How to Pass Your CCNA Exam
Paul Browning, LLB(Hons), CCNP, MCSE A+, Net+ paulb@networksinc.co.uk www.networksinc.co.uk
Laying the Foundation for Success Passing your CCNA – and any exam in fact – is easy. You simply have to put enough dedicated study time in and take the exam. Sounds simple doesn’t it? Well, if it was that simple everyone would pass every exam they ever take. Simply wanting to pass your exam is not enough. You need to know why you want to pass the exam and what passing the exam will give you. Without a strong emotional reason attached to your goal you will easily become distracted and lose sight of what it is you want to achieve. If you really want to pass your CCNA, prove it to yourself now. Say “Yes” out loud now. I don’t care if you are sitting on the tube or bus, you will probably never see the other people there again anyway. We get up and go to work every day because we need money to pay our bills, buy food, and keep a roof over our head. If we didn’t go to work we would have no money and end up living in the gutter. This is what is known as ‘away from’ motivation: the fear of being in this situation forces people to go out to work. Now what about the free time we have left after work? Most people will sleep for eight hours; let’s say we work for eight hours and travel to and from work for two hours per day. We need to spend at least an hour or two a day eating, washing, making phone calls, etc. We have just five hours free time left during the working week (depressed yet?).
Now, with the remaining five hours most of us feel that we have earned the right to rest so generally people watch TV, take a nap, surf the Internet or socialize. This is our discretionary time. In order to give up part of that discretionary time you will need a strong motivating factor. This is ‘towards’ motivation and, it has to be strong enough for you to give up some of this free time to achieve something else. The kicking-off point is to work out what it is you really want to achieve. Now for the nasty part: if you continue doing what you are doing now, will you achieve the things you want to achieve in your life? Circle the answer: No Yes
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Be Specific The more specific you are the better. Do you want to pass the CCNA? What will passing the CCNA give you that you don’t have now but want? If all you want is loads of money, will passing the CCNA give that to you? Possibly. It could be the start of your consulting career and end up with you running a successful IT company. Realistically, you could expect to have one or more of the things below once you are a CCNA:
Improved marketability Enhanced career prospects Enjoy protection from unemployment Become your own boss Gain respect and prestige Be up-to-date with your IT knowledge Receive recognition as an IT professional Personal development Become the expert at work I remember studying for a law degree while I had a full-time job in the police in the UK. I spent five years going to night school three nights a week and, every single summer I spent my holiday leave studying for exams at home. While others were out enjoying the sun or going on holiday I sat inside on a chair learning about advanced property law principles and revising for exams.
I passed my law degree with a very good grade. The trouble is, like most other students I had never thought out what I wanted to do with the qualification. I didn’t want to be a lawyer; I was already in the police and had passed my promotion exams. I eventually decided I wanted to move into IT. Now the years of study were not wasted, but with a goal in mind I may have chosen to study for an IT degree or perhaps taken a different route altogether. My current goal is to develop a high enough income from my other business interests to retire in four years and five months (when I am 38). I know how much money I will need and, have a strategy to achieve it.
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I am using the techniques here to achieve the things I want and I am right on track. Enough about me though, what about you? By mapping out what it is you really want you (believe it or not) are now ahead of 99 percent of the world’s population who have no idea where they are going. Do you ever hear people you know saying “I’ll see what comes along” or “I’ll see what turns up?” I shake my head in disbelief when I hear adults saying this. The truth is nothing will come along or turn up. When I had a job a year or so ago I worked with 40 top Cisco engineers in the UK and, the only thing that turned up for us was our jobs being outsourced to India and all of us being made redundant. Those who had not spent any time working on a back-up plan (or “exit strategy” as my Australian friend used to say) went into panic mode. Without a strategy, plan, goal, or whatever you want to call it, you will be a victim to whatever changes are forced upon you. Out of the 40 engineers there were only three of us who found work straightaway. I had set up my own IT company and taught Cisco courses in my spare time and, the other two guys had back-up plans that kicked into action for them. Every other engineer who spent their spare time playing computer games and watching TV ran around panicking and frantically applying for the same sort of job for less money than they could afford to live on.
