Exam day is approaching, and you're getting your last few study periods in before taking the test. The pressure builds - ok, it's not like passing the bar, or your last shot at passing your PhD orals, or taking the CPA exam for the 5th time - but it's still pressure. So, what's keeping you up at night? What one topic is giving you the most trouble? What's just not making sense in spite of what you read or study? Or what topic did you finally have to give up on for now, hoping you don't see too much on that topic on your exam?
That's not rhetorical, by the way, and I do have an ulterior motive. I've spent big chunks of the last 6 months of blogging on two long series - one on CCNA lab gear, and one on CCNP lab gear. I've decided on about a dozen blog topics, plus I'll have a few guest bloggers this summer. Unfortunately, I can't find my survey regarding what CCNA topics you folks would most like to hear about. The CCNP survey's still on this blog post, so feel free to weigh in on that survey.
So, first, let me share a few thoughts that might help regarding the worries and concerns before approaching any Cisco exam at the Associate and Professional level. (CCIE's a different beast in more ways than just the depth/breadth of topics.)
Major on the majors. In your final7 days of prep, repeating study and practice on the top 6-10 topics on the exam is one good strategy. They can't test you on every topic is 50-ish exam questions.
Rest is underrated. Whatever you do that helps you relax and get a good night's sleep, do it for the night before the exam. "Rest is a weapon" goes the old spy saying- I don't know if that's an original quote; I first read it in a Ludlum book back in the 80's. Rest is better than another 2 hours of study.
Talk to yourself. One of the joys of teaching is that it forces you to re-explain something you think you understand. Most instructors will tell you that they've been standing in front of a classroom, mid-sentence, and realize that they were wrong about some point, or just realized some finer meaning or reason for something they're talking about. As you approach exam day, while you're driving, exercising, whatever, talk through some of the exam topics. Turn off your Ipod and radio, and tell yourself what you know. If you can do this the last week before an exam, you'll quickly discover what you're having trouble with, build a short list of questions that you need to answer before the exam. That way, you're not having to do a general review of all topics.
Plan your exam day strategy before you go to the exam. Do you have a plan for how you're going to tell if you're doing well on time, or not? Do you know how long you'll devote to Sim questions before moving on? (Sims have partial credit - do all you can, by the way.) What, if anything, are you going to write on your note sheet as soon as you can in the exam? Are you going to drink a 64 ounce coke before signing in to take the exam? Whatever your personal preference for such things, figure it out before you're walking in the door.
Now it's your turn. If you have any other last-week suggestions of what you do that removes the pressure, helps you worry less, and helps you get some rest the day before the exam, please post. Also, while you're here, answer the survey below, which asks which CCNA topics you'd most like me to post about when I take a few days to post a sample exam-like question for technical discussion. I may even post a lab exercise or two on these topics, and put a pod up to let a few more of you try. Anyway, let me know what you think!
Odom, CCIE No, 1624, splits time between writing books for Cisco Press and teaching classes for Skyline ATS. In his 25-ish years in the networking industry, he has worked as as a pre-sale and post-sale SE for a few networking vendors, as well as a network engineer implementing network technology. Wendell has spent the majority of the last 15 years teaching, consulting, and writing about networking technologies, most of which in some way relate to Cisco products. His books include titles on QoS, CCIE R/S, as well as several titles related to CCNA certification, including the September 2007 book CCNA Official Exam Certification Library (CCNA Exam 640-802) (Read a sneak peek of chapter 7). Click for the list of current titles by Wendell.
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What makes you loose sleep before the exam
Hi Wendell
When I sat for my CCNA exam a little over two years ago, it was fear of the unknown that brought me sleepless nights.
I had spent around 9 months studying between reading and using my home lab for hands on practice and felt that I knew the material pretty well. However I had heard people or read posts on the web going on about how given the number of questions on the exam and the time allotted for the exam you did not have that long per question. I had also heard/read horror stories about the number and type of simulation questions.
It was this fear of not knowing what was facing me which caused my nerves to jingle more so than any of the topics I had covered. Sitting for my BSCI was not a nerve racking as now I had an idea of how the test was presented. This time I just had to worry if I had studied the material in sufficient detail :)
As for topics I would like to see you cover (this is speaking from hindsight and from helping some of my work colleagues with their CCNA prep) for CCNA candidates are,
IPv6: As being familiar with IPv4, this takes a little getting used to.
ACL's: It took a while for me to get used to where to place the different types of ACL. Also making sure that you structure them correctly so that they work as expected.
STP: Being able to understand why a certain switch was chosen as the root bridge. Being able to work out which MAC address is lower. Some study material I have seen use MAC addresses like aa:aa:aa:aa:aa:aa & bb:bb:bb:bb:bb:bb and in this instance it is easy to know which MAC is lower. However when proper MAC address representation is used, is xx:xx:xx:af:89:1f higher or lower than xx:xx:xx:97:cf:ee? Also understanding WHY a certain port is blocked.
NAT: In the material that I used for my CCNA studies, NAT was not (IMHO) covered in sufficient detail and this was one of the topics I felt least prepared for on exam day. I should state that I did not use topics from Cisco Press for my NA studies
Subnetting: This seems to be a topic that causes problems for quite a few people. Being able to subnet in your head. I have always been good at math and find subnetting pretty easy. However it is something that I find myself going over both with my work colleagues and on forums. I have to say that from what I have read to date, I found the chapter in the Sybex book by Todd Lammle to be excellent for teaching the subject. Again I have seen study material that IMHO emphasise the binary method too much. And while I agree that it is important to be able to break down an IP address into binary and work out the subnet information, this method will not cut it on the exam.
