CCNA Certification

Junior

Guys I've a couple of direct questions about CCNA Certification - I've had a look thru the threads and don't seem to be able to find a direct answer to these - so any help is gratefully appreciated.

1 - Can you just study at home and book the exams with prometric ?
2 - Any idea on the cost of the exams ?
3 - I've seen Fás funding being mentioned for these - any further info on that ?

TIA

Junior

Ginger

In order

1. Yes and no.. Can study at home but I think Cisco is partnered with Vue rather than Prometric so you can only book through them but they are excellent.

2. Exams cost in the region of 195€ I would think but I will check that EDIT: Checked this thread (http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055286359) and it states 130 Ex vat

3. FAS funding would be very hard to find given that their budget is probably been slashed in the wake of the government budget reforms. I can say for certain (limited access to Irish newsies) but from the looks of it that is the way it is.

Junior

I've used Prometric before (in cork) are Vue similar enough ? Oh a quick google shows one in Waterford ! How bad !

Ginger

I have personally found Vue to be better than Prometric. Back in 2007 MS swapped to a single test provider and i think Cisco followed suit in choosing Vue.

mark renton

1. Yes - Vue
2. 130 (last june)
3. Methinks the FAS funding is just for courses leading up to exam rather than fee for exam( could be wrong there)

[snip] is also best reccomended for study - good luck dude

Ginger

Please dont suggest braindumps as a training material.. They invalidate your certs, can get your certs revoked etc etc etc

mark renton

I disagree Ginger - I believe you do your study, learn your stuff, do your braindumps, then take the exam - and ill be damned if Cisco or Microsoft are taking anything back!!

Ginger

See, thats the thing.

If you have done an exam you agreed to the T&Cs of the exam and the offered certification.. One of which is the NDA.. and which is the one that most braindumps violate.

Usually that is why they forbid the use of those materials.

So if you are found to have used said materials to prepare for your exam, they will take your certs away and bar you from taking any more of their certifications ever again.

The only way that happens tho, is they prove that you used them. See here http://www.microsoft.com/learning/mcpexams/policies/faq/default.mspx#EHC

MS sued TK and won, and got them to change their materials for MS exams so that they werent dumps any more. It does not apply to Cisco or any other vendors exams.

So if the certifying company deems them to be incorrect, I am fairly sure that they are.

Doing past exams is one thing, when the exam will be different when you sit it, as compared to dumps which are the actual questions that will come up.

The question then follows why would you bother to study?

mark renton

Idealism is a wonderful concept my friend, and if everybody gets on board we would all be happier... currently me lives in the real world, not ideal but its all i've got at the moment!!

ntlbell

john47832 wrote: »

I disagree Ginger - I believe you do your study, learn your stuff, do your braindumps, then take the exam - and ill be damned if Cisco or Microsoft are taking anything back!!

If you do your study correctly and "learn your stuff" there's no need for brain dumps if there is then you haven't done 1 and 2 correctly. you're going into IT with your head up your backside and making people who actually deserve to have the certification look bad and weaking the cert.

mark renton

Couldnt agree more as I'm more of a studier myself, however after 1 and 2 are done the option to do 3 is there, now do you sit the exam without going through braindumps or do you just do the exam without looking at any questions??? Would love a vote here on what is actually done (not on what is intelectually or morally right)

ntlbell

john47832 wrote: »

Couldnt agree more as I'm more of a studier myself, however after 1 and 2 are done the option to do 3 is there, now do you sit the exam without going through braindumps or do you just do the exam without looking at any questions??? Would love a vote here on what is actually done (not on what is intelectually or morally right)

The part you seem to be missing is if you know your stuff which is what the exam is testing there is no need for braindumps.

if your going to use them in the first place then why bother studying at all, your just wasting your own time? makes little sense.