Start work on your plan today.
Tell Me What You Want Before you decide to study for the CCNA qualification ask yourself why you want to pass it and, how being a Cisco engineer fits into your life plan. As Steven Covey says in The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People: “Begin With The End In Mind.” Common questions I am always asked include “Will passing the CCNA get me into IT?” Or “How much will I earn as a CCNA?” This is like asking, “How much will I
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earn as if I pass my pilot’s exams?” There are some pilots just scraping by, and some high earners. A better question is, “Why would I want to be a CCNA?” Have you researched what full-time and contractor CCNAs earn where you are? Have you spoken to CCNAs or CCIEs and asked them how they apply what they have learned? If you don’t know any, then ask friends and family for introductions and invite the engineers out for a coffee and a chat. Now make sure that you actually find doing Cisco support and troubleshooting enjoyable. If you are just after cold, hard cash, will you really be motivated to study hard? If it is just cash you want then there are a thousand ways to get it without having to hit the books and do hundreds of practice labs. Think about your why before your how.
Why Do You Want to Pass? Let’s start at the very beginning. What is it you want to achieve from passing the CCNA? The vast majority of people have given little thought to this. They think that something magical will happen once they pass the exam such as the CEO of a large company phoning them up to offer them a highly-paid job. Why are you considering studying for the exam? Don’t say, “Because I want to pass it.” Why? What is it that you want to have, be, or do as a result of passing the CCNA? Even if it is only because you will feel better about yourself, or you want more recognition at work, that’s fine. You don’t have to be looking for consultancy work or a pay rise (but I am sure you wouldn’t turn it down).
This is the key to your success.
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How much extra money do you want to earn? What would you spend it on? Cars, holidays, getting out of debt, a nicer home? Do you want to: Get a pay rise Get into IT Fire your boss Go contracting/consulting Have a career change Impress others For self-improvement/satisfaction Impress the opposite sex Write it down NOW Passing the CCNA will give me: …………………… …………………… …………………… …………………… By doing this you will have determined your motivating factors. Without this the struggle to study will be much harder and the chances of you giving up significantly higher. Write down the things that you will have, be, or do as a result of passing the exam. Write them down on a small card, get it laminated, and refer to it in the morning when you first get up, at lunch time, and before you go to bed. When you have written them down, the next step is to get some photos of the things you want. If it was a car, cut out pictures of the make, model, and color of the car. If it is a holiday, get brochures and cut out the destination. Build a book of the images and words and refer to it regularly throughout the day.
When I was studying I had only been in IT for a few weeks. I had to live miles away from my wife and daughter while working on a helpdesk. I saw the CCNA as a means to earning more money so I could find work closer to home and be with my family again.
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This gave me the motivation to study for hours every day and to take the CCNA exam again after I failed it the first time around. Say What You Want Writing down your goals and when you want to achieve them by has a very powerful effect. Your brain becomes programmed to have, be, or do the thing you write down. If you want to turbocharge this process then say what you want. Say out loud now: “I am a CCNA.” Every morning, as soon as you get up and before you begin the usual day’s grind, write down when what you want to achieve in the present tense. Say what you want out loud. Now I know many people will be reading this and thinking that it doesn’t work. Well, I suggest giving it a try for 21 days straight. You see, it does work very well indeed and, this process has made a massive difference to my quality of life, free time, business success, and, yes – also to the amount of money my family and I have in our lives. What have you got to lose? While I believe you should always set high goals for yourself, don’t set your expectations too high (see below). Dangerous territory this, because I believe that with enough determination and planning you can achieve almost anything you desire. Set yourself a goal.
Just make sure the thing you want is within the bounds of reality. Example – if you want to be a CCIE in a month and you have never seen a Cisco router before, you are setting yourself up for disappointment. The chances of you getting sufficient handson experience, passing the three-hour written exam and getting a lab seat wherever in the world your Cisco lab testing center is are very remote. The same with the desire of moving into IT from another career: it is doubtful that you will pass your CCNA and then become a highly-paid IT consultant for a major corporation in a few weeks from knowing nothing. You would have to considerably embellish your CV or resume to make up for your lack of experience. Don’t put yourself in that situation. Your hands-on experience and usefulness to the corporation would be limited until you became more knowledgeable.
