3rd Attempt at CCENT and I failed "Feeling Bummed"

I took my CCENT/640-822 test this morning and I failed. I'm beyond frustrated at this point.

The first time I took the CCNET I got a 560
The second time I took the CCENT I got a 750
Today I got a 750 again.

Today's score
Describe the Operation of a Data Network 71%
Implement a small switched network 71%
Implement an IP addressing scheme and IP services to meet network requirement for a small branch office 67%
Implement a small routed network 50%
Explain and select a appropriate administrative tasks required for a WLAN 100%
Identify Security threats to a network and describe a general methods to mitigate those threats.
Implement and verify WAN links.

I scheduled to take the 640-822 again in one month. I don't choice I have to pass. I am just felling so frustrated at the moment.
The sim's and the subnetting are the things I need to improve on. I am really trying but I just don't seem to be getting where I need to be.

Any thoughts ?

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Comments

emerald_octane

The best sims I used were Pearson/Odom Network Simulator and the Cisco Learning Labs. Sure they are very pricy but extremely useful. The net sim stuff is great for straight drill and kill of the material. Got 15 minutes ? Fire it up and finish a lab or two. CLL was great with K Barker on the videos, subnetting in particular, much better than Lammle AND Odom in my opinion.

WilyOne

mgmguy1 wrote: »

I took my CCENT/640-822 test this morning and I failed. I'm beyond frustrated at this point.

The first time I took the CCNET I got a 560
The second time I took the CCENT I got a 750
Today I got a 750 again.

That's rough man. My first suggestion is: don't schedule another exam until you've got subnetting down cold. Backwards, forwards, and in both decimal and binary.

wweboy

I found the easiest way to subnet is using the magic number method. Also known as the interesting number.

NetworkVeteran

mgmguy1 wrote: »

The sim's and the subnetting are the things I need to improve on. I am really trying but I just don't seem to be getting where I need to be. Any thoughts?

Sure! Stop scheduling exams until you have subnetting down and know how to move around the router.

As for how to prepare for subnetting, learn the techniques, then do lots of practice.

As for how to prepare for the labs, consider a solution like Boson Netsim that provides the equipment, the labs, and the auto-grader in one. It's hard to imagine someone completing all of those and still failing the sims.

Carpe Porcus

NetworkVeteran wrote: »

Sure! Stop scheduling exams until you have subnetting down and know how to move around the router.

As for how to prepare for subnetting, learn the techniques, then do lots of practice.

As for how to prepare for the labs, consider a solution like Boson Netsim that provides the equipment, the labs, and the auto-grader in one. It's hard to imagine someone completing all of those and still failing the sims.

NetworkVeteran is right, forget about booking the exam and learn subnetting until you are sick of it and can do it without thinking.

A good site with a straight forward approach is Learn To Subnet: A Free, Lecture-Based Presentation on IP Addressing and Subnetting a lot more exist but try one that best suits you and get it nailed before you even contemplate a resit, you're wasting time and money and everything is built on subnetting for routers so you will be spinning wheels for a long time unless you get this sorted.

Best of luck.

Tyb

That's a tough break man. I finished the first two discovery courses through my Network Security curriculum so I had to lab and test through the courses. The important thing is to be sure you know the material forward and backward before you set for the test, CCNA in 60 days is a good reference book on the topics and helped bring some concepts together better. Best of luck on your next test.

vinbuck

Agree with all who mentioned subnetting....I have used the site below since before CCNA and continue to use it as I prepare for the CCIE to keep my speed up while subnetting in my head.

IP Subnet Practice

To the OP:

Once you master subnetting, spend a LOT of time configuring in the lab. Your 3 lowest scores are in the implementation section which means you're not spending enough time working with the equipment.

treehouse

Took me four tries to pass a Cisco exam. Don't lose hope! If you don't feel solid on subnetting that is a major area where you can improve and see all of your margins go up. Bookmark subnettingquestions.com - Free Subnetting Questions and Answers Randomly Generated Online and make that a frequent habit. I put it on my phone and used it on and off all day until I could consistently answer 20 in a row quickly. That's how well you need to understand subnetting for this test (actually it's overkill), so don't reschedule until you are close to that point.

shellee1983

wweboy wrote: »

I found the easiest way to subnet is using the magic number method. Also known as the interesting number.

This maybe the quickest way but it isn't the most accurate way.

Souljacker

shellee1983 wrote: »

This maybe the quickest way but it isn't the most accurate way.

How do you figure? The only number you have to convert is the "interesting octet" as you already know any octet with a 255 is a full network portion 8 bits and any octet with a 0 is a full host 8 bits. There's nothing inaccurate about only working on the octet you need to.

If I have to convert a 192.168.1.0/25

I already know I have a subnet mask of 8.8.8.1/7 in binary giving me a total of 2 subnets and 126 hosts per subnet. The mask is then 255.255.255.128 and from there it's easy to figure out the network ID and broadcasts.