So eithier do it right or don't bother. what's morally right or wrong is not the question your weakening the cert you got you want the cert to get better jobs more money if the cert becomes weak as is the case for MCSE mostly then your weakening your own position.

you seem to be missing this very important concept.

lets say a CCNP can command 80K

the cert becomes weak there's hundreds of CCNP's now and they drop it to 40k

your weaking YOUR own job...

get it?

mark renton

We could be here for a very long time...
Firstly a CCNP gets 80k because of what experience he has rather than "Im CCNP and worth 80k".
Secondly Braindumps are made up of previous questions and forecasted questions, now maybe I'm a sinner here but I just don't see the weakining of it, jobs are not given as per certificate, I would rather hire a guy with no certs that will be in at 8 in the morning than a guy with certs coming in at half 10.
Thirdly, I'm getting a hint here of "Do as I say and not as I do". I'm taking it you have experience in sitting Certificate Examinations. Honestly have you ever read through braindumps??

ntlbell

john47832 wrote: »

We could be here for a very long time...
Firstly a CCNP gets 80k because of what experience he has rather than "Im CCNP and worth 80k".
Secondly Braindumps are made up of previous questions and forecasted questions, now maybe I'm a sinner here but I just don't see the weakining of it, jobs are not given as per certificate, I would rather hire a guy with no certs that will be in at 8 in the morning than a guy with certs coming in at half 10.
Thirdly, I'm getting a hint here of "Do as I say and not as I do". I'm taking it you have experience in sitting Certificate Examinations. Honestly have you ever read through braindumps??

It's an example. You can apply it to any job I know very good CCNP's worth their money I know some who get paid more and basically bought their way through the exams and have litttle or no knowledge.

if the cert is weakened then you can't command more money and it doesn't prove you can do what you say so what's the point in the first place?

I'm not sure how you're going to work out what his timing is like in the interview unless he was late?

I don't generally do certs for anything I don't have a lot of expirience in so I don't need to see the answers before I take the test.

I might give the CD in the book a spin

mark renton

It seems we gone off the point here... Anyway good luck Junior.. knowledge is power..

Mena

As to the OP's first question, self study is fine, I did all of my certifications through self study, but then I had years of hands on experience with the technologies so it was pretty easy for me, may not be so for everyone.

As to braindumps, all I will say is that you can spot someone who passed their certs through braindumps pretty quickly out in the real world... well, most of the time.

ntlbell

john47832 wrote: »

It seems we gone off the point here... Anyway good luck Junior.. knowledge is power..

It seems you never understood it "junior"

Maybe I'll PM you the next time on how to reply to my posts

Ginger

john47832 wrote: »

Idealism is a wonderful concept my friend, and if everybody gets on board we would all be happier... currently me lives in the real world, not ideal but its all i've got at the moment!!

It starts one person at a time.

To answer your later questions, I have seen brain dumps and was shown that they had the wrong answers.. thankfully it was on an exam I would never do, some Cisco one.

Experience doing exams.. yup.. too many at this stage.

The idea of reduction of earning power with braindumps is that partly you get more money because there are less people with the certification. Also if you get a person who has "dumped" to get a cert and gets hired and is found it, it damages the rep of those who have the qualification.

While you may not morally disagree with them, they are also legally grey (depending on the legal jurasdiction you are in).

Anyways,

mark renton

"Ive seen braindumps and was shown they were wrong"

What was the purpose of looking at them in the first place??

Ginger

In that case of showing me of why they are problematic as a training solution.

Also the reason for using a Cisco one was because I am a dev and a solid networking exam is not something I would be doing..

People need to understand why they exist, and why they shouldnt use them. Just saying they are morally wrong isnt enough for some people

Junior

ntlbell wrote: »

It seems you never understood it "junior"

Maybe I'll PM you the next time on how to reply to my posts

I think he was just wishing me luck, not calling you Junior.

Anyways thanks lads.

rom

I am not pro braindumps but for cisco i have noticed that there is a way they write the questions. If you get used to reading it you can spot the tricky questions etc. Basically spotting this can get you up 10% more, for me thats 75-85% which matters. I dont understand why they try to use difficult english term to confuse you when they should just ask harder question rather than easy questions with elaborate english.

mark renton

rom wrote: »

I am not pro braindumps but for cisco i have noticed that there is a way they write the questions. If you get used to reading it you can spot the tricky questions etc. Basically spotting this can get you up 10% more, for me thats 75-85% which matters. I dont understand why they try to use difficult english term to confuse you when they should just ask harder question rather than easy questions with elaborate english.