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At the same time, don’t set your sights too low. There is no reason one month from now you couldn’t pass your CCNA and get some sort of network support role if it is your first job in IT after passing the exam. That’s how I got into IT, and so can you. There is a great tool called Goal Genie which I highly recommend for goal setting. You can get it at www.goalgenie.com See What You Want Practice visualization. Close your eyes and imagine yourself in the exam room easily answering the questions as they appear. Picture yourself quickly configuring the labs and fixing the faults on the routers. See yourself coming out of the exam and being given the sheet with your name saying you have passed. Constantly write out your name with CCNA afterwards. Write it out now: …………………………………..
As you imagine this scene squeeze your right hand into a fist. Put the scene into bright colors, imagine the administrator saying “Congratulations Mary” (only if your name is Mary, that is) as they hand you the pass sheet. Imagine how proud you would feel inside when you tell your colleagues, friends, and family. The squeezing of your right fist will become an anchor for you to use. You can use this anchor to trigger positive feelings for you when you are actually in the exam. This technique is used in Neuro-Linguistic Programming, a system devised by Richard Bandler and John Grinder. Using NLP techniques can seriously improve your exam and, in fact, life performance. www.richardbandler.com There is a scene in the third Lord of the Rings film Return of the King where the Elf Lord – Elron tells Aragorn to leave the ranger behind and become the person he was supposed to be – the King. You need to become a CCNA before you pass the CCNA. Write on your card the things you want. For example: “It is (date) and I am a CCNA” “I have an IT job in a large company” “I am earning …….” “I am enjoying my new role as a network engineer,” etc.
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Write in the present tense. Avoid thinking or writing “I want to be” or “I hope I am”: say what you want, say what you want. Strike out the phrase “I can’t” from your vocabulary. You can do it; you are clever, not stupid. You can configure a router; you can work out subnetting in your head. You just need to work at it. “If you say you can’t then you must”: Anthony Robbins. Write down these lines every day and throughout the day when you get a spare moment. Write it on your PC, write it on your napkins, write it on your hand if you have no paper. You may doubt me but this method is used by some of the most successful (and richest) people in the world. Write your goals on a card and read them every few hours.
People who have achieved the hardest goals and people who are multimillionaires use these techniques. Don’t try to think logically about this, JUST DO IT…DO IT NOW. No Pain, No Gain Passing the CCNA takes dedication and regular study. Even if you can only manage 20 minutes per day before your children wake up and you have to go to work, then work around that. As long as during the time you spend you put in 100 percent effort, the study habit will get your further then the person who crams in a six-hour marathon study session once per week. Passing the exam requires dedication and sacrifice. Even if only for a short time, you will have to drop some of the time-consuming things you do presently, no matter how satisfying they are. Don’t lock yourself away for months, but look at how you are spending your day and see what you can cut back on or cut out for a few weeks. What things are you willing to sacrifice while you study for the exam? TV Sleep Overtime at work Time with family/friends Socializing
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Surfing the Net Playing games Write out your own list and stick to it. If you have written out things on your other list such as earning an extra £1,000 a year so you can take your children away on holiday, then you will be motivated to put the TV in the cupboard for a few weeks. If you never wrote out why you want to pass the exam, then you have no reason to give anything up for a while. Get it?