The method he is referring to makes you do less binary conversion and only focus on the octet that has the network\host split. I highly recommend reading Wendell Odom's explanation on the "interesting octet" for a more thorough understanding.

Another example is What is the first valid host on the subnetwork that the node 172.27.120.212/21 belongs to?

21 subnet bits gives us a binary 8.8.5\3.0

Why do we need to even look at the first 16 bits? We know those octets inherit the 172.27.?.?

Focusing on the interesting octet lets us find where it is for the mask - 5 bits is 248, and the network increments are in 8's (I use Browning's chart). The answer is 172.27.120.1 since 120 is a multiple of 8 they made that question already easy. I've never missed a question using this method.

vinbuck

Agreed...all I ever look at both for real-world ops and cisco exams is the interesting octet. it's quick, painless and works 100% of the time (barring any Layer 8 issues

)

The method is flawless...the operator may not be

shellee1983

Souljacker wrote: »

How do you figure? The only number you have to convert is the "interesting octet" as you already know any octet with a 255 is a full network portion 8 bits and any octet with a 0 is a full host 8 bits. There's nothing inaccurate about only working on the octet you need to.

If I have to convert a 192.168.1.0/25

I already know I have a subnet mask of 8.8.8.1/7 in binary giving me a total of 2 subnets and 126 hosts per subnet. The mask is then 255.255.255.128 and from there it's easy to figure out the network ID and broadcasts.

The method he is referring to makes you do less binary conversion and only focus on the octet that has the network\host split. I highly recommend reading Wendell Odom's explanation on the "interesting octet" for a more thorough understanding.

Another example is What is the first valid host on the subnetwork that the node 172.27.120.212/21 belongs to?

21 subnet bits gives us a binary 8.8.5\3.0

Why do we need to even look at the first 16 bits? We know those octets inherit the 172.27.?.?

Focusing on the interesting octet lets us find where it is for the mask - 5 bits is 248, and the network increments are in 8's (I use Browning's chart). The answer is 172.27.120.1 since 120 is a multiple of 8 they made that question already easy. I've never missed a question using this method.

I have missed questions when I was working with it before a reverted back to full on binary but it is also because of the odd numbers figuring them out. I used the subnetting site for a long time and that was one of the things I scored well in. Maybe the site was faulty but I tend to be a perfectionist when it comes to things like that and the magic number did not work for me.

Souljacker

shellee1983 wrote: »

I have missed questions when I was working with it before a reverted back to full on binary but it is also because of the odd numbers figuring them out. I used the subnetting site for a long time and that was one of the things I scored well in. Maybe the site was faulty but I tend to be a perfectionist when it comes to things like that and the magic number did not work for me.

Well, I'm not talking about Magic Number, I'm talking about the "Interesting Octet". Two different concepts. Subtracting from the "magic number" never worked for me either. The Interesting Octet is the only octet you actually have to perform binary math on. Convert it to binary, tick off the appropriate number in the chart and you're done. I'm absolutely in agreement with you that the only way to go is converting to full binary before calcing - the only question is whether you have to pay attention to 255 and 0 in an octet.

NetworkVeteran

There are many measures of perfection. If time is a component of that metric, focusing on the "interesting octet" should win.

Kinet1c

It was not until the fourth time did I pass this exam recently. For subnetting, CBT nuggets got me through it. For the simulation, lab lab and lab.

Try the Boson practice exams, can't recommend them enough.

mgmguy1

Thank you all for your suggestions.
My Study Materials include the following.
Third Edition Official Library ( Wendell Odem )
Todd Lammle CCENT book.
INE Videos
Udemy.com Chris Bryant CCNA bootcamp videos

As far as subnetting goes I do about 10 subnetting questions every other day from this web site
subnettingquestions.com - Free Subnetting Questions and Answers Randomly Generated Online

In addition I watch a-lot of Dan's courses on YouTube for my labbing practice.
I am going to up my subnetting practice a-lot more now.

Thanks again for the all comments everyone.

vinbuck

mgmguy1 wrote: »

Thank you all for your suggestions.
My Study Materials include the following.
Third Edition Official Library ( Wendell Odem )
Todd Lammle CCENT book.
INE Videos
Udemy.com Chris Bryant CCNA bootcamp videos

As far as subnetting goes I do about 10 subnetting questions every other day from this web site
subnettingquestions.com - Free Subnetting Questions and Answers Randomly Generated Online

In addition I watch a-lot of Dan's courses on YouTube for my labbing practice.
I am going to up my subnetting practice a-lot more now.

Thanks again for the all comments everyone.

