Today I sat and passed the CCENT!  I took the exam this morning and came away with a respectable pass.  I was pretty happy with the exam overall, having not taken a CISCO exam before I did not really know what to expect.  I did find however, that time was a limiting factor like everyone says it is,  I finished the last question with only 1min and 40sec left on the clock.  I got two simulation type questions out of  the last 10 and started to struggle a little bit as I was aware that time was ticking away and stated to rush which didn’t help my concentration.  Once I calmed down, took  a brief second and actually read what I was being asked to do everything was well.

I found the time pressure as well as not being able to go back and review my answers an interesting experience during the exam.  The only other professional certifications I have sat for have been Microsoft certifications where you are able to mark the questions for review and go back and change your answer, where today my first answer was final.  I can understand the reasoning behind this I guess (being the artificial time pressure) because as it turned out I wouldn’t have been able to go back and review anyway!

I am really pleased that I passed especially on the first go, CCNA is something I have been working towards since I started in this industry and today was my first step towards it. I am luck y that I have a patient and understanding fiance who is supportive of my goals and “lets me off the lead” whenever possible so I can maximize my time outside of work to study.

I have learnt a lot from this experience and hope to continue in this regard, bring on ICND2 and CCNA! 🙂

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Tonight I spent the last two hours taking the practice questions from the Cisco Learning Network website, the ICND1 Practice Questions (you need to register to get access I believe).  I scored around 70-80 percent for each module which I am happy with.  I did however recognise some of the questions from the Cisco Press books but not too many on the whole.  I am pretty confident going into the exam on Wednesday even though the last chance I will have to do some last minute study will be on Tuesday night, as I have to work late on an unrelated project tomorrow.

I also made some notes from the ICND1 blueprint, which I believe outline the areas I may not be 100% familiar with and I plan to use the time on Tuesday night to collate my own “cheat sheet” of info I will either regurgitate first thing once the exam starts or commit to memory for the exam.

For now another 30mins of subnetting practice should see me out for tonight.

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