Now, if these things are just too important to you not to miss out on for a while then you do not have a strong enough reason to study. Either find a stronger reason that will motivate you to make the sacrifices, or forget the whole idea of taking the exam. Sorry to be so blunt, but you will be wasting your time and effort if you don’t give this your best shot. The How to Pass your CCNA guide will work if you follow the steps. You have within you already, everything you need to achieve your goals and dreams in life. “There are no shortcuts to any place worth going”: Beverly Sills, opera singer. How Much Work? How much studying you will need to be ready for the exam varies greatly. While I was studying for the CCNA I had recently gone into IT from the police force. I was doing first-line IT support that was purely Windows-based. I had no experience with routers at all. It took me around six weeks of two to three hours study a day in order to pass the exam. I got sick of studying and took the exam without really understanding subnetting. I failed, which was a good thing. What use would I have been to a company as a network technician as someone who didn’t understand the basics? The study period will vary depending upon how quickly you can digest the information and apply what you have learned. Remember that passing the exam is not a race. You will be taking the test on your own at a time you feel ready to take it. I will go into exam technique later on.
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Okay, so you have decided that you really want to pass your CCNA and written down what you are prepared to sacrifice for the time you are studying. Now write down how much time you are willing to set aside per day for studying. Don’t skip this part: it will save you weeks of frustration and wasted effort. “I pledge to myself now that I will put aside _______ hours per day study time.”
How do I Find the Time? You will be surprised at how much time we can waste every day. If you are busy working then carry your CCNA book and study notes with you at all times. Instead of going off to lunch with friends, find a quiet area and read. If you can’t find anywhere quiet, then get some earplugs and just go somewhere with minimal distractions. If you can get away with it, put your study notes onto your PC and read it or do some practice exams. If you can’t do that then try to recall port numbers or pencil down some CCNA exam facts that you can recall from memory. Make your own set of cram cards with questions on one side and answers on the other side.
You have to adapt your studies to your own situation. Accept the fact that you have to work, sleep, eat, etc., and adapt your study time to fit around the things you have to do. Everyone else in the world who is studying for their CCNA has their own unique challenges they have to face as well; you are not the only busy person. Friend or Foe People (including family and children) will not understand why you are not always available all of a sudden. Your friends and family may say hurtful things to you if they are used to you being always there. They may say that you don’t care about them or that you have become distant. Other people will try to talk you out of what you are doing saying things like “You don’t need to do that.” Politely remind them that it is very important to you and tell them you need their support or at least their acquiescence. Remember – never take advice from people who don’t have what you want.
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I can quite happily sit here at my computer giving out advice on the hardships of studying. I have spent years of my life studying for and passing many types of exams, submitting CV after CV and then fixing problem after problem. Take counsel from successful people who have earned the right to give out advice. Beware of low-flyers, people who try to trip you up due to their own feelings of inadequacy. Some people can be intimidated when they see others achieving. If you work in a place like this, do not tell your colleagues what you are doing – I have made this mistake countless times. You will only give them ammunition to throw at you. By all means though, you can tell everyone when you pass. Come into work with a huge bag of donuts and coffee for everyone. Frame your certificate and put it up at work or at home: be proud. Get photocopies made and make sure your boss and the personnel department have copies. Distractions There will be times when life tempts you away from your goal. Illness, family, a friend, invitations out, favorite TV programs. When this temptation comes along, look at your reasons for studying. What is it that you want to achieve and, will the temptation help you achieve this goal? If your reason is strong enough, you will push on regardless. In a short time you will be sitting in the exam room with only your brain to bail you out. If you have filled it with soap operas, computer games and movies you are going to struggle. Remove temptation; if it is a ringing mobile phone then turn it off for an hour. It is unlikely you will receive any life-or-death calls for the next few hours. I am always amused when people go to the gym to train and, instead, then spend an hour there on the phone chatting. What a waste of time and money. Is any call so important that it can’t go through to your voicemail?
Carry CCNA study material with you at all times. If you are going out in a car see if somebody else can drive. Read it in the car (if you are a passenger), on the bus, during your lunch break, and even when you are sitting on the toilet. Be obsessed
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with passing your exam. You only need to be obsessed for about a month and then you can reap the rewards.