HEX -> Binary -> Decimal conversion: This again is something that some people can have problems with. We have all covered this while in school/college. However sometimes there can be quite a bit of time passed between leaving college and studying for the CCNA and maybe HEX & Binary is not something that you have used a lot in the interim. I know that it is not something that is required on a daily basis like subnetting, but I think that a short refresher on the subject might be helpful.
Useful methods for remembering stuff: I remember when studying for my NA that I seemed to be bombarded with lots of information that I needed to remember. Having read somewhere about using sentences to remember the layers of the OSI model, i.e All People Seem To Need Data Processing (layers 7 through 1) or Please Do Not Throw Sausage Pizza Away (layers 1 through 7) I used this method for other parts of my studies. Like to remember the AD's of the routing protocols I used "Read On In Error" (RIP=120, OSPF=110, IGRP=100 & EIGRP=90) or for the data encapsulation type at the four lower layers of the OSI model I used "Stop Picking Fruit Berries" (Segments L4, Packets L3, Frames L2 & Bits L1)
If you have any methods that work for you that might help the candidates lock the information in, I think it would be useful.
Finally, if/when you get around to a CCNP version, I wonder if you could put something together on wildcard masks as used with ACL's. I would be interested in getting some information on the use of wildcard masks with ACL's as a CCIE would use them. During my NA studies, I read that the wildcard mask is equivalent to the inverted subnet mask.
Later I came across examples where what appeared to be incorrect wildcard masks were used to say block all the odd IP addresses in a range or a mask of 0.255.255.0 used to block 10.x.x.30 addresses. Clearly what I had read in my NA studies was incorrect, which I have to admit I find annoying as I have to learn something twice.
I would be interested in learning more about this. I have googled and although I have found a few pages there was not a lot of detail in them.
Well sorry for rabbiting on so much. I find your blog really good, so thank you for taking the time to write it up.
Best Regards,
Michael
Thanks for the detail...
Michael,
Lot of good stuff for perspective in there - thanks for the detail. I've made a note on the CCNP-level ACL stuff for future blog posts. As for the mnemonics, I'd not thought to have one for AD and for layer name thingys - great idea. I'll have to put that one of the list for the next edition of my CCNA books! Glad you're enjoying the blog.
hi
hello wendell!
i have just started preparing for CCNA.
so please let me know what resources i should arrange for inorder to prepare efficiently.
i mean,mention the routers etc..is it possible to manage with just 1 pc?
when is the exam syllabus or pattern likely to change?i want to know it because,i would like to finish my preparation & pass the exam before it changes.
since im a beginner,give me some of your suggestions please..
please try releasing a video tutorial for CCNA soon..
it will be more interesting to actually listen to you although reading from a book is equally important..
CCNA video from Wendell... here
Hi Radika,
Welcome to the world of CCNA! Hope your study time goes well.
As for CCNA labs, I did a lot of posting about that late last year/early this year. This post (http://www.networkworld.com/community/node/24916) is a summary page for those - might be worth a look. Generally, if you have at least 2 routers, and maybe 1 switch, and 1 PC, you've got enough gear to do something useful for CCNA prep. Those posts talk about tradeoffs for different options. Additionally, you could look at GNS3 (www.gns3.net), which is a graphical front-end to Dynamips, which lets you emulate routers.
When is CCNA likely to change? Well, it's a great question. If they were announcing a change tomorrow, and I knew about it, I couldn't say. I do know that from past experience, it's usually 3-6 months after announcment before Cisco removes the old exam. Additionally, Cisco changes CCNA July 2007, so a change in calendar year 2008 would be really quick - the previous CCNA exams were around 4 years (those were the longest tenured CCNA exams.) So, if you're planning to wrap up CCNA this year, I'd say you'd have little to worry about.
As for CCNA video... it's out there (http://www.ciscopress.com/bookstore/product.asp?isbn=1587201917). It's a set of 20 videos about the most important hands-on CCNA topics. It's not a complete course that covers all topics - it should be used to supplement your reading.
finally, you'd asked about some suggestions for a beginniner... I think a study plan helps. It's easy to get distracted with the size of the study effort. Also, if you don't have any networking skills/knowledge coming in to your study, I'm a big fan od the 2-exam path to CCNA - it'll give you two smaller goals, let you experience your first Cisco exam earlier, and maybe keep you motivated. The first exam also has proportionally less hands-on, which can make it less intimidating.
Hope this helps!
Wendell
thank you very much sir.
first of all sorry for this delayed reply.
all your suggestions were indeed very useful..
i have seen your blogs regarding the failure to plan,i also have the pdf in which u hav given a sample study plan for CCENT.really useful..
i bought your CCENT/CCNA ICND1 book 2 days back.i wanted to reply after buying it.i will be getting ur ICND2 in another week i suppose.
im still confused whether to prepare myself for CCNA directly or CCENT and then CCNA.what are the pros & cons??
i havent yet arranged for the labs.
anyways continue blogging and keep helping cisco cert aspirants!!
thanks again.