640-801 missed the pass mark by a mile!!!

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Hello everyone.
Everyone seems to keen on telling everybody of their success when they pass so let me be the one who steps in with this embarrassing failure with a score of 643.
I was told to have 90 minutes to do the exam but by the time I was presented with the first question I had 01:10:00 so where the other 20 minutes went?
I had 58 questions and only have answered 43 which the last 4 were answered in like a minute.
Clearly I have to do allot of revisions especially on STP.
The first question to implement and ACL was like there was the information about the server’s farm with this financial server IP given to us to allow access to this other network but just before creating and applying an ACL we could even ping the bloody thing let alone test it to see if the ACL is doing its job.
There was 5 of us and none had passed with scores in the range of 521 to 694 being the highest.
Anybody out here with same sad failure story that might want to give some words of wisdom and motivation????
One of my colleges lost about the first 20 minutes on his first question.
It's just not enough time 70 minutes.
By the way we done exam 640-801.
Thanks anybody for any word of consolation and advice.
I am thinking about buying Boson ExSim, any comments about it?
Cheers

 

Yeah mate. Done two practise esams online with cisco on netacadamy and they're timed with 02:00:00 with around 65 questions.

The thing is it doesn't even lets us move to the next question without answering and then come back to recheck. There was a previous button but deactivated.

well I shall do better next time I guess.

But need to get my hands on more studuing material. Any references?

Cheers

 

Which one is 801 again....switching or routing?

 

unlucky mate - good luck for next time.

 

Tough luck mate, do you get to find out which areas you went wrong on?

 

801 is retired.....you sure it was 801 you did???

 

^ saved me a post


well could have if i didn't post to tell you just that

either way unlucky dude, take solace from the fact you would have likely been closer had you got the correct amount of time,

Best of luck for the retry.

 

i did the icnd1 then icnd2 a month later, you have to be really quick with the 640-802.. ps the seperate exams are half the price so wont cost you any more. I am officially a 'paper CCNA'

 

Anyhoo back on topic!!

when I did CCNA exam (as one exam) I must admit I found it very difficult.

Passed first time on about 780, but to be honest any pass is a good one for CCNA.

To answer your question on how to prepare etc, the obvious questions are:

- What is your background;
- What is your day job; and
- How did you orignally study (i.e. instructor led course, home learning etc)?

To my mind, you cannot supplement proper hands on experience with sims. If you must use a sim, use an emulator instead (i.e. Dynamips) - however, if you also cannot get access to kit, the best way may be to hire a rack online, you can get about 10 hours for $10 if you shop around.

I revised 3 nights a week after completing my course for a month before taking the exam - the quantity of material is massive.

If all else fails, take the exams seperately - although contrary to above poster, the prices certainly were not half the cost for ICND compared to full CCNA when I took them.

Good luck!

 

Very true I guess I would have passed or either just about or missed by 1 as I didn't even finished the whole thing. I had 16 questions left to answer. but our real concern is why were given only 70 minutes if we were told the exam was suppose to be 110 minutes?

 

I do have a rough idea especially from the images I was given about switches, root bridges and designated ports... I will need to Google and see if I can get some examples as the images that were given to us on the exam itself were just like links and mac addresses no bridge ID, it is a subject I have to revise definitely...

 

Yeah positive mate as we are on the old curriculum 3.1 discovery is it not?

 

Norfolk??? It's nice to see someone here from home. Thanks for your advice mate and thanks to everybody else too.

 

Well I have done networking for quite a while but that was back in 2000/2002 but never CISCO.

Unfortunately I am a machine operative (Line Setter) at this turkey factory which I HATE and have been stuck there for the past 7 years. When it comes to IT anywhere I turn myself into it’s the same old questions “Certifications?”

Did it at college in 2 years modules 1&2 in the first year 17 weeks per module and then a major problem at the college forced us to undertake the final 2 modules (3/4) in the same time span as one so it was a bit rushing through not to mentioned the fact that when we were studying frame-relay and ISDN there was no hands on labs as the college hasn’t got the hardware or the technology for us to work on.
Once a week tutor lead and at the home on any spare time that I could find.

 

Just got this e-mail guys, so to those that have asked if I was sure about 801 here's the answer.

********************************************************************************

Retired CCNA Certification Exam Availability Ends July 31, 2009

The INTRO (640-821), ICND (640-811), and CCNA (640-801) certification exams (all language versions) will be available to Networking Academy students until July 31, 2009. After July 31, 2009 vouchers for these exams will no longer be accepted.

 

Ah OK fair enough - I thought that exam was just dead and buried after 2007!

Shame you dont have access to some kit, but obviously cant be helped!


To be honest back when I studied for mine, I just studied off the theory. I would be strongly inclined to hire some rack time - I assume you feel its the sims that let you down?

And if its any consolation, CCNA is a hard exam and I wouldnt worry about failing first time!

 

I habe a 16U rack here at home with just a cisco 1721 with an ATM, FA and a Serial interface also 1 cisco router 2621 with a FA and a Serial interface. Still need more routers and about 3 switches still to practise more.

Quite like Packet Tracer, seems to work fine for me.