Am I on the Right Track?

Once again, there were several things that came up this month so I have not taken my CCENT yet, but the good news is that I've gotten right back into gear with the studying, finishing up all the lab videos and practicing more and more. I finished reading Exam Cram and doing the questions out of it in just a few days, and now I've been working on Boson questions.

I was quite disappointed and shocked by my first exam results. Around a 50% in study mode, but then just right now took the second practice exam that's on there, made around a 62%, so I am seeing improvement already and I'm reading the questions much more carefully than I did the first time. It's motivated me to go back and really look at the topics I didn't understand as well as I thought I did. Also, I found that the questions in Exam Cram, at least the ones in each chapter, easier for me to answer than the Boson questions.

Keep in mind I have never taken an exam quite like this before, so it was good that I got that rude awakening now before the day of the test and I'm really quite glad that I have a much better idea for what I'm in for. I'm planning to keep doing these practice exams until I get near the 80% mark with additional reading, taking notes on the questions that I got wrong and the explanations for the correct answers on the Boson exams, and lab practice. I hope I'm doing something right here.

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TWX

I know the feeling, for awhile I was averaging about 75-80% on the practice questions (getting about one wrong per section, far too low to pass) and my last step before I schedule my exam will be to go through the Pearson simulated exams that I bought.

A technique that I've been trying has been to write-down the nature of the missed questions (or the ones that I basically guessed on) and any answer explanations so that I can review them later. Most of what I miss are explicit questions on esoteric command lines like the format for "frame-relay lmi-type q33a" or other explicit commands that one hardly ever even sees in the wild anymore, let alone has to use regularly.

ITNewbie2

From personal experience, this is what helped me while studying for the exam. Be sure to hone in on your sub-netting skills because this will be a big portion of the CCENT exam. If you are not already using packet tracer, you should download it and start practicing stuffs like setting up port security on a switch, erase startup-config, reloading the switch, set up a vlan for management purpose, enable secret, assigning an IP address to router, etc. The more you practice, the easier time you will have understanding the book after you have done some labs. There are plenty of free sub-netting practice websites that can be found on google, they all helped me a lot. You will also need to understand well the concept of OSPF for the CCENT exam, but the more hands-on stuffs comes on the CCNA exam. Spanning Tree, Frame-Relay, PVC, HDLC, EIGRP all comes on the CCNA exam, but it doesn't hurt to start reading up about them now.

Good Luck on your exam.

bender_fender100

ITNewbie2 wrote: »

From personal experience, this is what helped me while studying for the exam. Be sure to hone in on your sub-netting skills because this will be a big portion of the CCENT exam. If you are not already using packet tracer, you should download it and start practicing stuffs like setting up port security on a switch, erase startup-config, reloading the switch, set up a vlan for management purpose, enable secret, assigning an IP address to router, etc. The more you practice, the easier time you will have understanding the book after you have done some labs. There are plenty of free sub-netting practice websites that can be found on google, they all helped me a lot. You will also need to understand well the concept of OSPF for the CCENT exam, but the more hands-on stuffs comes on the CCNA exam. Spanning Tree, Frame-Relay, PVC, HDLC, EIGRP all comes on the CCNA exam, but it doesn't hurt to start reading up about them now.

Good Luck on your exam.

I'm very well familiar with the Packet Tracer. Been using it a lot, but I was looking for some more labs to do on there, besides what I've done via Udemy.

Even though I understand subnetting, I see your point. It never hurts to keep practicing and that's something I still want to keep doing.

Jamesweb

I know your feeling, I have been studying now since about middle June for just my CCENT, it just seems like so much to study and just having a plan on what to study when is a big challenge for me but I have just started going through the labs in the Pearson Network simulator and I will tell you this, I have learned a lot in just a few days going through those labs. It was well worth the price in my opinion. Once I am done with those then it will be on to using the Boson netsim 10 and labs there which appear to be awesome as well then of course on to taking some practice exams. Hang in there, it sounds like you are on a good path!

bender_fender100

Jamesweb wrote: »

I know your feeling, I have been studying now since about middle June for just my CCENT, it just seems like so much to study and just having a plan on what to study when is a big challenge for me but I have just started going through the labs in the Pearson Network simulator and I will tell you this, I have learned a lot in just a few days going through those labs. It was well worth the price in my opinion. Once I am done with those then it will be on to using the Boson netsim 10 and labs there which appear to be awesome as well then of course on to taking some practice exams. Hang in there, it sounds like you are on a good path!

I almost forgot I have the Odom simulator on my computer still. I did go through some of it but it was several weeks ago, so I think I'd find much more use in it now getting extra practice. I'll try that, go through at least one Exam Cram practice quiz, and then try the Boson test again and see how I do. I also still have Odom's book just in case I still need a different explanation for the concepts I don't understand. I've been studying since late August, so it's been more than a month and a half for me.

volfkhat

i was VERY underwhelmed by the CCENT.

I had been labbing on Packetracer to the point that i actually scared myself :]

Nonetheless, the exam itself felt like a joke.
If you know how to Subnet,
And you understand how a Swicth will handle an incoming frame...
you can probably "get by" with that alone.

Seriously!

my Advice:
Don't keep "putting off" the exam.
Just DROp the $150 and see HOW you do. THAT will be the BEST indicator of How-close-you-are/ where you need to improve.

This advise Saved me probably another 6 weeks of OVER-STUDYING...

bender_fender100

volfkhat wrote: »

i was VERY underwhelmed by the CCENT.I had been labbing on Packetracer to the point that i actually scared myself :]Nonetheless, the exam itself felt like a joke.If you know how to Subnet,And you understand how a Swicth will handle an incoming frame... you can probably "get by" with that alone.Seriously!my Advice:Don't keep "putting off" the exam.Just DROp the $150 and see HOW you do. THAT will be the BEST indicator of How-close-you-are/ where you need to improve.This advise Saved me probably another 6 weeks of OVER-STUDYING...

Thanks. I appreciate the advice. I had it scheduled for this Saturday, but got so afraid by the Boson results that I rescheduled it for another week. I really just want to have the CCENT now so I can go straight into the CCNA, which I heard is harder than the CCENT itself, and then get my CCNA Security certification. I even said to myself when I started doing this that I wanted to be CCNA certified by the end of the year, so before I get out of college that I can start selling myself and looking for employment in that field. I know there's other factors to it and that I shouldn't place too much emphasis on these certifications alone, but I need to get past the HR departments as soon as I can and to get my foot in the door.