Passed 640-802!!!

SuperRed95 · 03-15-2010, 05:44 PM

Hi everyone,

This is my first post and I am happy to announce that I am a new CCNA! My exam was scheduled for 10:45 am this morning. I arrived at the test site at 10:15am and the guy asked me right away if I would like to write the exam now since I was already there. I thought about it for a minute then I was like "Sure, what heck! Let's do it!" and the rest was history.

I was so nervous that my hands wouldn't stop shaking when I sat down in front of the computer. Maybe because I didn't give myself a chance to be in test writing mode or something. This was my first ever IT cert so I didn't know what to expect. I tried to calm myself down by taking deep breaths but that didn't help at all. Anywas, after the tutorial was over, the test began. For some reason, I felt a bit calmer. Maybe because the first 7 questions were super no brainers. Then came the SIMS which weren't so bad. By the time I got to the last few questions I decided to take a quick break. I sorta just stopped and sat there looking at the screen not doing anything. I had 3 more questions with 25 minutes left on the clock. Then came the time when you had to wait to see whether you pass or fail. It seemed like an eternity!!! Then suddenly I saw the Congratulations and I was like HELL YEAHH!!!!!

You guys on the forum motivated me a lot by posting your successful stories so I hope I had motivated someone out there to just go after this exam hard and not be afraid to fail. Luckily this was my first attempt but I really didn't care if I had failed. I just wanted to give this a shot since I had been studying on and off for so long. I was so sick of it!!!!!!

Anywas, goodluck to all those who will be writing this exam in the near future and I don't know where to go from here lol. I just want to take a break and not study for a bit!!! lol Laters!

knwminus · 03-15-2010, 06:19 PM

Congrats. What's next?

mikej412 · 03-15-2010, 06:21 PM

Congratulations!!

The first exam is always fun -- I still remember the during-exam jitters on my CCNA exam.

After about 15 Cisco Exams the pre-exam jitters finally went away for me.

miller811 · 03-15-2010, 08:11 PM

Congrats

mikem2te · 03-15-2010, 08:22 PM

Congratualations - enjoy your break from studying but don't leave it too long

Quote:

Originally Posted by mikej412

After about 15 Cisco Exams the pre-exam jitters finally went away for me.

I don't think my exam day jitters will ever go away

xmalachi · 03-16-2010, 01:19 PM

Congrats!

Quote:

I don't think my exam day jitters will ever go away

Agreed.

SuperRed95 · 03-16-2010, 04:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by knwminus

Congrats. What's next?

Thank you to all for the congrats! What's next you ask? I'm thinking CCNP or maybe CCNA Security.

So later that night when I told some of my non technology friends that I had passed the CCNA exam, they were like, "Oh so you are a network engineer now? " I was like, "Ummm......nnnnooo??? I'm an associate???? "

Can CCNA members call themselves network engineers?? I would think CCNA is an entry cert to networking and that the "network engineer" title should be rightfully given to CCNP and CCIE members. What do you guys think?

knwminus · 05:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SuperRed95

Thank you to all for the congrats! What's next you ask? I'm thinking CCNP or maybe CCNA Security.

So later that night when I told some of my non technology friends that I had passed the CCNA exam, they were like, "Oh so you are a network engineer now? " I was like, "Ummm......nnnnooo??? I'm an associate???? "

Can CCNA members call themselves network engineers?? I would think CCNA is an entry cert to networking and that the "network engineer" title should be rightfully given to CCNP and CCIE members. What do you guys think?

CCNA Security is much easier than the CCNA. You could knock that out pretty quickly...

I think that if you are a network engineer, regardless of what certs you have, you can call yourself a network engineer. That said, having the na and no experience will NOT qualify you to be a network engineer. No certs automagically qualify you to do anything really.

Good luck on whatever is up next for you.

xmalachi · 03-16-2010, 05:01 PM

I agree with knwminus here, no cert will classify you as an engineer if you didn't learn anything. You are an engineer when you attain and apply the knowledge that you have learned.

SuperRed95 · 03-16-2010, 05:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by knwminus

CCNA Security is much easier than the CCNA. You could knock that out pretty quickly...

I think that if you are a network engineer, regardless of what certs you have, you can call yourself a network engineer. That said, having the na a no experience will NOT qualify you to be a network engineer. No certs automagically qualify you to do anything really.

Good luck on whatever is up next for you.

True I agree with you but what do you say to those students who have JUST graduated from their "X" engineering program at their university? They have no experience at all but i'm 110% sure that they all think they are engineers.

mikem2te · 03-16-2010, 05:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SuperRed95

Thank you to all for the congrats! What's next you ask? I'm thinking CCNP or maybe CCNA Security.

So later that night when I told some of my non technology friends that I had passed the CCNA exam, they were like, "Oh so you are a network engineer now? " I was like, "Ummm......nnnnooo??? I'm an associate???? "

Can CCNA members call themselves network engineers?? I would think CCNA is an entry cert to networking and that the "network engineer" title should be rightfully given to CCNP and CCIE members. What do you guys think?

