Exam Tips

I’ve seen lots of people panicing (is that how you spell it?) on the web about the CCNA 5.0 exam which was announced a while back by Cisco.

My understanding is that this is for the Cisco Networking Academy and is a bolt on to the current syllabus (according to their video).

But it’s reasonable to presume that there will be a knock on effect to the current CCNA. You could see the CCENT and ICND2 vanish or at least change. The CCNA will evolve to test you harder on:

IPv6
Security
Voice
Wireless
Data centre
IOS 15.X commands

I’m not sure what will happen with the specialisations because it makes sense to keep them separate and seems a bit too much to cram into the current CCNA syllabus which, let’s face it, is hard enough already.

At this rate my study guide will be 700+ pages thick!

How will you get IOS 15.X hands on time? Who can say at the moment. You have to verify your IOS license with Cisco for 15.x so getting unofficial copies will prove hard and official copies will prove expensive (starting at $1,000 each).

Many people are pushing Cisco for educational copies or discounts but they aren’t budging at the moment. Not sure if IOU will provide a workaround. At the moment, with 15.x features unlock as you pay more (I think the model comes from crack dealers)! IOS 15.x is included with Packet Tracer 6.0 apparently.

I know you can get hands on time with 15.x routers with CCIE rack providers such as INE.

I think you can run evaluation copies for 30 days. Anyone who can add more info feel free to chip in.

For now, if you are studying for your CCNA – get it done ASAP but don’t panic. You will usually have 6 months notice to pass the current exams.

Don’t listen to any opinions though, get the info from Cisco as and when they make an announcement.

Here is some info on IOS 15:

https://www.cisco.com/en/US/prod/collateral/iosswrel/ps8802/ps10587/ps10591/ps10621/qa_c67_561940.html

Meanwhile, here is a nice fluffy marketing video from Cisco:

Regards

Paul

I’ve taken many IT exams at testing centres over the past 12 or so years. But every time I go there, I re-remember (is that a word?) about the strange little things which grade from minor annoyances to exam performance wreckers.

Just yesterday I took an exam, it was 90 minutes of torture and on the way in I asked if I could have some water. The lady behind the testing centre desk told me I wasn’t allowed water in the exam! Er – you do know your brain works off water don’t you? The testing rooms are dry and always well ventilated which keeps you cool but also makes you thirsty.

I suppose I should be grateful that it wasn’t a two hour exam like the CCIE written.

Anyways. Here are some of the things you need to prepare for.

1. Keyboard

I work off a laptop. Many other people use ergonomic keyboards. Yet others use keyboards generic to their country. In the testing centre you get the cheapo rectangular, repetetive strain injury inducing variety. Worse though, I touch type but due to the layout I continually pressed the / key instead of enter.

2. Around the Bushes

The people asking the quesions want to test you but for some strange reason they like to do it in a perverted way. Like asking ‘which of these methods wont’ work?’ Great, now you are testing us on how not do to the job!

3. Simulators

This is especially true for Cisco exams. You are not working on live routers so they don’t act as such. They almost act as such. I recently had to fix a broken network in an exam. I fixed everything but couldn’t ping the final hop to the ISP in the diagram. It was in the routing table but not reachable from the ‘broken’ router or the main HQ router. I had to eventually decide that it was a limitation in the simulator and move on.

Same with a VTP issue. Normally when you press on ‘show vtp status’ you see the IP address the last update was received on. Not this time buddy. I even pressed the spacebar which scrolls to the next part of the output. I almost gave up but it would have left me down one mark. I finally found out that if you press the return key, the final part of the output appears!

4. Surveys

Before or after the exam. You are usually shaking with nerves or at least very apprehensive. You get ready to start the exam but no, you get asked a survey about how far you travelled to the exam today and where you heard about the vendor!

Paul Browning