640-553 Passed!!

[HMSPresident]

Passed my 640-553 on Friday!!

Work paid for a Global Knowledge course late last year, and i'd already bought and started reading the Exam Certification Guide from CiscoPress, but with Chistmas, operations, holidays.. I only just got round to sitting the exam..

Anyway, the ECG from CiscoPress is a very good read (but check out the errata on the website, as there are a couple of points that just plain wrong..), and the bundled Boson NetSim product is very good also! The last week or so before the exam I ran through at least one practice test from the book per day, and read through all of the Key Topics sections.

I borrowed an 1841, 2610xm, and 2950 switch from work to use with my 831 to build a small lab to practice on the SDM, building VPNs (SDM and CLI) and play around with the IOS IPS and Zone-Based Firewall..

Any questions (that don't break the NDA), let me know!

[UKDarkstar]

Congrats and well done !

[jk2447]

Well done, I have a question. Is there much overlap between studying for the CCNA and the CCNA Sec? Is the Sec harder would you say?

[wagnerk]

Congrats on the pass

-ken

[HMSPresident]

Thanks everyone!

Originally Posted by jk2447

Well done, I have a question. Is there much overlap between studying for the CCNA and the CCNA Sec? Is the Sec harder would you say?

It's been about 18 months since I passed my CCNA, but what I remember studying for that versus what i've studied for the CCNA:Sec, there's no overlap at all..

Having said that, I sat the 640-801 exam which was before they introduced CCENT and re-worked the syllabus.. Looking at the current 640-802 Exam Topics, the new exam does cover basic switchport security, router security, using the SDM.. But it does NOT cover IPSec and the associated protocols/standards, which is a big part (about 4 or 5 chapters!) of the CCNA:Sec..

So yeah, i've not seen a 640-802 study-guide, but I guess there is a small overlap.

[sammy_bibs]

Congrats to you on the pass, just working my way through atm & is a lot different from CCNA with all the tacacus & radius and SDM (Bloody GUI!!!)

Just a quick one, did you use the boson test labs at all? As I'm considering them as there not to expensive & the current one I have that came with the CCNA/S book is ok, but there are no labs in there & a little easy (or is the sec exam a lab free one? (Wishfull thinking))

Anyhow would be interested to know, cheers.

Sam

[BosonMichael]

How did I miss this post? Congrats!

Originally Posted by HMSPresident

Anyway, the ECG from CiscoPress is a very good read (but check out the errata on the website, as there are a couple of points that just plain wrong..), and the bundled Boson NetSim product is very good also! The last week or so before the exam I ran through at least one practice test from the book per day, and read through all of the Key Topics sections.

Do you mean NetSim or ExSim? I didn't think we bundled NetSim in the CiscoPress books, but perhaps I am mistaken.

For the record, the exams in the Cisco Press books are NOT Boson's practice exams... they just use Boson's testing engine. The ExSim Max practice exam product for CCNA Security, which was written by BosonJosh, can only be purchased from Boson.

[sammy_bibs]

The ExSim, already have my own labs for the network side, But the last ExSim i had for ccna was pretty good, few labs in there and very exam like, just wondering if the CCNA/S is up to the same level as this. (Few lab Q's few Case's & lots Q's)

Is there much lab work in the Security Exam, as so far in the books it seems like a lot of theory. And a lot on SDM & CMS (which I hope they dont test on as I dont have a copy!)

[BosonMichael]

Originally Posted by sammy_bibs

The ExSim, already have my own labs for the network side, But the last ExSim i had for ccna was pretty good, few labs in there and very exam like, just wondering if the CCNA/S is up to the same level as this. (Few lab Q's few Case's & lots Q's)

Is there much lab work in the Security Exam, as so far in the books it seems like a lot of theory. And a lot on SDM & CMS (which I hope they dont test on as I dont have a copy!)

I dunno about the questions that come in the Cisco Press book, but if you get the ExSim Max for CCNA Security, you'll be in good hands.

I took the CCNA Security exam a few months back, but I can't remember exactly how much lab work there is. I'll ping BosonJosh (since he wrote the product) to solicit his advice on the matter.

[sammy_bibs]

If you dont mind, cheers

[BosonJosh]

What do you mean by "lab questions"? Do you mean practical, hands-on types of questions? I'd say the exam leans a little more towards the theoretical side of things, but it would certainly help to have some practical applications of the theories.

[HMSPresident]

Originally Posted by BosonMichael

How did I miss this post? Congrats!

Do you mean NetSim or ExSim? I didn't think we bundled NetSim in the CiscoPress books, but perhaps I am mistaken.

Firstly, thanks! Secondly, i'm not sure whether it is NetSim or ExSim.. On the 'My Exams' tab of the Boson Exam Environment app, it comes under 'Third Party Exams' - 'Cisco Press Exams'.. Which makes sense, given what you said about them being Cisco Press exams and not Boson's, but I see Boson written on the book and immediately think 'NetSim'.. My bad!

Originally Posted by sammy_bibs

Is there much lab work in the Security Exam, as so far in the books it seems like a lot of theory. And a lot on SDM & CMS (which I hope they dont test on as I dont have a copy!)

I'm never sure what you are allowed to say (because of the NDA), so work from the list of Exam topics published by Cisco, and be prepared demonstrate what they are asking you to have knowledge on!

[BosonMichael]

Originally Posted by HMSPresident

Firstly, thanks! Secondly, i'm not sure whether it is NetSim or ExSim.. On the 'My Exams' tab of the Boson Exam Environment app, it comes under 'Third Party Exams' - 'Cisco Press Exams'.. Which makes sense, given what you said about them being Cisco Press exams and not Boson's, but I see Boson written on the book and immediately think 'NetSim'.. My bad!

Then, as you've seen, it's neither ExSim nor NetSim, because both of those are Boson products. Cisco Press uses our engine and gives us advertising. Unfortunately, that logo branding makes people think that they're using OUR questions.

If you find you want some additional practice exam help, you should download a demo of the ExSim Max for CCNA Security and see the goodness that Josh has crafted. If nothing else, that'll give you a free handful of questions to practice.

[sammy_bibs]

Cool, well thanks for replies. By the lab type stuff I dont mean the whole boson netsim, more the lab style questions like you see in the ccna (user X cant ping user Y, use the CLI to find and fix problem, click on the router to access the CLI...) that style of question, granted it's mostly theory work, but i thought there would be a few lab ones in there to.

I will more than likely invest in the exsim once I get to the end of my books & smash out the qestions for a weeks or so prior to sitting the exam.

Sam.

[Bonneville]

Just downloaded Packet Tracer 5.2 which the CCNA Security curriculum requires, this should help with my current studies.