I think CCNA:S would be a good choice for a relatively quick cert. Good news is, it appears a number of topics in CCNA:S are a good introduction to some of the CCNP advanced topics so it would not neccessarily be a waste of time if you intend to move on to the CCNP.

Regarding being a called a network engineer, pretty much agree with what knwminus says above. IMO what makes a good IT engineer is aptitude, attitude and the ability to learn new things - oh and a sad geeky general interest in IT. I have known far too many people with certs and degrees who treat IT as a nine to five job, they were on the whole pretty rubbish. Then there were the ones who are acutally interested in IT, a passion rather than just just a profession, these guys are in a whole different league even those without certificates.

knwminus · 03-16-2010, 05:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SuperRed95

True I agree with you but what do you say to those students who have JUST graduated from their "X" engineering program at their university? They have no experience at all but i'm 110% sure that they all think they are engineers.

Totally different.

An "engineer" that has graduated from an "engineering" program usually has to go through a certification process (as does the school offering "engineering" degrees). Think "electrical engineer", "civil engineer" or "computer engineer". A "network engineer" , "systems engineer" , or "security engineer" has come to have said title usually because of added responsibilities which differ him/her from help desk or tier I-IV techs. "Network engineers" aren't usually "engineers". It is mostly a problem with the use of the term "engineer" that cause the MCSE to go away (that, and years of bad rapport).

gouki2005 · 03-17-2010, 03:57 AM

nice

so what was your study material , simulator material , and how much time did you study for this test??

SuperRed95 · 03-17-2010, 05:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by knwminus

Totally different.

An "engineer" that has graduated from an "engineering" program usually has to go through a certification process (as does the school offering "engineering" degrees). Think "electrical engineer", "civil engineer" or "computer engineer". A "network engineer" , "systems engineer" , or "security engineer" has come to have said title usually because of added responsibilities which differ him/her from help desk or tier I-IV techs. "Network engineers" aren't usually "engineers". It is mostly a problem with the use of the term "engineer" that cause the MCSE to go away (that, and years of bad rapport).

True True

SuperRed95 · 07:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gouki2005

nice

so what was your study material , simulator material , and how much time did you study for this test??

I used the following:

CCENT/CCNA ICND1 by Odom
CCENT/CCNA ICND 2 by Odom
6th Edition CCNA book by Lammle

CBT Nuggets

Packet Tracer

I started my CCNA study back in December 2007. I think I joined this forum around that time too as a lurker. I studied for about 4 months then somehow I just lost interest in it and this cert was slowly going down the drain. Then some of my friends started gettng their CCNAs and had motivated me to get back to studying and finish this cert since I had already started it. This was about September 2008 time frame.

So by February 2009, I had gone through CBT Nuggets twice, read each book twice and did some labs. But guess what? I didn't book the test and I got caught up with certain events in my life and the material slowly drifted away.

By December 2009, I think it was the day after Christmas, I made a promise to myself that in the new year, I will study hard and at least TRY THE FREAKING EXAM! January 2010 rolled around and this time I was dead serious. I started all the way back from the beginning AGAIN with Jeremy. This time around, I even put him on my ipod touch. I listened to him everywhere I went i.e grocery shopping, waiting for gf in the car while she was getting ready,walking my dog, before I sleep etc. This time around I only read Todd's book but the major thing was that I was labbing it up at least 3 hours a day, everyday. I was at a point where I was so sick of reading and hearing the material that I just wanted to get this thing over with. It shouldn't be this painful!!! or should it? LoL

Anywas, March 2010 came. I felt this was it. Do or die time. I had to at least try the exam and I would either happily fail it or happily pass it but it MUST be one or the other. I decided on the one exam route. I think just wanted the CCNA sooooooo badly after all these years. Luckily, I passed and was super happy that I have this under my belt now. But damn, I don't think it should have taken this long.

So my personal advice to anyone who wants to be a CCNA is to do the following things:

1)Create a study schedule and STICK with it. If you don't and you study on and off, the material won't sink in as much. You will find yourself keep backtracking and restarting. Wasting precious time.

2)Go through the reading materials more than once. I think most people do this anways but thought I would throw it out there. Make sure you know the material before moving on and not just flipping the pages to get to the back cover. ESPECIALLY SUBNETTING. Where have you heard that before???

3)Most importantly, lab it up. Get familiar with the commands and by actually typing the commands, it really sticks to your head. All I had was packet tracer and that worked for me so I know it will work for you because many of you guys actually have the real deal which is definitely the better way to go.

4)Book the damn test once you feel you are ready. Try it, if you fail, so what? dont be hard on yourself and learn from your mistakes and act accordingly. It will motivate you even more the second time around and also, you got a taste of what the exam is like.

5)Finally, once you pass the exam, party hard!

*I haven't partied hard yet since I passed on a Monday, but you can count on me partying hard this weekend!

*