get it after 10 minutes, move on or you will run out of time. You can't go back on the exam; you can only go forward. If you know the material you shouldn't have any problems. Good luck!

i'd actually disagree with this. it does depend on how confident you are with the material but 10 minutes is way too short if your struggling.
i spent 45 mins on a sim on BSCI once and still passed but i did have to shoot from the hip on the last 10 questions. it really depends on how much time you have left sometimes a sim's at the start which makes it tricky but they are so worth it in points

having said that if its something your not going to know whatever happens skip it but if you've got it on the tip of your tounge its worth plugging through

MrXpert

instant000 wrote: »

What is the value of a test, if the students have already shared the questions and answers beforehand?

By the way: I hope you're only joking. (I'll admit not sensing the apparent humor at times.)

Right to information .... does that supercede the right of the company to try to have some sort of integrity in its testing process?

I think it would be quite ridiculous if test providers weren't allowed to try to get some type of non-disclosure agreement with their test takers.

You can prepare for their tests solely using the information available on their website: cisco.com
There are configuration guides, design guides, case studies, white papers, FAQs, etc. They even give you a syllabus, listing exactly which areas will be tested on the tests. If you want to go a step further, you can optionally "purchase" books to study for the tests, but it is by no means a requirement.

By the way: I hope you're only joking. (I'll admit not sensing the apparent humor at times.)

Lol I was joking. it's my English sense of humor...sarcasm. Sometimes too subtle.

MrXpert

alan2308 wrote: »

And regardless of where you are in the world, we have this thing called honoring the agreements that you enter into. This includes the NDA you consent to before taking a cert exam.

I was on a wind up.

instant000

MrXpert wrote: »

Lol I was joking. it's my English sense of humor...sarcasm. Sometimes too subtle.

There was a smilie in there-- it's me, not you -- I'm just an American prude.

(see, I can adopt the British self-deprecating style, too!)

Spoonroom

mikej412 wrote: »

Cisco has admitted two things about exam grading -- the SIMs are worth more points than other question types and you do get partial credit on SIMs.

Great news, thx.

Slowhand

Be prepared to know how to configure and work with just about anything and everything you've read about or seen in training videos during your studies. The idea here isn't just to pass your exam, but to make you into an associate network engineer. What I can tell you about the sims on the exam I took, (640-801,) is that they were much, much simpler and more straightforward than 99% of the things I've had to do in the real world on Cisco equipment.

j-man

I want to apologize for sounding like an unhelpful curmudgeon but I'm getting tired of people asking specific questions about what to expect on the exams.

Spoonroom

j-man wrote: »

I want to apologize for sounding like an unhelpful curmudgeon but I'm getting tired of people asking specific questions about what to expect on the exams.

Then don't answer?

If it irritates you so much, why even reply here complaining about it?

j-man

Spoonroom wrote: »

Then don't answer?

If it irritates you so much, why even reply here complaining about it?

I complain about it because, well.... I don't know... maybe because I want this certification to not be cheapened by cheaters? You tell me why I shouldn't have a problem with someone asking for specifics about Cisco exams.

I know I shouldn't be asking this but I can't resist.

You list a bunch of certs after your name. Why are you trying to get specific information about sims on Cisco exams?

lon21

Hi,

In CLI when you type a command which is not recognised the device translate to a DNS.

I know we can turn it off via no ip domain-lookup, but when in the exam, if you were to DNS a command how would you exit out of the translations quick without waiting for the timer?

I tired Shift+6, Ctrl+Shift+F6 and Ctrl+Shift+6, no luck.

Thanks

instant000

Just a comment ...

This forum is very good at monitoring for inappropriate posts, and removing them, if necessary. That is, questions about specific content are usually moderated pretty quickly.

There were questions about time management (which can actually apply to most exams). Telling people there is a timer so you know how much time you have left is a good thing. Telling people to not waste so much time on one question they fail the entire exam is a good thing.

Telling people that SIMS are worth more than normal questions and award partial credit, there is nothing wrong with that:

TCPmag.com | Features: Q&A: Don Field and Rick Stiffler, Cisco Certification

I encourage forum participation, as long as we're playing within the forum rules. This is a site about gaining (and keeping) your certifications, so let's help each other out:

http://www.techexams.net/forums/ccna-ccent/6434-ccna-faq-please-read-before-posting.html

I apologize for the commercial break. Now, everyone, back to posting!