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Help with questions interpretation 3

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iolair

iolair

IS-IT--Management
Oct 28, 2002
965
US
Does anyone know of a book or other resource that can help me "translate" the test questions? I ordered my exam in English, but I got it in something I call "CiscEnglish", or maybe "Ciscoese". I know the material, but have a lot of difficulty translating what they're asking into something I can answer.

Maybe I'm just dumb, but if I could get beyond how they ask the questions, I could probably have been a CCNP by now, instead of wasting a lot of money on failed tests. Can anyone help me with this? It's not what they ask, it's how they ask it. Thanks.

Iolair MacWalter
Network Engineer
 
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Iolair,

Can you post a question as an example of what you are having trouble with.....

I have taken and renewed my CCNA several times as well as other Cisco exams ..... You need to read the questions and KNOW networking and Cisco like the back of your hand.....

I will admit that you have to REALLY READ a Cisco question, but I have found that if you understand the material and HAVE done troubleshooting on REAL Cisco routers and switches it is pretty straight forward!!!

Cisco makes the questions complex to try to keep people from just memorizing a bunch of questions and answers to become "Paper CCNAs" , if you don't understand the material and just memorize questions, when Cisco changes a question just a little ........

So post an example or 2 and we can see if we can give you any hints or things that have helped us OTHER than just knowing this stuff backwards and forward :-)

Hope this helps!

E.A. Broda
CCNA, CCDA, CCAI, Network +
 
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Thanks. I did take some notes after I left the testing center, and I'll post something that will be similar. I scored 100% on one of the sections, so I must have been able to understand those two questions.

One other thing I noticed, and I don't want to get in trouble here, but when doing the simulations, ctrl-z and copy run start didn't work. I finally figured out that to save what I had done, I had to type in "exit". So it's possible that those simulations I got right, but didn't actually type "exit" were counted against me. Not sure about that, and I hope I haven't violated Cisco's NDA.

And I hope this doesn't sound defensive, but I do know the material, I do work with switches and routers daily, and I did pass the test four years ago. Thanks for your help, I really appreciate it.

Iolair MacWalter
Network Engineer
 
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Are you sure it wasn't looking for copy running config startup config. IE the full command! I recently passed and had no problem saving the work. There are practice tests you can download and my experience was that some of them are suprisingly close to the real thing. I also downloaded an App for the Iphone by an outfit called Cramstar and practiced on that whenever I had 5 mins spare. Things like this get you in the Cisco groove and do help with the test!
 
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@OzzieGeorge - I would like to know whose practice tests you found helpful. Yes, I did try the full command copy running-config startup-config. Exit was the only thing that worked. I also tried to do several "do" commands while configuring and it didn't allow that.

@CiscoGuy33 - Most of what I had trouble with were switch questions - VLANs and ACLs on switches - I think I confused ACLs on switches with ACLs on routers. And again, I don't want to violate the NDA, but I got 100% on security, so I don't understand how I could have missed ACLs. The simulations (I had only 5) were pretty straightforward. Best example I can give of my confusion is this:

42. Who followed George Washington?
a. John Adams
b. Henry Knox
c. Alexander Hamilton
d. The Continental Army

It depends on the context - all answers are correct. What I couldn't figure out on the exam was not who followed George Washington, but which George Washington? The President? The Commander in Chief? The General? And I just couldn't find any clues in the question as to what context Cisco was talking about from the question.

There was one question about the output from debug ip eigrp -

IP-EIGRP: Ext 192.168.0.0 255.255.255.0 M 386560 - 256000 130560 SM 360960 - 256000 104960

and the question was something like what does 360960 mean in the preceding example or maybe it was the 104960. And the answer wasn't that it meant the delay or the bandwidth or the advertised distance, but it meant that the router was connected to an MPLS network using Cat3 cable or something similar.

Thanks for your help and understanding. Since I passed the test four years ago, you can imagine that even though I work with routers and switches daily, and I studied for several months, I'm frustrated and confused. It's also hurt my confidence level with my work, because now I am thinking I'm not as sharp as I used to be. I read a CCNP's blog that said he thought that today's CCNA knows as much or more than a CCNP would have known 6 years ago. So, has Cisco gotten that much tougher? Were too many people passing?

Iolair MacWalter
Network Engineer
 
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Iolair,

Yes, CCNA has gotten that much harder, Cisco dropped a lot of CCNP stuff down into the CCNA when they took the Novell, ISDN and Token Ring stuff out.

As far as the sims, we have discussed copy run start etc. here many times, I ALWAYS run copy run start AND I always exit the router. At a Cisco convention several years ago I talked with one of the guys that did the CCNA exam questions, I asked him about copy run start and exiting out and he said he could not disclose anything but that we should treat the sim as we would a real router. He then asked me if I would run copy run start and if I would leave a router logged in .........

Others here have said that you don't have to - all I can say is it sure will not hurt you if you put in extra commands :-)

As far as working with routers and switches - make sure you are practicing on YOUR OWN CISCO LAB WHERE YOU CAN BREAK THINGS, working on a production network can help, but you know that things don't happen often, if things are running right, and you sure can't run all the debug commands etc that you would want to!!!

The Cisco CCNA is a lot about troubleshooting, the best way to learn this is to have 3 routers and 2 switches and configure them again and again and break them - look at the output of all the different commands covered by CCNA - do it again and again and again .........

As far as your questions - you are right - all the answers can be right - what Cisco wants is the "rightest" answer :-)

And on a couple tests my feeling was that the right answer I took was only because the other 4 answers were NOT right - Cisco loves to play games and make you think and show you can rationalize things and work under the stress of time.

If you have not done it - get the latest book from Sybex, CCNA Study Guide by Todd Lammel and read it from end to end and DO ALL THE LABS and EXAMPLES in the book - do them again and again looking at the output......

And don't be down, the test has changed a lot in 4 years, working in the field does not ALWAYS get you all the hands on experience they expect from a CCNA now - get a lab or at the very least an emulator!!!!

Good luck!!

E.A. Broda
CCNA, CCDA, CCAI, Network +
 
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I know some guys that have been in the field for years, let their certs expire, and recently took a shot at the CCNA again. Talked to him just after he failed the exam and about all he could say is "that was a lot harder than the first time I took it."

From what I've seen lately, I'm very glad I went through it when I did.

CiscoGuy is right about the questions. I've found on all of the exams I've taken there are always some you can look at and immediately eliminate because they just aren't "right enough." Sometimes I do wish they would put the standard Cisco answer out there of 'it depends.'

Good luck, and keep asking questions.
 
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Well considering you want to know what tests I used, you haven't even made contact! I offered to help but you don't seem interested! As the saying goes, you can lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink!
 
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@OzzieGeorge - been out of town, I will contact you today. Sorry, just been out of the office.

To everyone - thanks so much for the encouragement and help. I do have Lammle's book, and I will reread it again and rework the excercises. It was due to his book three years ago that I passed. His explanation of subnetting got me over the hump of learning subnetting.

Just can't say thanks enough to all of you.

Iolair MacWalter
Network Engineer
 
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@OzzieGeorge - got the message, thanks for your help. I do appreciate it. Good luck with your future endeavours.

Iolair MacWalter
Network Engineer
 
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Thank you very much, OzzieGeorge. Planning on retaking after New Year's.

Iolair MacWalter
Network Engineer
 
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