CCNA - Hard/Easy is the Exam

Author

Hard/Easy is the Exam

HarColwell

2002-10-24, 2:39 pm

I’ll preface this by saying that I’ve been in the field for 20+ years, and this will be my 29th certification exam (passed all the first try, blew away all but a couple). Also, I wrote networking (Novell, Microsoft, VMS, UNIX) and electronics (component-level) courseware and taught for 15 of those years.

As far as particle experience, I’ve assisted with half-a-dozen Cisco configurations and numerous, low-end (LinkSys, Netopia, & NetGear) configs.

With that said, I know that the CCNA exam is for an entry-level (associate) person, but I’m still treating it just as seriously as all the others. So I don’t want to sound cocky when I say this, but the exam seems ridiculously easy.

In the past I paid for all my certification expenses myself (I've used very few pratice exams). But now I have an employer that will pay for books and practice exams. I’ve prepared for five weeks and last Friday I took all four Transcender exams, one-after-the-other. I keep waiting for the really hard questions to show up, but they never did. Sure there were plenty that you had to read carefully (I was a teacher, so I know how to take a question apart), but none of them made me say; what the hec are they talking about?

If I took this exam 15 years ago, I know that I would have considered it much tuffer, but what do the other old-timers think about the CCNA exam.

BTW: I take the exam tomorrow.

freak

2002-10-24, 2:43 pm

Well, I also was a college Professor, and I also wrote my own curriculum for my classes.

I have also taken many IT tests, more than I care to remember at this stage

However, I do not think that the CCNA was an easy exam. It was a fair exam. The level of difficulty was on par with the level of the cert in the overall scheme.

What made it harder for me was the fact that the questions were not MS questions, which was what I had grown accustomed to. Also, the passing grade of 849 was pretty high imho for an entry-level cert.

In my mind, it was a harder test than the 70-210 or 70-215, but far easier than the 70-216. But to each his/her own I suppose

edmonds_robert

2002-10-24, 4:23 pm

I guess it all depends on your experience level. Yeah, for someone with 20+ years experience, I would surely hope it seems ridiculously easy. Although we've all met those folks with that much "experience" that couldn't subnet their way out of a wet paper bag.
But it's not supposed to be hard for someone with that much experience. There's nothing really high level in the curriculum. The CCNA cert is really just guaging whether you know basic IP stuff, the configuration modes on an IOS based Cisco router and switch, and a few fairly simple WAN setups. I think once you start preparing for the CCNP, you'll find stuff that's a little more challenging, although I doubt that you'll have a whole lot of trouble with it either, given your experience level.
All that being said, don't knock it too bad. You've got a lot of folks here that are very new to this business and the certification game that take the CCNA very seriously as a very important first step in their career. Without the laundry list of accomplishments that some other folks have, the certification can be a great way to "get your foot in the door", so to speak.

freak

2002-10-24, 4:39 pm

I could not agree more. The CCNA is a great entry-level cert. I strongly encourage students to pursue it.

HarColwell

2002-10-28, 10:57 am

I passed with a 92.4. I was hoping for better, but the test was fair. No trick questions that I could see. Several that made you think!!!

This exam was much harder than the Transcender practice exams. But it was much easier than my last few exam experiences.

1.) I took all three exams for Lotus Domino Administration on the same day.
2.) 70-240: Microsoft Windows 2000 Accelerated Exam
3.) 70-221: Designing a Microsoft® Windows 2000 Network Infrastructure

I guess I had forgotten what a typical exam was like.

---------------
As for the comments, thanks. I found them helpful being from people like myself (old timers). But here is a couple replys.

>>Also, the passing grade of 849 was pretty high imho for an entry-level cert.

I’ve always thought that the minimum passing score for all certification exams were too low. For the exams that give a score, I’ve only gotten below 90% 4 times. I’m not special, I think that most people could accomplish this; it would just mean more preparation time. Even though I don’t like pass/fail grading or adaptive testing, I accept it as the most efficient way to test when all you are looking for is if a candidate meets the minimum requirements.

>>Although we've all met those folks with that much "experience" that couldn't subnet their way out of a wet paper bag.

I’ve been doing subnettig so long that I do all the calculations in my head. Actually there are very little calculations that have to be done; you just have to memorize a few values. These questions can be a real time killer if you have to write them out.

ANDRONDA

2002-10-29, 12:50 pm

I do not think it is accurate to classify it as easy or hard. I believe that it is designed so that if you know the objectives you should pass.

I found it to be a truly well designed test that actually does measure ability.

I would hope that if anyone found it too hard they would realize that it is simply a matter of preparation.

ruscorp

2002-10-29, 12:54 pm

CCNA is a tough exam, don't take it lightly. The passing score is very high.

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