chapter material and ultimately pass the exam!
6. Try your hand at the practice questions that are exclusive to this book. The questions can be found only at www.wiley.com/go/sybextestprep. And be sure to check out www.lammle.com/ccna for the most up-to-date Cisco exam prep questions, videos, Todd Lammle boot camps, and more.
7. Test yourself using all the flashcards, which are also found on the download link. These are brand-new and updated flashcards to help you prepare for the CCNA R/S exam and a wonderful study tool!
To learn every bit of the material covered in this book, you'll have to apply yourself regularly, and with discipline. Try to set aside the same time period every day to study, and select a comfortable and quiet place to do so. I'm confident that if you work hard, you'll be surprised at how quickly you learn this material!
If you follow these steps and really study —doing hands-on labs every single day in addition to using the review questions, the practice exams, the Todd Lammle video sections, and the electronic flashcards, as well as all the written labs – it would actually be hard to fail the Cisco exams. But understand that studying for the Cisco exams is a lot like getting in shape – if you do not go to the gym every day, it's not going to happen!
Where Do You Take the Exams?
You may take the ICND1, ICND2, or CCNA R/S Composite or any Cisco exam at any of the Pearson VUE authorized testing centers. For information, check www.vue.com or call 877-404-EXAM (3926).
To register for a Cisco exam, follow these steps:
1. Determine the number of the exam you want to take. (The ICND1 exam number is 100-105, ICND2 is 100-205, and CCNA R/S Composite is 200-125.)
2. Register with the nearest Pearson VUE testing center. At this point, you will be asked to pay in advance for the exam. At the time of this writing, the ICND1 and ICND2 exams are $150, and the CCNA R/S Composite exam is $250. The exams must be taken within one year of payment. You can schedule exams up to six weeks in advance or as late as the day you want to take it – but if you fail a Cisco exam, you must wait five days before you will be allowed to retake it. If something comes up and you need to cancel or reschedule your exam appointment, contact Pearson VUE at least 24 hours in advance.
3. When you schedule the exam, you'll get instructions regarding all appointment and cancellation procedures, the ID requirements, and information about the testing-center location.
Tips for Taking Your Cisco Exams
The Cisco exams contain about 40-50 questions and must be completed in about 90 minutes or less. This information can change per exam. You must get a score of about 85 percent to pass this exam, but again, each exam can be different.
Many questions on the exam have answer choices that at first glance look identical – especially the syntax questions! So remember to read through the choices carefully because close just doesn't cut it. If you get commands in the wrong order or forget one measly character, you'll get the question wrong. So, to practice, do the hands-on exercises at the end of this book's chapters over and over again until they feel natural to you.
Also, never forget that the right answer is the Cisco answer. In many cases, more than one appropriate answer is presented, but the correct answer is the one that Cisco recommends. On the exam, you will always be told to pick one, two, or three options, never "choose all that apply." The Cisco exam may include the following test formats:
■ Multiple-choice single answer
■ Multiple-choice multiple answer
■ Drag-and-drop
■ Router simulations
Cisco proctored exams will not show the steps to follow in completing a router interface configuration, but they do allow partial command responses. For example, show run, sho running, or sh running-config would be acceptable.
Here are some general tips for exam success:
■ Arrive early at the exam center so you can relax and review your study materials.
■ Read the questions carefully. Don't jump to conclusions. Make sure you're clear about exactly what each question asks. "Read twice, answer once," is what I always tell my students.
■ When answering multiple-choice questions that you're not sure about, use the process of elimination to get rid of the obviously incorrect answers first. Doing this greatly improves your odds if you need to make an educated guess.
■ You can no longer move forward and backward through the Cisco exams, so doublecheck your answer before clicking Next since you can't change your mind.
After you complete an exam, you'll get immediate, online notification of your pass or fail status, a printed examination score report that indicates your pass or fail status, and your exam results by section. (The test administrator will give you the printed score report.) Test scores are automatically forwarded to Cisco within five working days after you take the test, so you don't need to send your score to them. If you pass the exam, you'll receive confirmation from Cisco, typically within two to four weeks, sometimes a bit longer.
Objective Map for CCNA Routing and Switching Certification Exam
We've provided this objective map to help you locate where objectives for the CCNA Routing and Switching certification exams are covered in each chapter. Please refer to it when you want to find an objective quickly.
ICND1 Exam Objectives
Exam objectives are subject to change at any time without prior notice and at Cisco's sole discretion. Please visit Cisco's certification website (www.cisco.com/web/learning) for the latest information on the ICND1 Exam 100-105.
Table I.1 20 % 1.0 Network Fundamentals
Table I.2 26 % 2.0 LAN Switching Fundamentals
Table I.3 25 % 3.0 Routing Fundamentals
Table I.4 15 % 4.0 Infrastructure Services
Table I.5 14 % 5.0 Infrastructure Maintenance
ICND2 Exam Objectives
Exam objectives are subject to change at any time without prior notice and at Cisco's sole discretion. Please visit Cisco's certification website (www.cisco.com/web/learning) for the latest information on the ICND2 Exam 200-105.
Table I.6 26 % 1.0 LAN Switching Technologies
Table I.7 29 % 2.0 Routing Technologies
Table I.8 16 % 3.0 WAN Technologies
Table I.9 14 % 4.0 Infrastructure Services
Table I.10 15 % 5.0 Infrastructure Maintenance
CCNA Exam Objectives (Composite Exam)
Exam objectives are subject to change at any time without prior notice and at Cisco's sole discretion. Please visit Cisco's certification website (