What will you treat yourself to when you pass? It doesn’t have to be something big: it could be going out to see a movie you really want to see or even just going for a coffee at your favorite coffee shop. “When I pass my CCNA exam I will _____________________________________.” Practice focusing on the thing you will give yourself. If you have children, tell them what treat you are all going to have when you pass the exam. Your family will start to encourage you to study so they can all enjoy the treat with you. If it helps, buy the thing and have it ready for you to enjoy. If it is a meal out, then carry a menu around with you or a photograph and look at it often to focus on why you are not doing other things. I am currently working toward an important goal and as a reward I have a DVD on my window ledge looking back at me. I won’t allow myself to watch it until I achieve my goal. If you have to sacrifice time with your family, then have a family goal. It could be a meal out, a trip to the movies, or just time together playing in the park. Make sure it is a goal they buy into. My seven-year-old daughter has mentioned that she wants to visit a new restaurant in town so we can all dress up in our best clothes. When I go out to work toward my goal, I tell her I am doing it so we can all go to the nice restaurant soon. If I stay at home one night she comes over and asks me why I am not going out and working on my goal so we can all go to the restaurant. Get the Study Bug When you start your course of study the first thing to do is book the exam. No, I’m not crazy. If you say you will book the exam at some point in the future you will easily become distracted and procrastinate. If the date gets too close for comfort, you will be able to move it with no financial penalty. You can book the exam in the UK and most other countries with Sylvan Prometric at www.2test.com or VUE at www.vue.com. One of the most important rules of studying success is the habit. The length of study time is less important than setting aside a regular daily study period. Keep to the same time of day EVERY DAY. It takes six weeks to form a new habit that will take you to where you want to go in life. If it means you getting up an hour earlier then do
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it, don’t complain and gripe. If you are tired, then drink less or no coffee and get a good night’s rest. Healthy Body, Healthy Mind Having a healthy body will insure your mind is in tip-top condition. If you are overweight or even obese your capacity to perform is seriously impeded. Your heart is struggling even at this moment to pump enough oxygenated blood around your body. You don’t have to embark on a punishing workout schedule. In fact, that is the last thing you need to do. You can start by walking for 10 minutes a day. Try it for 10 days even if you don’t believe me. Walking will clear your mind, make you feel a lot better about yourself, and increase your ability to learn tenfold. Don’t sit there shaking your head, I am so close to retiring I can almost taste it and, I am only 33 years old. Have faith and break the years of programming you have had from your parents, friends, and schoolteachers. JUST DO IT.
If you get tired from reading or revising for your exam then go for a 10-minute walk around the neighbourhood. You will feel invigorated and ready to take in more information. Try to avoid eating at the same time as you are studying. If you start eating foods high in sugar or simple carbohydrates you will feel drowsy and more likely to fall asleep. Get the Habit If possible, study at the same time and in the same place. Your study location should be free from distractions. BE RUTHLESS. Tell the children to leave you alone: they probably won’t listen to that so get a friend or relative to take them out and return the favor after you pass the exam. If you don’t have a relative then pay for a babysitter. If you can’t afford it, then sell your TV on eBay and use that money to pay the babysitter. Turn off your home and mobile phones. It is doubtful whether you will be receiving an important phone call in the next hour.
As you sit down you will be tempted to make a quick call, make yourself a coffee or catch come TV. STOP. Look at your list of motivating reasons for doing this and
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then get the books open and have a full-on study session. You can reward yourself with a coffee or a quick phone call afterwards. There is nothing worse than getting to the end of the day and kicking yourself for not achieving some study time.
I am telling you this because I have been there. I have held down a full-time job while studying for a degree, promotion exams at work, and self-study all at the same time. I ended up getting rid of my TV for a year, as it was a distraction to what I wanted to achieve. Was it worth it? Of course it was. There are a thousand reasons to drop your studies, but if your reason for doing it is strong enough, you will do it. Study Techniques There are so many study techniques available. If you first open the CCNA book and look at what is ahead it is easy to become disillusioned. Just take the studying one chapter or subject at a time. When you first open the book skim through the whole thing. Don’t bother to actually read it, but just look at how the chapters are put together and browse the headings and diagrams.
