two days til CCENT

Deathmage

Any pointers gents?

Using flash cards atm and the Exam Cram tear-out-sheet as my refresher till Thursday.

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_Gonzalo_

Deathmage wrote: »

As for the 1721, it's indeed a SPOF, however this would comprise all of my switches/routers on my lab network.

Hehehe

I totally understand, you wanna go big! But if you are designing networks, size is not a factor. Resiliency is.

Deathmage wrote: »

After CCNA is MCSE or VCAP5; haven't decided quite yet..

That´s up to you, but CCNA is just halfway to being introduced to networking. If networking is what primarily interests you, then go for CCNP. I am interested in networks, so for me, Microsoft exams have no interest at all... though having them would broaden your working oportunities.

Deathmage

_Gonzalo_ wrote: »

Hehehe

I totally understand, you wanna go big! But if you are designing networks, size is not a factor. Resiliency is.

That´s up to you, but CCNA is just halfway to being introduced to networking. If networking is what primarily interests you, then go for CCNP. I am interested in networks, so for me, Microsoft exams have no interest at all... though having them would broaden your working oportunities.

Well to me VCP is on the same level as CCNA and MCSA are on the same playing field. VCAP5-DCA is something I want and MCSE, so I suppose CCNP would be equal to MCSE.

Someday, I'll get there. I like being well rounded.

battlebroccoli

How on earth did you fail? That's insane, you put like 1500 hours of studying into it you said. That just doesn't make sense. You went way overboard studying for that thing, you sure you took the right exam?

Deathmage

battlebroccoli wrote: »

How on earth did you fail? That's insane, you put like 1500 hours of studying into it you said. That just doesn't make sense. You went way overboard studying for that thing, you sure you took the right exam?

I think like many said I over studied... But didn't use any practice exams or Boson. I seriously feel it was the wording on questions that got me...

Deathmage

So I've gracefully 're-read Odom's book and it weird sections I feel I understand in the books fine are the sections I bombed on the test.

Going to read it again this weekend lightly and do mostly labbing but I surely hope I pass next time.

Stevecb06

I can tell, just from lurking around this forum and reading some of your posts, that you are focusing too much on things that are outside the scope of the CCENT exam. Don't get me wrong, trying to learn anything and everything you can is great, but when it comes to passing an exam, try to only focus on the subjects and material that are going to be on that exam before moving on to the more advanced subjects.

I have the same problem, so I know what it is like. I am currently studying to take the CCENT as well. However, I am so intrigued with every aspect of IT, that every day I find something new that I want to learn about. I am constantly finding myself straying from CCENT studies and reading about things that are way beyond the scope of the CCENT or not even anything to do with Cisco routing and switching at all.

I think the best thing to do is periodically ask yourself, "Is this material going to be on the CCENT exam?" and if the answer is no, stop what you are doing and get back to the basics. For me, I know that the sooner I can pass the CCENT exam the sooner I can focus on CCNA topics, and the sooner I pass that, the sooner I can get into the really good stuff. That is my motivation to stay focused.

battlebroccoli

Hmm yeah what Steve said is a good possibility. While I haven't looked at what all you have done, I have glanced over it, and it would appear you went a bit overboard. A common theme I find on a cisco exams is this for example. You read the book and it gives you the step by step CLI way to configure a VPN for instance, so you think you have to memorize how to configure a VPN by CLI. but in actuality for the exam, all you have to do is maybe run a few show commands and answer questions about why an already configured VPN isn't working. You really need to focus on the core fundamentals of the material and not get to technical. Know subnetting, know how OSPF works, know how frames and packets are routed through the network.

I passed my CCENT exam like 2 weeks ago and to prepare I read Lammels book once, skimmed it once an worked in packet tracer and I could be so bold as to say that packet tracer was way overboard preparation wise.

volfkhat

battlebroccoli wrote: »

I passed my CCENT exam like 2 weeks ago... and I could be so bold as to say that packet tracer was way overboard preparation wise.

Wait, Huh???
OVERBOARD in a "Productive" way?
or, in a "Waste-of-time probably-should-have-focused-on-other-things" kind of way?

YEEESH.
Maybe i need to go take/bomb the exam... just to See what's really on it o_O

Deathmage

I suppose. I think that what got me is the wording of the questions and time management.

But the one thing I do that so many don't do is I don't like to just read a book and get by just enough to pass. I really want to really understand the content. Can you pass the exam in 2 weeks sure, but if someone 6 months later ask you to recall that information could you honestly say you can recall it all?

