How many of you Failed the 640-801 First Time?

Take the exam in two parts!

I took 640-821(Intro) last week and scored very good.

Study Material:

Use the Cisco Press Exam Cert Library. It comes with two books, one for each exam. The books have practice questions and CD questions. This is the preffered method of scoring well because you can focus on less material which gives you a better chance of understanding with more depth.

815 is not bad by any means. I thought the simlets were confusing especially when you are being timed. Another recommendation: Use the cisco.com ccna prep center....just use google and type "ccna prep center" and you will find the link.

Wish me luck for part 2 of the CCNA next week.

-Ciscopimpenator

Good Luck on the next part of the exam. I studied with Sybex Books..they write their books REALLY well, and I used their CD that came with the book, and took their tests...then I use the Boson Exam prep software for my test prep stuff.

I sent you an email check it out!

What areas did you score low on? I would go back and make sure you nail those concepts(ie subnetting, routing protocols, design and support)

I had the same problem, too much material and too little time especially when doing the sims which are not very straight forward. I had an 847 which hurts cause I was very close. Had I had about 30 more minutes or been able to go back and review questions I think I would have had about an 875. I was warned about the time situation prior to taking the exam, and tried to pace myself, but it quickly swallows you up and you find yourself behind in time very quickly after the first sim.

However, when I inquired about doing the two exam approach I was advised that I should stick to retaking the 801 exam over the 811 and 821. As they said the 821 was pretty much questions, but the 811 exam is almost the same exam format and content as the 801 just different questions. This is what I been told, and from my experience of asking around about just what to expect on a CCNA exams, I get different stories and answers and different results.

I am not sure of the difficulty level of the 811 vs 801, but I am tempted to go the two exam route. I used the Cisco Press and Boson exsim #3 which are recommended by Cisco and used in most of their material and their authorized training partners. But nothing really preps you for the labs. I had to blow through them. I know subnetting inside and out and seldom use a subnet calculator, and if I am off on a subnet ip, I usually correct it pretty quickly on the fly. I have enough spare equipment at work to build 5 CCIE labs over with every router, switch, and firewall in Cisco's inventory. But my point is, I found nothing really pertinent to develop a lab scenario/exercises that will help me on the exam especially if you have a budget of 15 minutes for each sim. I been looking for lab exercises that with revelancy to help prepare for the exam labs.

I think I might go and try the 821/811 test route as most of my peers I talked to that failed 801 first, was successful the second time on the two test route.

Good Luck to you,

AN