After failing my CCNA exam twice with nearly identical 770 scores (last attempt was about a year ago) I finally passed my Intro exam today with an
875. I did manage to crash my exam PC about halfway through - some type of graphics glitch. The facilitator came in and restarted the test.What got me on the full CCNA exams was I'd get bogged down in one of the FOUR sims they threw at me. I almost did that early again in this test then figured out the missing info I needed to complete the configuration. I still wound up with only 2 minutes left when I finished. I don't think any time clicked off the clock during the reboot.
So now I'm a "CC"!! I will hit the ICND text and write that exam in about 2 weeks. Then I'll get the "NA" part, right? :-)
Seriously, it was a big relief getting past this stage and now I've grasped the exam format my confidence has gotten a boost.
Materials I used were the Cisco Press Self Study Exam CCNA Intro Certification Guide by Wendell Odom. I literally read the entire book - some chapters twice. Reviewed by answering the "Do I Know This" and the Q&A questions from the text and took the test exam. I do need to study my SHOW commands in more detail and learn which ones are best to use to get the information you need. I do have a live lab at home w/3 2501 routers and an obsolete 1900 switch. I think it would have helped more had I done the Lab C scenario in the book but one of my serial cables is bad (the DTE end shows up as DCE) so will have to get a new cable to do the ICND labs. I'm seriously thinking of picking up a used 2950 switch but think the partial Boson Sim will suffice for the VLAN work.
Any rate, I've finally passed an exam (my first ever) and will report back in after the ICND exam. I'm taking this weekend off to relax!
I'm sure there are others out there who have struggled with come of these cert exams but, if I can finally do it, anyone can!