Hey all, I'm taking the CCNA test come Sat, and I'm looking for advice from all you who have taken it. I'm not asking you folks to get in trouble by violating the NDA ( I think they have you sign something like that ), but any advice, tips, or suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
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CCNA advice
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Knowing how to subnet is pretty big so really learn that.
VLANs, trunking, spanning tree, routing protocols, ACL's, and troubleshooting connectivity are key areas.
If you studied, went through labs, and really do have a grasp on the CCNA material, you'll do fine.
VLANs, trunking, spanning tree, routing protocols, ACL's, and troubleshooting connectivity are key areas.
If you studied, went through labs, and really do have a grasp on the CCNA material, you'll do fine.
=ACID RAIN=
Limp Gawd
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I know some guys that did boot camp. I only know them because after boot camp and successful CCNA exams, they took our CCNA classes so they could actually know the material...LOL.
Thats a very good tip. Anything you have to calculate you can write down before hand to save a lot of time.
Other than that keep working on that subnetting, be as fast and accurate as you can with it. And be careful with the simulation questions, you can lose a lot of time going down the wrong trail on those.
Know subnetting, but its not covered as much as people are making it out to be(on the older test, like the 604 that was the bulk of the test). You will see more wireless questions on this test than you will subnetting. Know general routing protocol information(timers, AD's, diffrences between distance vector and link state... but all very general).
Remember, the CCNA tests you on general Cisco network knowledge..... so everything thats covered in the books that you have been reading is fair game.... there are NO sections that are favored over the others. Also keep in mind that the test is adaptive, so if you get a topic wrong the engine will keep asking you question from the same topic. I hope you labbed a bit, the simulations are worth a fair amount of points.. 10% of the test actually..... and you will probably have 2 of those.
Overall, its not a very hard test(then again, Im working on my CCIE so its all relative
)
Remember, the CCNA tests you on general Cisco network knowledge..... so everything thats covered in the books that you have been reading is fair game.... there are NO sections that are favored over the others. Also keep in mind that the test is adaptive, so if you get a topic wrong the engine will keep asking you question from the same topic. I hope you labbed a bit, the simulations are worth a fair amount of points.. 10% of the test actually..... and you will probably have 2 of those.
Overall, its not a very hard test(then again, Im working on my CCIE so its all relative
)nameless_centurian
Gawd
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when i took it 5 years ago (the test has probably changed a lot since then), the part of the router simulation was pretty easy, but check your config a lot and see if your interfaces are up and line protocols are up and stuff. there was a lot of wrong encapsulation methods configured and wrong gateways entered and wrong subnet masks entered and stuff like that.
Yeah subnetting is a major area. But what is most important is that it is adaptive. If you get questions wrong say in ACL's. The test is going to start asking more and more ACl questions. Its hard to say whats going to be on it and how much of the test its going to be because it is adaptive.
I haven't taken the CCNA in awhile. Maybe 7 years ago? So I'm sure it has changed.
While the test isn't totally about subnetting, the posts above illustrate an important point. Subnetting is math. The answers are not subjective. There is a right and wrong answer. Get those "easy" ones out of the way and calculated fast in your head so you have more time to spend on the harder questions.
As with any test, be it Microsoft, Cisco or anyone else, there are some questions which may have more than one acceptable answer. It's not about choosing the right answer, but the <drink their kool-aid> answer. Although, I think CCNA is a little more cut-and-dry. The CCNP tests have a bit more room for subjective decisions.
-Robert
While the test isn't totally about subnetting, the posts above illustrate an important point. Subnetting is math. The answers are not subjective. There is a right and wrong answer. Get those "easy" ones out of the way and calculated fast in your head so you have more time to spend on the harder questions.
As with any test, be it Microsoft, Cisco or anyone else, there are some questions which may have more than one acceptable answer. It's not about choosing the right answer, but the <drink their kool-aid> answer. Although, I think CCNA is a little more cut-and-dry. The CCNP tests have a bit more room for subjective decisions.
-Robert