C H A P T E R13

Final Preparation

You have made it through most of the book, and you probably have scheduled your INTRO or CCNA exam or have at least thought about when you want to take it. Congratulations for getting this far! You will soon have finished the first step toward building your networking career resume.

This chapter provides some tips on your final preparation for the exam. It also provides a sample scenario that helps you pull together many hands-on skills in a single review section.

Suggestions for Final Preparation

Everyone has their own study habits, and you should know what works well for you. However, here are a few suggestions of some things you can try in the week or two before you take the exam:

■Reread the “Foundation Summary” sections of each chapter.

■When reviewing tables and definitions, cover up portions of summary tables with a piece of paper, forcing yourself to try to remember the details, instead of just glancing at them.

■Answer all the book’s questions again. Strive to master these questions so that you can answer them quickly.

■If you are still slow in answering subnetting questions, practice until you can find the subnet number and broadcast address within 1 minute when the mask is “hard.” You can use Appendix B for more practice.

■Before using the CD for general questions, use the mode that lets you perform a simulated exam. This helps you prepare for the exam experience.

■Repeat answering all the questions on the CD until you can answer most of them almost automatically.

460Chapter 13: Final Preparation

■Using a real set of routers and switches, or using a simulation product (such as NetSim, which is included on the accompanying CD), practice these basic skills:

—Accessing a switch and router

—Configuring basic administrative settings (passwords, host names, IP addresses)

—Practice configuring IP, static routes, and RIP

—Refer to Appendix C for a list of labs from this book that can be performed using the NetSim simulator that is included on the accompanying CD.

Preparing for the Exam Experience

If the CCNA exam will be your first experience with a proctored computer-based exam for Cisco certification, don’t be alarmed. It’s not terribly different from using the exam software on the CD that comes with this book. However, you should go into the exam day with the following in mind:

■You typically need two forms of ID, at least one of which is a picture ID. Driver’s license, passport, and military ID are all valid.

■The testing center is probably just an extra room inside the offices of a company that does something else as its primary business. Training companies often also are testing centers. The proctor often has other responsibilities besides monitoring the exams. The proctor seldom enters the testing room other than to bring in another person who has an exam scheduled. So don’t worry about someone staring at you and making you nervous! However, most testing centers have video cameras for monitoring. So just because you can’t see them doesn’t mean they aren’t watching!

■You need to turn off all electronic devices you bring with you—phone, pager, and secret decoder ring! I typically just leave them in the car. You might be asked to leave your pager or phone at the front desk.

■You cannot bring any of your own paper into the room. The proctor will give you something to write on—either paper or a dry-erase board and marker. In either case, you should return these to the proctor when you are done.

■You will take the exam using a PC. The proctor will start the software for you; all you have to do is follow the instructions. You do not have to start the exam the instant you sit down; you typically are allowed to take a fouror five-question practice test. The practice exam asks you questions in different formats about an unrelated topic to help you get used to the interface. Cisco often adds an optional survey before the exam as

Suggestions for Final Preparation 461

well, just to gather demographic information about who is taking the exam. If you’ve never taken a Cisco exam, take the extra few minutes to take the practice test, just to get completely comfortable with the environment.

■You can write on your scratch paper before the exam begins if you like. For instance, some people like to write down all the valid subnet masks, the corresponding prefixes, and possibly even the binary equivalents for the decimal numbers used in subnet masks. I’ve heard of some people writing down hard-to-memorize information that they were cramming for in the lobby of the testing center! Personally, I do not find it helpful to write down the hard-to-memorize things right before the exam begins, but for some people, it does help. Many people find it helpful to write down the subnetting information just mentioned.

■The exam engine does not let you go back and change an earlier answer. So read each question and answer thoroughly. As soon as you move on to the next question, you can’t go back!

■Some questions require that you drag and drop the answers into the correct slots in an answer area. Exam question writers like to use this type of question for lists or sequences in particular. As with all the questions, you can answer and then change your answer as long as you have not moved on to the next question. For drag-and-drop questions, you might benefit from moving the answers you are confident about into the (presumably) correct place and then fitting the others in. Often this helps you complete the answers correctly. Just don’t forget that as soon as you move on to the next question, you can’t go back!

■For simulated lab questions, you should go back and confirm that any new configurations are working. For instance, if the question asks you to configure RIP, but you do not see any routes when you use a show ip route command, you have not finished the question correctly. The simulator used on the exam works so that the show commands reflect what should happen. Many of the simulated lab questions require that you configure something, but it is also helpful if you know the pertinent show commands to verify the correct operation. Also, just for good measure, save your configuration unless the question tells you not to.

That’s a long list, but hopefully it will help you prepare for taking the exam. The most important tip is to simply relax. For most people, a good night’s rest is better than a night full of cramming.

The following list gives you a short reminder of the things you might want to keep in mind as you prepare to walk through the door of the testing center:

■Bring two pens.

■Bring two IDs, one with a picture.

■Turn off your electronic devices before going to the exam room.

■Relax!