Certification - How hard is it

I just wanted to add that I finished my CCNA 640-607 Recertification about an hour or so ago, and these were my impressions :

1. A couple of the subnetting questions were a little from left field, if you can't subnet straight, don't bother taking the test.

2. I had ample time (1 hour to spare) though I'm from a non-english speaking country so we get 120 minutes as opposed to 90 minutes in other places I believe. Still 90 minutes is a decent amount of time.

3. The labs are not hard like everyone tells you, they are very scoring ! The site Chris pointed me to :
www.celticrover.com/tig/ccna/ccnareviews.asp
is brilliant for the labs -- go and do them all, you'll see them in the test for sure !

4. Routed Protocols questions were also a little ambiguous.

5. Its become easier since I did it last (at least I think so

Other than that keep in mind that 640-607 has just been retired (if you registered before September 30th then you still have some days to do it). However most of this should ring true for the new exams as well.


Cheers,

am doing the cisco academy!
By the way with the cisco end of semester exams, do they count to the final CCNA grading?

Sahirh,

But did you notice the test asking many different questions from the old test? I had assumed the material would be pretty much the same.

As you said, you better understand subnetting - but that wouldn't change from test to test.

None of the tests in your Cisco Academy count towards your CCNA. They have nothing to do with it. The academy is just a class you take to learn the material. It's a good way to learn it and I recommend it, if you can as you will get a lot out of it. Especially if you don't have any experience.

You can take the CCNA at any time during the class. Many people don't take the class. But if you have problems with the academy tests, don't take the CCNA or you will probably blow it. Make sure you really know the material.

As Sahirh said, you really need to understand subnetting. This was the hardest thing for many in the class to grasp. The instructor would spend a ton of time on it and some would still have a hard time with it - good thing we have Chris's material here.

Quote from Sahir's last post:

5. Its become easier since I did it last (at least I think so

My impression was that the exam was a lot harder than what 3 years ago when I first sat for it!

btw, Congratualtions Sahir on your PASS!!! :mrgreen:

Thanks Chris. I did miserably on the 'Routing Protocols' section for some reason.. I got a miserable 66% !! I know that I got really flustered over some very simple IGRP stuff. Anyway, its no biggie. The way I see it, if you are confident that you can build a network and you can communicate that confidence to other people, you're doing just fine !