anyone here studying for their CCNA

[kcarrera]

Just wanted to know if any one is prepping. I am kind of worried, and I was wondering what everyone else is doing

[M_Six]

I've been taking free practice tests here. Great site.
http://www.networkdesigner.net/default.htm

[maface]

Right now I'm kind of studying for my Network+ I plan on studying and taking the CCNA after I pass the Network+

[desmocat]

I just took and passed my exam back in June, the passing score is 849 now.
It was put to me that the Cisco CCNA exam is "a mile wide, but only an inch deep".
What this means is you might get questions on a lot of different things, but will not go very deep into them.That comes with the CCNP exams(all four of them! ahhhhgghh! http://www.sysopt.com/forum/wink.gif )
All I can say is know your OSI model inside out, forward and backwards, know subnetting pretty good too, and know what kind of hardware is best suited to improve performance of networks in a given situation of performance versus return on money spent.

The cisco press books are good, in that they give some examples behind the answers,and the Sybex books are also helpful.
If I was to recommend one book, it would be the Cisco press book Interconnecting Cisco Network Devices, ICND. the ISBN # is 1-57870-111-2.

Its not cheap(like $60 U.S ) but will cover everything you will need to know for the exam.
The exam is timed, and you can't mark questions to go back and answer later, Cisco expects you to know your stuff. You will have more than enough time to finish, so pay no attention to the timer.
PAY ATTENTION TO HOW THE QUESTIONS ARE WORDED.
The reason I yell that is Cisco LOVES to trip up people who breeze thru reading the questions and will pick the answer that fits,but you will miss one tiny little word that will change the outcome of the question and get it wrong.
Go into what I call"test taking mode", forget what you know from working with stuff in the real world (if you do networking/admin stuff) and give the answer that Cisco wants.
Read the question and ask yourself "what are they asking for?" this will help clarify what answer they are looking for if you do it a couple of times. Read ALL the answers, pay VERY close attention to syntax of answers also.(this pertains to CLI commands while configuring routers and switches)
Details, details, details. That's what it all boils down to, and that's what it's all about in the real world also.
Small hills and big moutains are all crossed the same way, one step at a time, so don't think you can't pass the first time, just be well prepared. http://www.sysopt.com/forum/smile.gif

[knucklebusted]

Heck, with 800 553 2447 and a valid contract, I have a CCIE on the phone most of the time. I was trying to get the CCIE back when it was all that was available. When it started getting around that the lab had an 80% first time fail rate I lost interest.

Now that they have various flavors of CC* I'm too busy to care. My boss already thinks I'm a CCIE equivalent because we routinely find odd do things Cisco says should not work or doesn't support. I've even had a guy ask me for a copy of my config for future reference in one situation.

I have a friend that teaches Cisco classes and he asks me questions. He has great theory but not much experience.

The silliest thing lately is I'd almost gotten over doing a WR M, WR N and WR T with the routers and the silly PIX uses WR T to see the running config. And CAT-OS, don't get me started on that.

From what I've seen, if you have no resume, a certification can get you in the door. If you have a resume, a certification can get you higher on the list but real world experience is definitely needed to ice the cake.