Easing Nervousness

So I took jeremy's advice from CBTnuggets and book my CCNA for tomarrow. Im not ready for the exam yet, but I honestly think going in there and looking at the exam and looking at it will ease my nervousness when I take in the future. I have no intentions of passing it tomarrow, even though im 80 percent done with my CCNA studies.
I believe that part of the reason I missed a few questions when I took my CCENT was because I was nervous and freaking about before the exam. Im hoping taking the exam tomarrow will ease that nervousness a bit for the next time I take it.

What are your thoughts on this? good bad approach im open to all constructive critisim.

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Comments

networker050184

Bad approach IMO. Just take the exam when you are ready. You will probably be nervous regardless.

cyberguypr

networker050184 wrote: »

Bad approach IMO. Just take the exam when you are ready. You will probably be nervous regardless.

Agree. I would only take a test once I know I've done the best I could to prepare.

Blackout

Well I appreciate the feedback guys! I can't go back and change it now though, its allready passed the 24 hour mark lol. I do appreciate your feedback about this.

cyberguypr

Impulse buy. We've all been there. Best of luck!

KrisA

Nervousness is all in your head. It is controllable with practice I am coming to find out.

I don't think I would attempt anything without at least covering 100% of the material. I may not understand it all after reading it, however there wouldn't be a question that I had no clue on. Best wishes that it comes out positive for you.

cisco_trooper

If you become a master of self deception you can literally convice yourself that you don't care. Once that is done you have absolutely no reason to be nervous. I used to get so nervous that controlling the mouse was difficult. Now I know better. No matter what happens I can take the test again in 5 business days. No biggie unless I can't fund the test which isn't a problem these days. Seeing the test one time isn't going to help you much unless you have one hell of a memory. I really wouldn't be willing to throw down an exam fee on a test I didn't expect to pass.

ColbyG

Just take a lot of exams. It wears off eventually (unless there's something riding on your success, like a raise).

Forsaken_GA

Honestly, you just need to face reality. Once you show up at the testing center, there's nothing more you can do but go take the exam and find out how you did. Playing what if in your head is a waste of time and energy. If you pass, great, if you fail, it's not the end of the world.

Alot of people say it's bad to think you might fail, puts you in a negative mindset. That may be true to a degree, on the other hand, the possibility is always there, and I think failing to acknowledge that is foolish.

it takes just as much courage to be willing to fail as it does to succeed, possibly more - when you think it's easy, the choice is easy.

Just remember that it's ok to fail. No one's going to shoot your puppy, do bad things to your little sister, or set off a world devouring plague if you fail. The only thing that matters about failure is how you react to it.

Because I'm going to be straight up honest, if you can't handle an exam without getting nervous, you're never going to be able to handle a major outage in a crisis situation. Put things in perspective. What happens if you fail? You're out $150 bucks. if that's a large enough percentage of your world to cause panic, then you don't need to be taking exams. If it's not, then what's the worst that can happen? You have to take it again. Really, in the grand scheme of things to get worried about, how significant is that?

Blackout

Forsaken_GA wrote: »

Honestly, you just need to face reality. Once you show up at the testing center, there's nothing more you can do but go take the exam and find out how you did. Playing what if in your head is a waste of time and energy. If you pass, great, if you fail, it's not the end of the world.

Alot of people say it's bad to think you might fail, puts you in a negative mindset. That may be true to a degree, on the other hand, the possibility is always there, and I think failing to acknowledge that is foolish.

it takes just as much courage to be willing to fail as it does to succeed, possibly more - when you think it's easy, the choice is easy.

Just remember that it's ok to fail. No one's going to shoot your puppy, do bad things to your little sister, or set off a world devouring plague if you fail. The only thing that matters about failure is how you react to it.