Have another sweep, this time noting the subheadings. Have another sweep taking note of some of the wording of the main topics. Don’t skip back to bits you think you have missed. Keep going forward. You will be reading the book many times over so you will see the information again and again. This method is known as speed-reading. There are many great books available on how to do it. If you think it isn’t for you then think again. You will be able to digest and retain far more information far quicker if you apply speed-reading principles to your study. Study smart, not hard. Remember being taught to read at school? One day when you were about 10, the teacher announced that you could read and, the reading lessons promptly ended. The way we learn to read is painfully slow, it encourages us to instantly forget what we just read, and the level of comprehension is very low. Accept the fact that there is a better way and try it out.
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If you come to areas that don’t seem to be sinking, in don’t worry. Learning is a process, not an event. There will be hundreds of things you are going to be learning in life that don’t click the first time. Do you remember learning to drive for the first time? Get a Study Buddy Studying is far more fun with two than one. Find a study partner nearby, or if this is not possible find one on a newsgroup for CCNAs. Choose wisely: don’t find somebody who drags you down and who uses negative words like “I’m never going to pass this exam” or “I’ll start tomorrow.” Be polite but drop them like a hot potato and find somebody who is keen to pass and prepared to put in the time and effort. If you spend time with losers, you are a loser. Would you rather soar with the eagles or scratch the ground with the turkeys?
Speaking of time and effort. Anything worth achieving is worth fighting for. Avoid the quick-fix schemes such as brain dumps or finding out exam questions from others who have taken the exam already. If you don’t put in the effort and pass you will have achieved nothing and will be of little or no use as an employee or consultant. If possible, find a mentor. Somebody who knows a lot more than you and can help you to understand things you aren’t sure of. Please, please bear in mind that if this person is willing to help you, do not take them for granted. Come to them with your question and what research you have done to try to find the answer. Give them your interpretation of the issue and they will be far more willing to help you. The same goes for newsgroups. I hate to see postings by lazy people asking questions that are answered in the newbies section or easily found on the web. Questions like “What routers do I need for a CCNA lab?” are found easily all over the Web. At the same time, don’t be scared of what people are thinking about you. We all logged onto a router for the first time once not knowing what the hell we were doing. It is just that sometimes people forget they were ever there. There will be times when things get on top of you. Life will conspire to prevent you from studying. Small things you should be able to deal with. If the interruption is
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unavoidable such as sick children or a house move, then deal with the problem and as quickly as possible get back on track. Don’t get frustrated by the problem: this is life’s way of testing you to see if you really want it badly enough. When you book the exam you may want to avoid telling people the date. You could think that telling others will give you the added incentive to pass. For most of us this will add unwanted pressure and anxiety to an already stressful situation. If you don’t get through the exam on the first attempt, don’t worry. Thousands have been in the same situation, including me. Not passing the exam doesn’t mean you are a failure. Write down what areas you need to brush up on and work on them. You have been done a favour – it wasn’t time for you to pass yet. Practice Exams In order to pass the exam you will need both theoretical knowledge and hands-on experience. The theoretical knowledge is all contained in your CCNA study guide. You will need to apply this knowledge to some practice exams. The best ones available on the market are made by www.boson.com. I have no financial gain from promoting their CCNA exams (but I have written an A+ exam for them). Please avoid downloading cracked versions of the exam. The exams are very good value for money and, part of the proceeds go to the author who spent months putting the exam together for you.
When you first use the Boson exams, don’t be surprised if you are getting very low marks. Getting the information and then applying it to questions are two different things. Keep going through the exams again and again. When you are hitting over 95 percent consistently you know you are nearly ready for the real thing. Just one word of warning. Don’t use the practice exams in place of studying. The real exam will be asking different questions or getting you to apply your knowledge to different circumstances. Hands-On Experience Hands-on experience can only be gained by using real routers or router simulators. I strongly recommend using real routers or renting time with online Cisco racks if at all possible. Use simulators only if you really can’t find real routers anywhere.
