Tips to Pass CCNA examination

I have cleared CCNA Routing and Switching examination last month and I found it a bit difficult to crack because I am attempting an examination after long time. Here are my takeaways from attempting the exam.

What is CCNA - My trainer asked this question to us in the first class. According to my trainer, CCNA is an examination that tests your ability to setup, troubleshoot and maintain a small network. It covers the basics of routing, switching and other fundamentals of networking. Whatever be the ideal definition, it is simply like another examination where it tests how better prepared you are for the examination and how do you manage time to answer questions than how much you know or your capability to set up and maintain a network. CCNA is an online exam of 2 hours (for non-native English speakers) consists of around 50 questions. The questions are a mix of theory and practical simulations. You may get 48-55 questions out of which three or four will be simulations. To pass the exam you need to get a strange 825 out of 1000. May be the people who first designed this exam got 825 when they tried it out :-)

If you have time it is better to join an institute and study even though you are aware of the concepts. It will help you to go through all the topics in a systematic manner. If you do self-study, sometimes you may not go through the portions where you lack interest. It would be ideal to attend the examination immediately after the training if you want to pass the exam. There are two reasons for this. One reason is you may forget what you have learned. The other reason is you need to do the simulation part really faster if you want to pass the exam and it would be ideal if you appear the exam after regular practice for some time. For practice you can download Cisco Packet Tracer.

If you want to pass the exam, set aside all your preferences. Even if you don't like switching part a lot like the boring how to find a route bridge, designated port so on remember for some reason Cisco loves switches a lot. May be because it gave those billions of dollars what they have now in the bank. Expect a lot of questions from switching and be prepared for that. Even if you work on Cisco routers set aside some time and study all the portions including concepts in switching. Some of the other important portions include sub-netting, access control lists, EIGRP, RIP, and OSPF.

One of the important parts of the exam is simulations. How do you handle the simulations decide if you pass or not. Usually there are 3-4 simulation questions. Try to finish your theory questions faster and then attempt simulations. Even if you do one simulation wrong the chances of passing the examination is rare. Practice mock tests and don't attempt the examination till you score more than 90 percent in the mock examination.
See 9tut.com which is an excellent resource for CCNA sample questions and simulations:

http://www.9tut.com

I have referred the CCNA book by Todd Lamle that explains concepts in a simple manner. Go through all the questions given at the end of each chapter in the book because many of them are repeatedly seen in the CCNA examination.

Lessons that I can share:
1. Study for one month dedicatedly and do rigorous practice for simulations to improve speed.
2. Go through mock tests.
3. Finish the theory questions as fast as possible so that you get enough time to attempt simulations.
4. CCNA is like just another examination where how well prepared you are for the exam is more important than how much you know.
5. Time management is very important since you have to attempt 50 questions and 3-4 simulations within 2 hours.