01-18-2013, 01:30 PM
I just took my CCNA recently after using this site and passed with a score over 930. I don't want to be specific because I'm paranoid.
Questions: It's hard to gauge how many related directly to the exam here, but I'd say maybe 50% to 75%, or possibly more if I just forgot & didn't recognize. There are >900 test questions to review and it takes a long time to review them all. I'm pretty sure there were new ones. I know they changed the ACL SIM (question QID:S17). Essentially they wanted me to allow x.x.x.2 instead of x.x.x.3. The name of the server they wanted to restrict was named Financial Accounting or something like that. Also, they wanted only this 1 host access via web browser, but wanted to block all other types of access from that computer & all other host computers + core. I wrote my access list like:
I also had QID:S14, the SIM with the bunch of switches. I actually had one of the optional questions you have listed in the answer key for this one, specifically the "SwX was taken out of ...". I also had the one asking which ones were operating as trunks & which port would a frame be forwarded with X source MAC & Y destination MAC. Basically I had all 3 additional questions that weren't on the official How2Pass SIM, but were thankfully included in the "Additional Questions" section. My other two questions were 'which port would a frame destined for out of the network be forwarded' & 'What addy should be configured as default-gateway for host blah blah'.
My 3rd SIM was one of the retardedly easy ones, so not worth mentioning. Pretty sure it was spot on to the SIM's on this site too.
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[Give me a sec while I get up on my high & mighty pedestal] Here are my tips on getting a good score. I finished the CCNA with a good score & around 60 seconds left.
You need exposure to all the questions. There are a fuckton of questions. DO NOT MEMORIZE THE ANSWERS. That is idiotic & there are too many besides (I have a friend trying to do this). Just go through them answering them honestly, then once you've picked your choice, click on "Answer" and see if you were wrong. Do not guess. If you don't know it, just click answer, read which one is correct, write notes if you have to, and choose a WRONG answer, then move on. HERE'S WHY: the site keeps track of which ones you've gotten wrong & right. Obviously you don't need to review the ones you've nailed & got right. You can choose a 'filter' to only answer the ones you've gotten incorrect. You need exposure.
Get a spiral bound pad for notes. Start with an initial page of subjects you need to brush up on. Mine had items like "IPv6, port-sercurity options, access-lists, etc". The 2nd & beyond page just contained notes. I also noticed that my initial note taking sucked balls, but got much better later on. If time is on your side, I highly recommend rewriting your notes once you've gone through all >900 questions. I know I had duplicate & triplicate notes on the same subject material spanning almost 40 pages worth. I could've condensed it to 15-20 easily.
While writing notes, use a black pen, red (or other colored) pen, and a highlighter. The more active you are in your note taking, the more you remember. Also, it helps when reviewing because you're not just reading a boring fucking wall of black ink. I highlighted the things that I really needed to know, like IPv6 router protocol broadcast addresses.
Oh, here are a couple of videos that really nailed it for me regarding IPv6. I never actually watched the CBT Nugget videos, but I hear they are very helpful.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mWB3IJkySto
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpnR7pGc7SE
The key here is that memorizing will help you get maybe a score of 600 or 700. You need to learn & understand wtf is going on, not just memorize. This site helps with getting exposure, and the "answer" section helps with understanding. This will assist massively when you DO encounter the same questions on the test and burn through it in 5-10 seconds, giving you time to think about the "HOLY SHIT, WTF ARE THEY TALKING ABOUT" questions that you sit on for a couple of minutes. I finished with less than a minute left, so any time saved was extremely helpful.
Well, I hope that helps people. I'm pretty stoked now that I have my CCNA. I'll be working on my CCNP once I've caught up with my college classes (I'm behind now that I spent so much time on this damn Cisco shit).
Later
PS: Don't wear long sleeve shirts. They give you a dry erase legal size plastic thing & ball point dry erase marker to write crap on. While writing, you'll probably get crap on your sleeves like I did.