This forum as a practice is against brain **** and me personal I'm as-well. I'd much rather understand it than just get the piece of paper. If I have to fail the exam 6 or even 10 times so be it, at-least my integrity of knowing when I do pass I know it just means so much more to me.

There is no textbook way to passing the Cisco exam or any exam, everyone learns differently. I know this all to well for personal reasons...

On that note, I finished Odom's book an hour ago. Going to do nothing but practice tests/sims the next week on Boson and I've rescheduled my exam for the 20th at 3:30pm. I have a mandatory company wide shutdown on the week of the 20th so it's the perfect time.

Plus a friend I meet at the VMUG in NJ back in March text'd me a testing center he found in northern NJ that does testing on Sat/Sun's so that opens up doors for me now.

round-two ccent.JPG

Stevecb06

I was in no way suggesting you cut corners or just do the bare minimum to pass the exam. I was simply saying that spending too much time on more advanced topics that will not even be on the CCENT, or even the CCNA for that matter, might be counter productive to you passing the exam. Laser focus on nothing but CCENT material until that exam is behind you and then laser focus on the next.

It seems like a lot of people on this forum are mentioning the wording that Cisco uses in its exams. Can you think of an example of a question that had weird wording? I will be taking the CCENT shortly and am just curious.

Deathmage

Stevecb06 wrote: »

I was in no way suggesting you cut corners or just do the bare minimum to pass the exam. I was simply saying that spending too much time on more advanced topics that will not even be on the CCENT, or even the CCNA for that matter, might be counter productive to you passing the exam. Laser focus on nothing but CCENT material until that exam is behind you and then laser focus on the next.

It seems like a lot of people on this forum are mentioning the wording that Cisco uses in its exams. Can you think of an example of a question that had weird wording? I will be taking the CCENT shortly and am just curious.

In that aspect I do agree my mind does wander often. But I do have a severe case of ADD/ADHD which kind of correlates to my Asperger syndrome. But meh who knows, everyone has issues I just chalk mine as a fact of life. But in retrospect, I have been laser focusing on nothing but Cisco when I'm at home and on weekends.

During the week though my role in System Administrator, so I deal heavily with networks, Microsoft System administration and VMware. When I started these certification pursuit(s) I knew with my personal learning issues it wouldn't be easy, it's a constant struggle to focus. But my want to learn is so high that it really gets frustrating for me sometimes. I feel like I'm trapped in my own mind. Recently, as mentioned before I take brain supplements and they have been helping me tremendously. But if so many of you all can do them and your now all in your 40's I can do it too, just means I need to keep at it.

See I was like most IT people starting off who thought they could hide in a dark server room and never talk to anyone. That fit my personality, it's just not so, so it's really hard for me. But it's what I love doing even if I do have a hard time interacting with people verbally.

As for the questions on the exam, I really have to be super vague in my questions about questions for help on them cause it's really a fine line in the NDA. So even my wording could be confusing to some about these questions, does that make any sense?

But I didn't mean any disrespect to your response, I sometimes don't always read statements correctly and to that affect posts I always read a few times before responding but I'm not fool proof. I honestly like constructive criticism cause I honestly don't know everything hence why I like learning from everyone on here.

verbhertz

Someone else mentioned that you were focusing too much on material above the CCENT. I agree. It sounds silly and backwards but I recommend making less complicated labs, and focusing directly on each objective of the test.

OfWolfAndMan

I can agree with a couple of people above. You are putting plenty of time in, but your scenarios tend to be a little large in scale. This isn't a bad thing, but the CCNA is about the fundamentals, and understanding the detail in certain things, even if only means connecting one link, is necessary. One thing I always do well before I take my exams for Cisco is review the exam objectives:

https://learningnetwork.cisco.com/community/certifications/ccna/icnd1_v2/exam-topics

If there's something I don't understand in that listing, I find it, or I ask where I can find it. Usually though, you can find explanations for most everything on the internet. Just make sure it's from a reputable source and not some noob (To a topic) on the Cisco forums overconfidently chanting off things they're new to.

Another thing: I know this is down the road, but run a packet capture on your links just to play. Read the packets a little to see how they're structured. Not really something you have to do, but it helps if you want to see the structure and level of detail in, let's say, an OSPF hello packet for example.

Also, in regards to your network topo, you have a nice array of equipment for someone going for an entry level cert, so use it to your advantage. Like Gonzalo said, put some redundancy in there for the purpose of putting spanning tree to work (And for use when you configure FHRPs in ICND2). I recommend you look at a three level hierarchy best practice example.