Because I'm going to be straight up honest, if you can't handle an exam without getting nervous, you're never going to be able to handle a major outage in a crisis situation. Put things in perspective. What happens if you fail? You're out $150 bucks. if that's a large enough percentage of your world to cause panic, then you don't need to be taking exams. If it's not, then what's the worst that can happen? You have to take it again. Really, in the grand scheme of things to get worried about, how significant is that?

+1 this exactly what I needed to hear....Thank you.

cisco_trooper

Very well said, Forsaken.

alxx

Other thing is a good nights sleep before hand, eat breakfast and not to much coffee/caffeine.

Be relaxed and focused.

MrBrian

cisco_trooper wrote: »

If you become a master of self deception you can literally convice yourself that you don't care.

Haha, for some reason this really made me laugh. I'm always trying to deceive my own mind!! lol

Also, Forsaken's post was great because everything he said was very true..

To reiterate and put in my own words: It's just an exam, the world goes on. If you really want to do this as a career, how will you handle an outage and resolve it without panicking? Be confident that your studies prepared you enough. Leave no stone unturned in your studies.. By the time you go in to test you should just "go through the motions" of answering questions. You have seen this all before. If you fail, no biggie, you're probably only a couple hard weeks of studying away. Obviously, the feeling of failing is no good and no one wants to feel that. Its how you react to failing that will make or break you!! Seriously. I know people way more advanced in this than me who have failed an exam multiple times, but I look where they're at now and say wow.. its the individual drive that matters.

P.S., for my ICND2 exam I downed an energy drink right before. It turned out to be a BAD decision, lol. Long story short, I passed, but I got the jitters really bad and my mind was zooming all over the place. Looking back, I was already eager to test as it was, so I shouldn't have had any energy boosters. I won't do that again...

Todd Burrell

After having taken a number of exams over the past couple of years I can say that I am always a little nervous prior to and during the exam, but I will pass along the advice that I have always given my college age daughter about her classes - just learn the material! I know this sounds simple, but I am a lot less nervous if I know that I have done everything I can to be prepared. If you only cover 80% of the material then you KNOW that the best you can get is an 80 - period. Just learn the material - everything else will take care of itself.

Remember - in almost every case too much knowledge is not a bad thing...

DB Cooper

You are in the fight, if you go down, go down swinging.

Best of luck! Who knows, maybe you'll feel better after its over.

universalfrost

so did you pass?

Blackout

LOL I take it in three hours, I didn't think this would turn into a pass or fail thread. Its all good ill let you know how I felt about it after the exam, I expecting to fail it, but im still going to go in there and do my best.

MAC_Addy

Sorry to hear that you think you might fail it. Not always the best approach to an important exam. If you don't mind me asking, how come you feel unprepared?

Tell you what though, if you pass you'll feel on top of the world!

Even though you seem a little down in the ****, best of luck on the exam. I have my fingers crossed for you.

Blackout

The only reason I was spoked yesterday was somehow I got it in my head I couldn't do this. I don't feel that way anymore.

Im not worried about failing anymore, Im just gonna go in there and do my best, whats the worst that can happen? I find out I need to study more?

Blackout

So I sat the exam and expected I failed, but I got allot out of taking the exam. I wasn't too far off from passing. The biggest thing that jumped out to me on the exam is that the exam is fair, I feel now that I can pass this exam after a bit more study. It was intense but by no means do I feel this test is brutal. Im gonna hit my studies back and reschedule for about 2-3 weeks from now.

Deathgomper

Sorry to hear that it didn't happen, but happy to hear your resolve. Also you have the result percentages to see where your weak points are. Focus your studies and knock it out of the park.

Gook luck!

Greenmet29

Maybe I should do what you did.. I sat my ICND1 almost a year ago now, and passed on the first try. I told myself I would take the ICND2 in no more than six months.. here it is almost the beginning of the year again and I still haven't taken it. I have studied off and on but not serious like I did for the ICND1. Time to get serious again.

rolyohh

I take ICND1 on friday afternoon.. BYAY