Where do you get the questions from??

aidan_walsh

john47832 wrote: »

Where do you get the questions from??

Please don't ask where to get braindumps.

mark renton

aidan_walsh wrote: »

Please don't ask where to get braindumps.

Apologies - didnt really want them, was just pointing out the irony in "Not Pro Braindumps" and still using them :cool:

CorkFenian

I have the CCENT this week, going to prepare till the last moment and reschedule if I dont feel comfortable with it.

My reasoning:

Have had work exposure to routers and switches, STP, setting up a new network.Never alone though.Just being honest. I want to get this exam knowing it all and a reason for it etc. I dont want to testking it..I figure its more important to know this than pass a test for it..For any job I go to, I will underline my comparitive lack of Cisco experience as against the cert..Would appreciate any opinions on this..

CorkFenian

Put off exam for CCENT..Still working away on it..I dont want to use braindumps for an exam like this..In the past I have looked at them a few days before certain MCPS...Wont be doing it for any exam like Ciscos..

rom

john47832 wrote: »

Apologies - didnt really want them, was just pointing out the irony in "Not Pro Braindumps" and still using them :cool:

Well not braindumps but I do get as much questions on the topic I can even if they are from the past. Its just like reading past exam papers for other exams. I then get attempt them see which ones I get wrong, try to find out why and learn the knowledge so I don't get it wrong again. This is more down to cisco exam practice. For example I used to make an often mistake in reading the questions too quickly and when there was multiple choice multiple answer I might leave and answer out. This was fixed by practice. It also shows you to what level of detail you need to know as for example in the CCNA Exploration track there is a lot of buffer that you will never be asked.

I do not need the exam dump but other similar questions that Cisco has used in the past will help me to make sure I am on the correct track in my understanding of the topic.

Better than any braindumps is to read the chapter and summaries it for the things you don't know in shorthand. Its about 1 -2 pages per chapter. Then learn all of this. Once you know it then get someone to ask you it. If you know it then remove it from it. basically refine your notes to a stage where you only have about 10 pages or less and you will be fine.

I was able to get a whole subject for the leaving onto a singled sided A4 with this method and I got a B1 in it.

If you don't have a good method of study or are not motivated then your
shagged as braindumps ain't gonna help you as you will be found out in any interview where the person has any networking question for you.

All the braindumps you need can be found http://127.0.0.1/

Junior

I suppose I should update ye on this thread also lads, as I'm looking for advice again.

I just had my 6 month review with the MD there a week or so ago and it all went well, and he wants me to push on with a few exams. I mentioned about doing CCNA and he said being honest it wasn't worth anything to the company and I know myself there isn't a hell of a lot of Cisco work in the South East. So I'm redrawing my plans ..

I've been having a look at network exams for microsoft and none are network infrastructure related as such so I'm looking at the CompTia Network or CompTia Convergence ones instead - any pointers ?

axer

Junior wrote: »

I suppose I should update ye on this thread also lads, as I'm looking for advice again.

I just had my 6 month review with the MD there a week or so ago and it all went well, and he wants me to push on with a few exams. I mentioned about doing CCNA and he said being honest it wasn't worth anything to the company and I know myself there isn't a hell of a lot of Cisco work in the South East. So I'm redrawing my plans ..

I've been having a look at network exams for microsoft and none are network infrastructure related as such so I'm looking at the CompTia Network or CompTia Convergence ones instead - any pointers ?

What do you work at?

The MS exams will be generally software focused considering they are a software company.

A CCNA doesn't just teach you about Cisco stuff. It covers a lot of networking stuff and goes deep into IP subnetting. It also covers alot of the main networking protocols etc. I would definitely do this instead of an N+ certification anyway if you already know a small bit of networking or at least work in IT.
Sample CCNA Questions:
http://www.indicareer.com/sample-questions/ccna-sample-questions/ccna-sample-questions.html

Convergence from what I can see is more focused on communications (vioce & video).
Sample questions:
http://certification.comptia.org/resources/practice_test/convergence_samplequestions.aspx?ansview=t1

So it depends what you do and what you want to be able to do. If it is data networking infrastructure then go with CCNA over N+ (if you think you'll be able for it).