Any particular area you know you had issues with, in regards to subject?

Stevecb06

Deathmage wrote: »

But I didn't mean any disrespect to your response

No worries, I was not offended at all. Just wanted to clarify

Deathmage

OfWolfAndMan wrote: »

I can agree with a couple of people above. You are putting plenty of time in, but your scenarios tend to be a little large in scale. This isn't a bad thing, but the CCNA is about the fundamentals, and understanding the detail in certain things, even if only means connecting one link, is necessary. One thing I always do well before I take my exams for Cisco is review the exam objectives:

https://learningnetwork.cisco.com/community/certifications/ccna/icnd1_v2/exam-topics

If there's something I don't understand in that listing, I find it, or I ask where I can find it. Usually though, you can find explanations for most everything on the internet. Just make sure it's from a reputable source and not some noob (To a topic) on the Cisco forums overconfidently chanting off things they're new to.

Another thing: I know this is down the road, but run a packet capture on your links just to play. Read the packets a little to see how they're structured. Not really something you have to do, but it helps if you want to see the structure and level of detail in, let's say, an OSPF hello packet for example.

Also, in regards to your network topo, you have a nice array of equipment for someone going for an entry level cert, so use it to your advantage. Like Gonzalo said, put some redundancy in there for the purpose of putting spanning tree to work (And for use when you configure FHRPs in ICND2). I recommend you look at a three level hierarchy best practice example.

Any particular area you know you had issues with, in regards to subject?

I think the area's I get confused on is routing. See I know subnetting pretty well and VLSM as-well as wildcards. Never thought I'd say subnetting is my strong point but I am.

I understand RIP, EIGRP, and OSPF and how it works, but perhaps a packet tracer would be good to see the finer details.

I think I got such a poor score on Operations of IP Data Networks because I really didn't focus much on the wiring and controllers much, I mean not the finer details. Like it seems the really granular stuff is what got me. Like I can configure a router/switch pretty much with my eyes closed and understand what they do. But I seemed to get scenerio-based question on what-if's on thing like what is wrong with this password, why is enable secret better than password. Little things I know, but somehow the wording got me and I choice the wrong answers. I think that's one reason I boomed the Network Device Security section so badly.

I do think I over studied since I basically was second-guessing myself on a few questions and reflecting on them on my ride back from the testing center in my head, I was like stupid, stupid, stupid.

One thing I've been working on is trying to find things without using like the one command most people use, 'show running-config', and using others that find answers to the same information for interfaces and protocols like 'show ip inter br' and 'show interfaces', and 'show cdp neighbors detail'. Like I know them but it was really the case scenarios of like when to use them that caught me off guard. Like I know most of the show commands just using them correctly was my downfall I think plus I did spend like 10 minutes on each sim and I got 4 of them...time-management is also key not just the technical stuff. The sims weren't hard, I just took time finding the information and then moving those console's inside those simlets to look at them side-by-side was interesting to say the least...Do those exams really need to be on 17inch monitors?

That's why I made my current lab so huge and I've been intentionally breaking it to see what show commands will show me things. Also the Boson Simlets seem to help cause I go into them blind and not knowing the configs.

Troubleshooting, well I've been meddling with the lab and home as much as possible and Packet tracer for case-scenerios so hopefully my troubleshooting has improved. See my issue was I don't get much full-on-network-failure-fix-it too much, it's usually like one little silly thing.

NAT and ACL's I've been using in my lab when I can just so that it stays fresh in my mind. But I got those concepts down pretty good I think.

I just think like many said its the basics and scenerio-based routing that gets me. And considering the CCENT is so closely hooked into the R&S ICDN2 course it's the section you really gotta know cold...I'm just labbing in Boson as much as I can. it's just the different scenerios that are interesting to me.

Jon_Cisco said it best, "it's a journey, enjoy it"....if it takes me two exams or 10, I'm going to keep at it.

Stevecb06

Show commands is the one thing that is keeping me from scheduling the exam as well. While reading through my book I focused heavily on configuration thinking that was the most important thing. Now as I am preparing to pull the trigger to take the exam I am hearing that show commands is what its all about when it comes to the CCENT. Oh well, once I get them drilled into my head I will be good to go!

mikeybinec

Deathmage wrote: »

I think the area's I get confused on is routing. See I know subnetting pretty well and VLSM as-well as wildcards. Never thought I'd say subnetting is my strong point but I am.

For CCENT make sure you can subnet in 30 seconds or less. Once you memorize block sizes it's that easy

I understand RIP, EIGRP, and OSPF and how it works, but perhaps a packet tracer would be good to see the finer details.

