Thursday, January 20, 2011

Passed CCNA Exam

I took my CCNA Exam today and passed with a score of 936.  The exam was not extremely tough provided you have a good understanding of all the topics covered and practise all the IOS commands either using simulation software or real Cisco’s devices.

Here are some of my opinions on preparing the exam.

  • Make sure you have good knowledge of basic networking stuffs and I really mean basic.
  • Know the OSI model well and how it translates to the TCP/IP model.
  • Must understand how things work at Layer 2 (e.g. frames, VLAN, VTP, STP) and at Layer 3 (e.g. IP and routing protocols)
  • Ability to do subnetting, VLSM and wildcard mask fast.  You don’t really have time to do it slowly.
  • Practise a lot on ACL and routing protocols.  Use simulation software or real devices.  Learn how to troubleshoot problems using all the show commands.
  • Have a good basic understanding of IPv6, WLAN, WAN and the router booting process.

When you are taking the exam, it is very important not to panic.  Read the questions and answers carefully.  Do not procrastinate too much when you answer because it won’t help and it will well take up your time in answering other questions.

If you already have a Cisco account, you should try out some of the questions at https://learningnetwork.cisco.com/community/certifications/ccna/ccna_exam?view=overview.

I am still in the “recovery” state after the exam but I will try to post some more of my study notes in the coming days.

Need to have a good night sleep to recover Smile

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