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For the exam you need to be 100 percent confident with configuring routers and switches. You will be expected to be able to configure routing protocols, access-lists, switching, VLANs, and many other subjects. Before the Exam You must be familiar with all the configuration commands available for routers and switches and very familiar with the CCNA theory. You should be able to look at network diagrams and configure the routers to match the configuration you see. You should be familiar with the troubleshooting steps to quickly diagnose and resolve a broken network. All of the facts and figures such as administrative distances, port numbers, access-list numbers, routing metrics, etc. should be imprinted on your brain. These are easy marks and, it would be tragic for you to miss out on them. If you are not highly confident with your theory and hands-on skills then you are winging it. If you have the time and money to waste, then go for it. Otherwise, you will be able to reschedule your seat if you give adequate notice to the testing company. Check their rules and regulations for rescheduling when you book online. Exam Day When you go to the testing centre make sure you arrive in good time. Wear a few layers of clothes: the room may well be kept quite cool. You will need to produce two pieces of identification, one with a photograph on it such as your passport or driver’s licence. Check with the testing centre before you arrive. Make sure you take your booking receipt with you in case they say you never booked (as happened to me once). When you go into the testing room you will be given a sheet of paper and pens. Some testing centres take your pen from you and give you a mini-whiteboard and a felt pen. When the exam starts you are well within your rights to write anything down on the paper. Write down any information you feel you may need. Don’t spend ages writing down all your administrative distances: you may not even be asked about them. There is a very high chance that you will be tested on several subnetting questions, though. Prior to the start of the real test, you will have a chance to go through a mock test to show you how to tick the correct boxes and click on the exhibits. Go through the mock exam even if you know what you are doing. It will help to calm any nerves you may have and get you into the swing of clicking on the correct answers. © Paul Browning 2005 www.networksinc.co.uk 18
Make sure you clench your right fist or use whatever trigger you have been practicing to eliminate anxiety and to insure your body is flooded with positive feelings. During the exam you may be presented with questions whose answers you are not sure of . Don’t panic. You should be able to eliminate one or two answers that are definitely incorrect. You will then have two or three left to choose from. We have all had to “guesstimate” the odd exam answer so you’re in great company. If you are left guessing too many answers, then you were not ready to sit for the exam. Relax anyway and use the exam as a practice run.
There will be some practical tests during the exam. You will be expected to configure some routers and possibly troubleshoot a network that is not working correctly. If you have practiced the exercises in the book time and time again until you no longer have to look up the commands, you should have no trouble here. For the troubleshooting scenario, the chapter on troubleshooting techniques should insure you solve the problem in no time at all. Keep track of time throughout the exam. Time goes by very quickly and you will not do yourself justice if you take up 90 percent of your time doing half of the exam and then rushing through the last half in 10 minutes. At the end, the computer screen will tell you if you were successful. You will be given a pass/fail sheet on your way out. After the Exam When you pass the exam you may experience mixed feelings. You may feel elated at achieving a milestone in your life. You may also feel disappointed that you feel that you still know nothing at all. I remember passing my final MCSE exam and thinking that I still only knew a fraction of what there was to know about IT and networking.
I will let you into a trade secret: nobody knows everything. I have met some very highly-paid and successful IT consultants who are experts in their field who got stuck on the occasional problem. They even forget basic stuff sometimes like port numbers or certain commands. There will always be somebody to ask, or the Internet, where you can post questions or shout for help.
© Paul Browning 2005 www.networksinc.co.uk
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Cisco have a support line for members or you can send off an e-mail to Cisco TAC and ask for help (if you have a support contract). When you do pass, your head may be in the clouds as the endorphins in your brain give you a feeling of euphoria. Try to avoid driving for a while: go for a victory lap (walk) around the testing centre to clear your head. Congratulations! You are a winner, my friend, and have achieved something to be proud of. Let me know when you pass and what you did to celebrate. Drop us an email at www.networksinc.co.uk so we can all congratulate you on your success.