But i am a big fan of real equipment. For example, PT does NOT support the log switch in access control lists. If you can't make cables you ain't a real network dude or dudeette (Iris the angel hee hee hee

Your network topos are way extreme--where are you getting them from? Get with the show commands like cdp and ints and you'll get it next time. Also, make
sure when you look at the multiple guess answers, you start from the BOTTOM and not the top, and watch for that tricky negative (which answer is not a ....)

In my view, Cisco should have more sims in the sense they have you configure router log ons, line vtys, service password encryption, show ospf show eigrp topo
and stuff like that.
Tricking people with crypto questions is stupid
Just my view

Deathmage

mikeybinec wrote: »

For CCENT make sure you can subnet in 30 seconds or less. Once you memorize block sizes it's that easy

But i am a big fan of real equipment. For example, PT does NOT support the log switch in access control lists. If you can't make cables you ain't a real network dude or dudeette (Iris the angel hee hee hee

Your network topos are way extreme--where are you getting them from? Get with the show commands like cdp and ints and you'll get it next time. Also, make
sure when you look at the multiple guess answers, you start from the BOTTOM and not the top, and watch for that tricky negative (which answer is not a ....)

In my view, Cisco should have more sims in the sense they have you configure router log ons, line vtys, service password encryption, show ospf show eigrp topo
and stuff like that.
Tricking people with crypto questions is stupid
Just my view

oopsies, I mean like an actual packet analyzer not packet tracer, lol

But I guess my topos are a bit extreme. I just invent them in my head. I go with a flowchart design and just figure it out to get them to talk and route between each other. I guess they are extreme but there big on purpose so I can make them all work. But they are so large and it takes like like 3 hours to make them since I'm **** and put descriptions on everything even though I will be the only one reading them.

Plus I put a ton of thought into the subnet designs, IE: getting into the habit of planning for growth like for a /23 but making the subnets small like if it need 50 I make it a /26 and for WAN's to just use /30's instead of /24's. I guess in that aspect, that's why I'm pretty relaxed with subnetting cause I make some pretty elaborate topos in the lab.

Right now I know dynamic routing well and static routing I use as a last ditch route, even though it's unlikely something will break OSPF...

One thing I've taken from the exam is Cisco is very wordy with the questions, something I'm paying attention to in the next one. The same thing happened to me on the VMware exam the 1st time.

Reflecting on the CompTIA exam's I don't remember them being so wordy...

Deathmage

take one statement back from above, was up til 3am reading 4 or 5 chapters on routing: the basics, static and dynamic and I really focused on them and I feel I understand them much better now.

Sometimes I think these study books just go in order of opportunity and not really is a cohesive order that follow into each other. I feel much better on routing now. The strategy dawned upon me last night at 6pm and I just popped some amino acids and brain elevate/alpha-liptic acid/L-Carnitine and just read; I may do it for the other criteria too as quick review.

just woke up at 8am and started labbing again and just got done with a 15 minute read of VLSM even though I own that topic.

techfiend

Passed today and I'd say Lammle's book helped much more than Odom's, although it may have been because it was the second reading of the material. i might just read Lammle for ICND2 and see what happens on the boson tests. I had a lot of IP routing questions on the ICND1 and they were almost always the same answer.

I think labbing is fun but it could be severly over-studying and I don't know about you but I focus on the more advanced material and it can really hurt me on tests. The Lammle book gives you enough labbing to pass the test I took, just knowing the show commands was the majority of the sims.

Deathmage

1st time taking a non study mode exam on Boson, not sure what to make of it. I seem to have sucked more now with Subnetting since I've been focusing on the areas I was weak on from the test two weeks ago.....

1st time take the exam.JPG

GreaterNinja

looks like you are about ready to pass. I'd take it once you hit 880-900 on Boson.

I hope this makes you feel better...many people fail the CCENT / CCNA 1-2 times then pass. Good luck Trekie.

Deathmage

GreaterNinja wrote: »

looks like you are about ready to pass. I'd take it once you hit 880-900 on Boson.

I hope this makes you feel better...many people fail the CCENT / CCNA 1-2 times then pass. Good luck Trekie.

Well I'm getting better, just took another fresh exam.

took another practise exam.JPG

Deathmage

This Boson is a tricky little turd, While the answer I chose would work with ip routing, it's these kinds of questions that threw me off on the exam.

tricky little bastard boson.JPG

techfiend

I had some best answer either/or questions like that on my ccent too. I think in practice most would use ip default-gateway.