Questions: It's hard to gauge how many related directly to the exam here, but I'd say maybe 50% to 75%, or possibly more if I just forgot & didn't recognize. There are >900 test questions to review and it takes a long time to review them all. I'm pretty sure there were new ones. I know they changed the ACL SIM (question QID:S17). Essentially they wanted me to allow x.x.x.2 instead of x.x.x.3. The name of the server they wanted to restrict was named Financial Accounting or something like that. Also, they wanted only this 1 host access via web browser, but wanted to block all other types of access from that computer & all other host computers + core. I wrote my access list like:
- access-list 100 permit tcp host [x.x.x.3 PC] host [x.x.x.17 server] eq 80
- access-list 100 deny ip any host [x.x.x.17 server]
- access-list 100 permit ip any any
I also had QID:S14, the SIM with the bunch of switches. I actually had one of the optional questions you have listed in the answer key for this one, specifically the "SwX was taken out of ...". I also had the one asking which ones were operating as trunks & which port would a frame be forwarded with X source MAC & Y destination MAC. Basically I had all 3 additional questions that weren't on the official How2Pass SIM, but were thankfully included in the "Additional Questions" section. My other two questions were 'which port would a frame destined for out of the network be forwarded' & 'What addy should be configured as default-gateway for host blah blah'.
My 3rd SIM was one of the retardedly easy ones, so not worth mentioning. Pretty sure it was spot on to the SIM's on this site too.
------------------------
[Give me a sec while I get up on my high & mighty pedestal] Here are my tips on getting a good score. I finished the CCNA with a good score & around 60 seconds left.
You need exposure to all the questions. There are a fuckton of questions. DO NOT MEMORIZE THE ANSWERS. That is idiotic & there are too many besides (I have a friend trying to do this). Just go through them answering them honestly, then once you've picked your choice, click on "Answer" and see if you were wrong. Do not guess. If you don't know it, just click answer, read which one is correct, write notes if you have to, and choose a WRONG answer, then move on. HERE'S WHY: the site keeps track of which ones you've gotten wrong & right. Obviously you don't need to review the ones you've nailed & got right. You can choose a 'filter' to only answer the ones you've gotten incorrect. You need exposure.
Get a spiral bound pad for notes. Start with an initial page of subjects you need to brush up on. Mine had items like "IPv6, port-sercurity options, access-lists, etc". The 2nd & beyond page just contained notes. I also noticed that my initial note taking sucked balls, but got much better later on. If time is on your side, I highly recommend rewriting your notes once you've gone through all >900 questions. I know I had duplicate & triplicate notes on the same subject material spanning almost 40 pages worth. I could've condensed it to 15-20 easily.
While writing notes, use a black pen, red (or other colored) pen, and a highlighter. The more active you are in your note taking, the more you remember. Also, it helps when reviewing because you're not just reading a boring fucking wall of black ink. I highlighted the things that I really needed to know, like IPv6 router protocol broadcast addresses.
Oh, here are a couple of videos that really nailed it for me regarding IPv6. I never actually watched the CBT Nugget videos, but I hear they are very helpful.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mWB3IJkySto
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpnR7pGc7SE
The key here is that memorizing will help you get maybe a score of 600 or 700. You need to learn & understand wtf is going on, not just memorize. This site helps with getting exposure, and the "answer" section helps with understanding. This will assist massively when you DO encounter the same questions on the test and burn through it in 5-10 seconds, giving you time to think about the "HOLY SHIT, WTF ARE THEY TALKING ABOUT" questions that you sit on for a couple of minutes. I finished with less than a minute left, so any time saved was extremely helpful.
Well, I hope that helps people. I'm pretty stoked now that I have my CCNA. I'll be working on my CCNP once I've caught up with my college classes (I'm behind now that I spent so much time on this damn Cisco shit).
Later
PS: Don't wear long sleeve shirts. They give you a dry erase legal size plastic thing & ball point dry erase marker to write crap on. While writing, you'll probably get crap on your sleeves like I did.