Honestly, you left out the one thing you need the most practice on and IMHO the reason why you keep taking this exam over and over - Labbing

Suggestions:

- 20 subnet questions per day until you can do each of them in 20 seconds or less
- Go through the examples in your book on dynamic routing and start labbing them from scratch with GNS3 or real equipment. Once you put together a network and solve all the "little things" that come up while building a network, all kinds of light bulbs are going to go off.
- Get a copy of the Boson practice questions for this exam and try to figure out which answers are wrong and why instead of looking for the "right" answer - this is key to passing Cisco exams from CCNA to CCIE

Souljacker

I agree with vinbuck - watching videos isn't going to help you learn the command line. Building actual networks (and by actual, I mean simulated) will.

If your problems aren't the "gimme" questions (port numbers, why is telnet insecure, etc) then you have 2 things to focus on.

1. Subnetting until you are comfortable with the process - I don't necessarily agree that you need to complete them in 20 seconds or less though. It's helpful, yes, but it's more important to be correct. Rushing is the number one reason people would get these questions wrong, and time can be made up in the "gimme" questions.

2. Labbing! GSN3 or PT or whatever came with the Odom book (I think there is some network sim lite with the individual books and the full version if you bought the library) - configure routers and switches until you can do it in your sleep. And don't just configure them, label them based on what part of the curriculum you are trying to learn (securing access, ip routing, NAT, etc) and then in a couple days go back and see if you can figure out your network topology with the relevant show commands. This will help stick the config commands as well as the show commands in your memory.

THA_DOC

mgmguy1 wrote: »

Thank you all for your suggestions.
My Study Materials include the following.
Third Edition Official Library ( Wendell Odem )
Todd Lammle CCENT book.
INE Videos
Udemy.com Chris Bryant CCNA bootcamp videos

As far as subnetting goes I do about 10 subnetting questions every other day from this web site
subnettingquestions.com - Free Subnetting Questions and Answers Randomly Generated Online

In addition I watch a-lot of Dan's courses on YouTube for my labbing practice.
I am going to up my subnetting practice a-lot more now.

Thanks again for the all comments everyone.

I know you feel, I just failed ICND1 for second after six months of hard studying, labbing,and subnetting. I felt I answer all the questions correctly but score was exactly the same as six months prior. 662 how the world did get the exact same failing score......

Describe the Operation of a Data Network................. first test 50%, second test 71%
Implement a small switched network .........................first test40%......second test50%
Implement an IP addressing scheme and IP services to meet network requirement for a small branch office ..........first test 71%, secont test 50%
Implement a small routed network .....50% first and second test
Explain and select a appropriate administrative tasks required for a WLAN 0% both test
Identify Security threats to a network and describe a general methods to mitigate those threats. first test 50%, and 100% second test
Implement and verify WAN links.......20% first test, 50% second test

I really ashame to post those scores, the tuff part is trying find where study and focus learnafter such disappointment.

catak

Where exactly are you getting the INE videos? I went to the website and couldn't find any for CCENT??

Thanks.

mgmguy1 wrote: »

Thank you all for your suggestions.
My Study Materials include the following.
Third Edition Official Library ( Wendell Odem )
Todd Lammle CCENT book.
INE Videos
Udemy.com Chris Bryant CCNA bootcamp videos

As far as subnetting goes I do about 10 subnetting questions every other day from this web site
subnettingquestions.com - Free Subnetting Questions and Answers Randomly Generated Online

In addition I watch a-lot of Dan's courses on YouTube for my labbing practice.
I am going to up my subnetting practice a-lot more now.

Thanks again for the all comments everyone.

Blackout

Subnetting is Key to passing CCENT, Show commands, and CDP are 70 percent of your test.....seriously. For subnetting I practiced every single day, anytime I had a break I would practice subnetting I practiced until I was dreaming about subnets. I would blow away my lab everyday and rebuild it over and over until I knew the commands on the fly. Its daunting but you have to want it!

shellee1983

Souljacker wrote: »

Well, I'm not talking about Magic Number, I'm talking about the "Interesting Octet". Two different concepts. Subtracting from the "magic number" never worked for me either. The Interesting Octet is the only octet you actually have to perform binary math on. Convert it to binary, tick off the appropriate number in the chart and you're done. I'm absolutely in agreement with you that the only way to go is converting to full binary before calcing - the only question is whether you have to pay attention to 255 and 0 in an octet.

That I agree with, sorry I misinterpreted because the magic numbers always left me off on the odd numbered hosts (1, 3, 7...etc) which was off by 1 almost always. The concept of the interesting octet though I do agree with because that's how I cut my time. Initially I was turning it all to binary after researching a ton of different methods and that was the only 100% method I found helpful. It took me forever to learn and I still practice often because I seriously am terrible at math.

Blackout wrote: »

Subnetting is Key to passing CCENT, Show commands, and CDP are 70 percent of your test.....seriously. For subnetting I practiced every single day, anytime I had a break I would practice subnetting I practiced until I was dreaming about subnets. I would blow away my lab everyday and rebuild it over and over until I knew the commands on the fly. Its daunting but you have to want it!

I am due to retake the test in a couple of days and I use this app for my android phone called subnetting practice by Jbrock in the Google playstore and I do this every chance I get. It helps.