Let me know what it was like. What did you learn while you were studying that could help others pass? What did you do to celebrate? What Now? What do you want now? What did you write down as your goal? Don’t fall into the trap of saying you need more qualifications or exams before you start looking for work or a promotion. This reaction is due to self-doubt and fear. A newly-qualified CCNA has everything s/he needs to do a networking job. If you have limited or no experience then you are still in a strong position with the qualification compared to those who say they could pass it but are too lazy or scared to try. Forget all the reasons why somebody wouldn’t want to give you a job or promote you and, work on the reasons why they would. Make a list of all the great things about you and why companies would be falling over each other to have them work for you. I expect a full page on this alone. Motivation Passing the CCNA shows you are special. There are many who say that they could pass the exam if they wanted but they never take it. The CCNA qualification is respected the world over and a sign that you have put significant time and effort into studying. Cisco do not release statistics for how many people fail their first attempt, but I would put it at around 50 percent.
© Paul Browning 2005 www.networksinc.co.uk
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I wish you every success with passing your exam and in your goals. Luck has nothing to do with it, my friend. You make your own luck in life and, you have in your possession everything you will ever need to achieve the success you dream about. Choose to take advice of people who have the things you want to achieve, not the people whose shoes you wouldn’t want to be in. Speak only to people who inspire and motivate you. If you don’t know them yet, then get out there and meet them. Listen to tapes by people who inspire you and read books on goal-setting and achievement. If you want my book list then e-mail me at help@networksinc.co.uk with “booklist” as the subject. The End? Remember I said that this is a marathon and not a sprint. Do you think you have crossed the finish line by passing your CCNA? A successful career in IT means having to keep up-to-date with technology. Cisco recognize this by making you retake your CCNA every three years. From the CCNA you can go on to take your CCNP or the coveted CCIE. As before, make sure you write down what you want to achieve by taking these exams. If the money is a motivating factor, then find out what CCNPs are earning near to where you live. Are there many jobs available, or would you feel better contracting? You would be your own boss, but you would have to go out and find work for yourself. When I left Cisco to become a contractor I earned three times my salary but there was a few months when I had very little money coming in to pay the bills with. Don’t be put off: if I can do it, anybody can. You just have to believe in yourself and take action. If I can help you in any way then feel free to contact me at help@networksinc.co.uk Live your dreams and stick close to the high-flyers. See you on the beach.
© Paul Browning 2005 www.networksinc.co.uk
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Do You Want to Pass Your CCNA? Networks Incorporated, Ltd. run Cisco CCNA weekend boot camps every month in Milton Keynes (UK). All students are provided with Paul Browning’s famous book ‘CCNA Simplified – Your complete guide to passing the CCNA exam’, a comprehensive hands-on lab guide featuring 28 practical labs with walkthrough configuration guides, The Ultimate CCNA Cram Guide and The Easy Way to Subnet Guide. Every student leaves the course with our famous “Pass Your CCNA in 3 Weeks Plan.” The course is proven to get you to CCNA level quickly and effectively, so if you live in the UK or a short plane journey away (Luton Airport) and are serious about passing your CCNA, you will be at the next bootcamp weekend. You deserve a hands-on Cisco CCNA boot camp weekend training course which is fun, fantastic value, taught by friendly Cisco experts, and contains the very latest strategies to guarantee success in your CCNA exam. Discover how you can benefit from affordable, authentic hands-on CCNA boot camp training and see how, like these people, you can be successful in your CCNA exam using a new breakthrough training system.
Paul Browning LLB(Hons) – Director CCNP, MCSE, A+, Net+
Hi Paul, Thought I would write to tell your course last weekend did the trick and I passed the CCNA today. From being made redundant in the chemical industry to employment as a CCNA network engineer in six months thanks to your book, course and one to one help. Neil Summers, BSc, CChem.MRSC (and now CCNA) Hi Paul, Just to say thanks for the hands on experience I received on your course at the end of November. I took the exam for the first time today and scored 930. Thanks for the help and encouragement. Richard Cunningham – Network Engineer E-mail: help@networksinc.co.uk skype: networksincltd Phone (UK): 01908 263335 www.networksinc.co.uk (live chat available via the training home page) © Paul Browning 2005 www.networksinc.co.uk
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