How do you put it all together?

So I've been studying for the CCENT for a while now with the eventual goal of CCNA. I have some networking experience so a lot of the non-Cisco stuff isn't new to me. I felt like I had a pretty good grasp on the material but when I started taking practice tests (the ones packaged with the latest edition of Odom's book) I felt like my brain was about to melt. The ones that kill me are where they give you a network map and ask about some problem or process in the network (for example, pc1 pings pc3, what Mac address does it receive for pc3--wanting you to demonstrate knowledge of proxy arp). I can usually get to the right answer but it takes me a long time, and from what I've read time is a big issue on Cisco tests.

Are there any resources anyone can recommend that will help with these kinds of questions? Is it just a matter of taking more practice tests until I'm comfortable with them? At this point I dread seeing network maps, which is probably not good if you want to be a net admin..

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Comments

dave330i

How do you get to Carnegie Hall? Practice. Practice. Practice.

apoole15

I agree. If you're usually able to determine the correct answer but it's taking you longer than you'd like, just keep practicing. You seem to have the fundamental knowledge down, now it's just a matter of practicing until you're able to glance at the topology and answer the question.

ciscoman2012

As everyone else has said..if you truly want to learn and understand it there is no substitute for time and practice.

Oh and labbing, lots and lots of labbing.

QHalo

Make up your own labs. When you go to make them up it will ensure that you know how the technologies work together otherwise you won't be able to actually build it correctly. After I did that several times, it helped reinforce it all.

EV42TMAN

I just passed the CCENT 2 weeks ago and honestly there is no substitute for getting you're hands on real cisco gear and making a lab. I tried using GNS3 and it just wasn't worth the hassle. honestly i did labs for the CCENT for about a week straight while i was preparing for the test and for the first 3 days of it i didn't save my configs. By doing that it forced me to review everything to set up the labs each day. good luck to you

zenhound

Thanks everybody. That's kind of what I thought but was starting to wonder if maybe I am not a network guy. I do love the technology, it's just not as intuitive as something like windows can be.

The good news is that I have my lab hardware, just need to get it up and running. It's been too hot to do much of anything toward that end (recently moved, still working on lots of house projects) but I'm sitting at home today getting AC installed so that won't be an issue soon.

Thanks for the encouraging words!

Somnipotent

it comes with time man. two years ago i had never touched a cisco router in my life. i thought it was more fancy than what it was when i saw one in person. the CLI itself kinda left me wondering if there was really anything to it. 2 years later i'm sitting at a desk as a network engineer and with my CCNP. it just takes lots of practice and falling in love. i can't even imagine having to do Microsoft stuff now... but I have to since it's part of my requirements for school. oh well... good luck.

beach5563

Somnipotent wrote: »

it comes with time man. two years ago i had never touched a cisco router in my life. i thought it was more fancy than what it was when i saw one in person. the CLI itself kinda left me wondering if there was really anything to it. 2 years later i'm sitting at a desk as a network engineer and with my CCNP. it just takes lots of practice and falling in love. i can't even imagine having to do Microsoft stuff now... but I have to since it's part of my requirements for school. oh well... good luck.

Nicely put, very encouraging too. Just have to get that hands on experience. I'm planning on taking another stab at it and hope to get CCNP. Ive taken classes for CCNA in the past and have a telecom background but got off track but Cisco is the way to go.