Deathmage

I think I may need a 3rd re-take and i'm taking my 2nd attempt Monday taking these Boson exams I swear their harder than the Cisco ones and I'm like 10 points from passing on the last two exams B&C in the Boson sim, the 1st (A) exam I've gotten a better score each time but I'm not sure if that just because I keep taking it or the randomizer keeps giving it too me.

Achieving this CCNA is literally no joke these days, i swear it's harder than it was back in 2006. And even that doesn't mean **** cause I didnt use it for 5 years.

I'm just redoing the practise exams, then after i take one do flash cards and then read a chapter in the section I did bad in and then retake it. I'm pondering if i'm studying too much but geez this Boson is hard.

I can safely say the simlets are least of my worries cause I can do them fine, its the annoyingly wordy questions that get me. I've done so many labs in packet tracer lately it's nutso, and I kept them smaller as many recommended.

What's messed up is I can make a network fine at work, in a lab, and in packet tracer but these questions I swear on the exam are just stupid hard. I'm not a quiter and won't give up but it just seems like it's going to be a super long and hard road for me. Have others failed numerous times?

I don't want to wait another week and risk losing knowledge but I've been reading and labbing for 3 to 4 hours a night since the 1st exam and been taking boson exams since Last Monday every other day. If anyone has done Boson you know what I mean by exam A,B,C. A I can do fine, it seems easier. B i'm getting better at, and C forget it, I swear their tiered. I like the explanations to why it's wrong that helps but I feel I understand the material and then I'm like questioning why the answers are wrong and why the ones that are right are right. I'm not failing by a huge number like 10 to 15 points but its consistent, on the flip side I pass by 10 to 15 points too.

I so want to pass and understand this material, is it just me?

mikeybinec

I dont know, earlier you said you might have some issues on routing. What specifically is that?

Deathmage

Well lately I don't have many problems with understanding routing and such, it's the finite details that seem to get me.

Like one thing I've been doing after I take a 30 minute nap each doing a chapter or exam is I try to visualize scenarios in my mind as to what is needed, like for instance.

Routing, what is needed for host A on the left side of a router connected to a switch need to get the opposite side of the router with host B also connected to the switch in it's network? ...so I go thru it mentally, Host A sends out a ARP request to it's gateway which is the router (since it can't find the address in it's subnet range), as configured on the switch, the router says 'I found the destination IP address but its not in your network', so it changes the source mac address to the interface of the local network interface on the router but then forwards the request to the destination IP address that is found in it's routing table. The same process is flipped for Host B to get to Host A. .................So that much I've done differently since the last exam and I wasted about 30 pieces of paper with scenarios of like 'what is needed' to accomplish this task.

It's also like the small things that seem to get me, like 'no cdp run' is global and 'no cdp enable' is interface based. That got me on the exam I know... Other things are like for instance the defaults on 'show ip ospf interface', hello timers is 10 seconds and dead timers are 40 seconds by default. Had no clue I needed to be that granular, the Boson exams showed me that.

OSI level stuff I'm working on since I don't use it very often, but things like what layer do TCP/UDP operate at, obviously that's the transport layer but not all of them I know well. Like Application layer to me is like DNS,DHCP, TFTP, FTP, etc. But the other layers of the 'All People Seem to Need Data Processing' I know some but not all. Like Physical to me that would be a network wire and a hub, Data link would be Mac addresses and switching I suppose but it's just a flat switching; Network layer would be routing/switching; Transport we already covered; Session layer to be is hard so that would be like a ODBC connector or SQL, and Presentation layer to me would be like .jpeg, .mpe, basically the file association layer. ...See I understand a layer can only interact with a layer above and below itself, I just don't work with OSI enough or any of those layer schemes. I mean do on a daily basis at my job but who ever gives it much thought?

It's like this, did you know that everyone spends 10 minutes each day on average on the toilet at work and that equates to 40 hours of paid vacation a year? ... did you know that...of course not...but now that you think about it your like ooo that's neat, same concept applies to those dam layers...

Another one that did get me was the access list on a telnet line, now I remember it's a access-class. I don't use it enough but now I know it.

Basically it's the littler stupid things that seem to get me not so much the base concepts. Anyone know what I mean?

Deathmage

trying something new, make flash cards on topics I need to review so I can keep reviewing the material. I made half of them 7 months ago, just doing the rest, only got like 30 more to go. I'm determined to pass, just wish it wasn't so hard.

alias454

The devils in the details for sure with the CCENT/CCNA. The wordy questions are a pain. Some of them I had to read two or three times to make sense of it.