What would you do...

hello,

long time reader, first time poster. i'm ashamed and extremely embarrassed sharing this with you all (specially since this is my first post). i'm looking for some serious advice, as i've completely lost faith and confidence in myself - i failed the icnd2 for the third time... all my three scores, 790, 810, 819.

i dont want to take the easy way and just take the composite, and now i'm at a point where the mrs and kid are ready to make mince meat out of me. (i havent been able to spend time with them because of the mental stress that this has caused) i've done everything possible to reach this goal.

my weakest area is troubleshoot routing, and i'm not sure what else to do and how else to study. have read odom, lammle, watched cbt nuggets, took the boson tests (thinking of buying transcender now), and have utilized packet tracer for labbing.

i need to get this cert before the holidays, and i'm running out of time and options.

i guess i'm looking for motivation, guidance, suggestions.

sorry for the rant, thanks for reading.

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Comments

tomaifauchai

Do you use GNS3 or real equipment to practice technologies?
Reading is fun but labbing is even better!

Since the methods you currently use doesn't seem to work well, i'd suggest taking a read/lab approach. At the moment you don't understand something, just load gns3, build a topology and test it.

Another method i'm using is studying materials more advanced than the exam i'm studying for.
Before passing my CCNA exam, I began to study more advanced stuff like redistribution, LSA's

alxx

What lab guides and lab exercises did you use ?

Any of these

Yet Another Cisco Blog: Free CCNA Resources

http://www.techexams.net/attachments..._techexams.pdf

Stub Area » CCNA Workbook

SUBnet.192 » Cisco CCNA Lab Guides

Which bosun tests ? and did you get pass scores for them before doing the cert test ?

MrRyte

Router Alley - Guides
That site has helped me immensely.

No point in beating yourself up. You simply need to study and practice more. Always remember that you're planting seeds for a better future for you and the family. Keep at it bro.

ciscoman2012

alxx wrote: »

What lab guides and lab exercises did you use ?

Any of these

Yet Another Cisco Blog: Free CCNA Resources

http://www.techexams.net/attachments..._techexams.pdf

Stub Area » CCNA Workbook

SUBnet.192 » Cisco CCNA Lab Guides

Which bosun tests ? and did you get pass scores for them before doing the cert test ?

Wow this is awesome information. Like I said in another thread...thanks so much Alxx! I will put this lab information to great practice.

earweed

Another thing you may want to consider...
Taket the full bloiwn CCNA exam instead of the ICND2 as I've heard it is easier for some people to pass than the ICND2.

Ltat42a

Found some really good info on youtube on different topics too.

ciscoman2012

Ltat42a wrote: »

Found some really good info on youtube on different topics too.

I've been using this youtube members videos to help go thru some labbing and watch him work out some concepts.

It's great to supplement other videos like CBT Nuggets/TrainSignal and do the labs along with him.

I've only watched the ICND1 videos which he sorts into Playlists by Chapters on Youtube. Overall, I've found it to be very helpful especially for the free resources he provides.

booduh099's Channel - YouTube

Stuppored

ciscoman2012 wrote: »

I've been using this youtube members videos to help go thru some labbing and watch him work out some concepts.

It's great to supplement other videos like CBT Nuggets/TrainSignal and do the labs along with him.

I've only watched the ICND1 videos which he sorts into Playlists by Chapters on Youtube. Overall, I've found it to be very helpful especially for the free resources he provides.

booduh099's Channel - YouTube

Haha that Booduh... I saved a couple of his links under my browser as favourites... He originally had videos of him going nuts over failing CCNA a few times - and I'm talking crazy. His videos were hilarious in a negative way. It appears he's taken a second look at how he's approaching Youtube and removed the old hilarious videos and is now trying to actually help people. Good stuff.

ciscoman2012

Stuppored wrote: »

Haha that Booduh... I saved a couple of his links under my browser as favourites... He originally had videos of him going nuts over failing CCNA a few times - and I'm talking crazy. His videos were hilarious in a negative way. It appears he's taken a second look at how he's approaching Youtube and removed the old hilarious videos and is now trying to actually help people. Good stuff.

Haha oh man I can imagine that. I believe now he has CCNA as well as CCNP and is working towards CCIE.

His lectures aren't always perfect but it's great with the amount of time he puts into each one. I've only watched ICND1 so I can only comment for that series.

Once I pass the ICND1 and move on to the ICND2 I will test those videos out as well.

Steakuddin

I've packet tracer for my labs, and have gotten quite a few many lab files that i've been using, my problem isnt configuring, i know my commnds, what gets me are the questions where they provide some brief output - eigrp/ospfs. And then when i'm to answer questions, i feel like i know my routing troubleshoot, but on exams, god knows y i'm not doing it right.

I'm going for my 4th attempt this week (wednesday), lets see how that goes.

I'll check out the links you all have suggested, thank you for reading and posting.

IEWANNABE

MrRyte wrote: »

No point in beating yourself up. You simply need to study and practice more. Always remember that you're planting seeds for a better future for you and the family. Keep at it bro.

This ^.. If this is what you really want to do..then don't give up!!

seansabian

Hey Steakuddin,

Yesterday, I failed ICND 2 for the second time so I can identify with the body blow gut wrenching feeling you are experiencing. My scores were 706 and 748 respectively. I improved on certain obectives going from 0% to 100% on Wan and gaining 17% on NAT & ACLs. But I dropped 27% on the router objectives yesterday. My scores stayed the same for the other two vlan and ip addressing objectives . And I didn't feel like the clock was sweating me yesterday like the first time. The clock was not an issue. Anyway, last night I carefully reread every ICND 2 related chapter in the Lammle book. And I see exactly what I missed and WHY I missed it (the devil's in the details). So, I'm going to target those areas with renewed determination. And then I'm going to retake the test for the third time. In the past, if I failed a certification exam twice then I was done with it (CompTia Security+ and MS Access). However, I really want to earn my CCNA and CCNP maybe even CCIP. So I got to dig in, really really dig in. Routing seems to be my weak area too. But I bought the WAN score up to 100% from a 0% and you can too. Hey, you can get your family involved like I did. My Lady quizzes me with flash cards everyday. And if all else fails get a study partner.

Good Luck

Steakuddin

just wanted to update you all-

attempted the icnd2 again tonight, and passed it (the score is nothing to be proud of). honestly, i wasn't confident at all that i'd bring it home, but thankfully got it done, i had 9min remaining when i answered the last question.

i realized my mistake and y the initial unsuccessful attempts.

word of advice to all the future test takers, read the text(s) front to back, do NOT skip a single sentence. personal opinion, start with Todd Lammle's CCNA book and read it cover to cover and understand it. Then read Odom's ICND2 cover to cover. If I had followed my own advice, I'd have saved all the $ on these "expensive practice tests".

lastly, pay special attention to routing - all protocols. learn them. this has been my Achilles heel since the beginning. i can configure the protocols, but when it comes to troubleshooting, that takes me a while.

anyhow, my heartiest thank you to everyone here with all their help you provide in forums.

regards and thanks for reading.