CCNA Test next week 3

[abovebrd]

I will be taking the CCNA exam next week.

Does anyone have any words of wizdom for me. ha ha

Any areas I should pay more attention to.

-Danny

 

[wybnormal]

Take advantage of the short wait time before the test starts. You are allowed to make notes on your paper while waiting for the test to start or BEFORE you actually kick the test off and start the clock running. Put down the OSI layers, map them to packets, segment and such. Lay out the 4 layer of TCP and how they map to the OSI. Get your subnet cheatsheet ( you DO have one right?) written down so you dont waste time calculating the IPs.

Read the question CAREFULLY!!!!!!!!! Read ALL the answers before you click on one. You can NOT go back to an old question so make notes as you go. Pay very close attention when asked which command sequence is correct.. they like to put the > in place of the # for example and if you dont catch it, it's wrong.

Brush up on managing the images via copy, tftp etc. Get Frame Relay straight in your head for basic configs. Brush up on IPX.. they will ask questions about it. ANd appletalk.. I had a couple of lame questions about it but you gotta answer it right.

Rule of thumb is something like 80% of test questions have the correct answer as C. So if you REALLY dont know the answer.. guess C. Got this from both my instructor who designed tests for the AF and my wife who designed and analyzed tests for a major testing house.

Fun stuff huh?
MikeS

"Diplomacy; the art of saying 'nice doggie' till you can find a rock" Wynn Catlin

 

[abovebrd]

Subnetting is a weak point of mine
Do you know of any good sites that cover the topic indepth.

Can you you really make note before the test starts ?




-Danny

 

[wybnormal]

Danny- I wrote out my cheat sheet and my ISO layer model before I started the test. According to both the instructor I had plus the proctor, it's legal. You just cant take it with you after the test.

You need to have you subnetting in order before the test. They hit it hard in a varity of ways... how many subnets does this mask equal, whats the range of hosts, what mask to get X number of hosts and so on. Pretty standard fare.

Surprisingly, 3Com has the best site I've seen on subnetting BUT.. a close second is

http://www.certificationzone.com

with their papers, questions and labs. SOme is free and some requires a small fee.

MikeS "Diplomacy; the art of saying 'nice doggie' till you can find a rock" Wynn Catlin

 

[abovebrd]

Mike,

Did you write it our from memory, or did you copy from something else before the test begain.

Just wondering to how best prepare



-Danny

 

[wybnormal]

Memory..

no books, tapes, mp3 players or posters allowed

You just need to remember it long enough to get on paper.

MikeS "Diplomacy; the art of saying 'nice doggie' till you can find a rock" Wynn Catlin

 

[abovebrd]

cool

thanks for the pointers

I will post back how I did next Tuesday.

Thanks



-Danny

 

[abovebrd]

Well I was not as prepared as I thought I was. I fell just short short of required number correct needed to pass.

Back to the books.

Does any know what the turn around time required for re-testing is ?

-Danny

 

[jeter]

You can retest the next day!!!
I too failed the first time, however you just have to want it more the second time. Go over the area that you was weakest on and study, study, and study some more. Good Luck Jeter@LasVegas.com
J.Fisher CCNA

 

[wybnormal]

Where did you trouble? any one thing or just a bunch of little things coupled with the stress of the test?

MikeS "Diplomacy; the art of saying 'nice doggie' till you can find a rock" Wynn Catlin

 

[abovebrd]

Over all I think I did pretty good. I think the stress got the better of me. An hour or so before I took the test my boss chewed me out over some misc. Garbage.

I scored the highest on the OSI Model and Network Protocols. I scored the lowest on network management (25%)
I needed 850 to pass, my score was just below that number.

I think I know my stuff, and have a pretty good understanding of the terms and concepts. I think my problem was just the stress and not having a clear head. I went and purchased the sybex ccna book because it has some practice tests on CD. I am going to run through the practice tests and see how I do.

I plan to re-test in the next two weeks. I'll post back again.

Any comments or suggestions.

-Danny

 

[wybnormal]

SOunds like stress.. yeah.. I bet the boss ragging on you didnt help matters any :-(

I'll check my notes and see what I have from Network Management.

MikeS
"Diplomacy; the art of saying 'nice doggie' till you can find a rock" Wynn Catlin

 

[juggy]

Have you come accross boson test software. I rate it and it was a very good aid for me for the exam. I think the web site is

http://WWW.BOSON.COM

the software is dirt cheep for what you get and as well as the CCNA it covers the CCDA and a few others unlike a book thats specific for one subject.

 

[webnetwiz]

I bought the official coursebook from Cisco Press, Interconnecting Cisco Network Devices. i read that thing from cover to cover, practiced a few commands on the router, some subnetting(BTW, they have an 8-step formula for subnetting, it was the easiest way I've seen so far), and took the test 5 days after finishing the book, passing with low 900s. READ THE QUESTIONS CAREFULLY, you've got to understand fully what they want you to do.