CCNA, Calculating Subnets and ip subnet zero

Hi,

I know traditionally we didn't count the first and last subnet (all
zeroes and all ones). So a subnet mask of 255.255.255.192 would give
(2^2)-2, or 2, subnets while a mask of 255.255.255.224 would give
(2^3)-2, or 6, subnets.

So, for 192.168.201.0/26 the first subnet would be 192.168.201.64 and
the first host would be 192.168.201.65.

I know the reason for this, but it seemed rather silly and very wasteful
of a scarce resource.

Now, I'm given to believe that this traditional method is no longer used
(RFC1878 describes it as obsolete - http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc1878 ).
Instead 255.255.255.192 would give 2^2, or 4, subnets and
255.255.255.224 would give 2^3, or 8, addresses.

I have no problem with this. My questions are:

. Does anyone know if the latest CCNA exams assume the newer or the
older method (ie 2^s or (2^s)-2)?
. If the newer method, are there any subnet exercises available on the
Internet? All the ones I have found seem to use the old method (and so
only allow 2 subnets for the mask 255.255.255.192).

Thanks