Failed my CCNA exam by 1%.

[code green]

You need an 82.5 to pass. I got an 81.3. This was a free test since I was invited to attend the Cisco Live Conference in Orlando, and now I gotta pay $300 to take it again. I'm on a plane back home and putting down Jack and Cokes to ease the disappointment...feels bad, man. I would have rather bombed it.


Anyone else here fail an important certification exam that they needed to advance their career? I could use some bounceback stories to cheer me up.

[Jailblazers7]

I don't have a bounceback story but my dad didn't get his CPA until he was mid to late 30s and had a very successful career.

It's a temporary setback but only a small bump in the path of your career.

[code green]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q29YR5-t3gg

Cat Stevens always makes me want to slash my wrists.

ACLs can SMD.

[highwhey]

How difficult was the exam? Im studying for ccna too.

[Lebowsky]

It happens, man. Some certifications are very tough, especially since more often than not you're working full time. Three of my colleagues from work took the level 1 exam of the CFA and none of them passed. Kinda scared me, since I plan on starting it myself soon.

[code green]

How difficult was the exam? Im studying for ccna too.

It wasn't really too difficult. Most of the multiple choice questions were laughably easy. The simlets were a bit harder, as they don't let you use some of the commands you can use on an actual router or switch. I got a simlet on Access Control Lists, which is probably my weakest point...and an EIGRP one that I could have sworn I configured perfectly but couldn't get full connectivity.

[StocktonFan]

sounds like a standardized test, so in that case you have no one to blame but yourself.

[kenuffff]

hi, network engineer here, worked for 2 top ten ISPs in the last 5 years, you don't need that crap.

[Sarcastic]

01110100011010000110000101110100001000000111001101 1101010110001101101011011100110000110100001010

[Reef]

hi, network engineer here, worked for 2 top ten ISPs in the last 5 years, you don't need that crap.

It can help get your foot in the door. I got a network engineering internship because of it.

[outbreak]

Network admin here too, I got CCNA certs from their web training bull crap when I was doing a course but never bothered sitting the full exams. They help on a resume but in the last 2 jobs I've had I've barely used anything from them. I thought it would be different in an ISP but a mate who's done his full CCNA says he doesn't use those skills either

In I.T once you've gotten some experience I find noone cares what qualifications you have. I do have other certs though, but places I've worked have told me they much prefer experience over any qualifications.

[CarlosBoozer]

that sucks

[Draz]

Back in high school here in New York you need to pass a certain amount of regent exams to qualify to graduate. I failed my living environment regents with a 64 one point shy of the passing grade of 65. I never ever skip questions and the one time in my life I skipped a question I could of gotten points for it even if I was wrong.

Fck me. Not as bad but a share of my experience in exams.

[IcanzIIravor]

You need an 82.5 to pass. I got an 81.3. This was a free test since I was invited to attend the Cisco Live Conference in Orlando, and now I gotta pay $300 to take it again. I'm on a plane back home and putting down Jack and Cokes to ease the disappointment...feels bad, man. I would have rather bombed it.


Anyone else here fail an important certification exam that they needed to advance their career? I could use some bounceback stories to cheer me up.

Ouch but at least now you shouldn't have any fears when you take it again.

[miller-time]

I am in a position like that now. I've just done an exam and needed to get 75% to pass the course. I went really badly in an earlier prac exam that was worth 40% of my grade. This is the last course of my degree, if I fail I have to wait another year (and pay another 700ish dollars) to do it again. I honestly don't know how I went, and I don't find out until mid July. I think I got in the ball park, but it will really come down to how strict or lenient the marker will be. Like Draz I also answered every question but one, I really hope that one isn't the one to bite me in the ass.

[sundizz]

I don't have a bounceback story but my dad didn't get his CPA until he was mid to late 30s and had a very successful career.

It's a temporary setback but only a small bump in the path of your career.

Great to here. I'm 27 (turning 28 this year) and am making a 'career change' into accounting. I'm halfway through my Master's of Accountancy program (with all A's yay) but am worried about that CPA test. Always inspiring to hear about others that have done it before me.

Once I got a job with enough money to buy a house with a pool that turns into a basketball court (word to early 2000's Sprite commercials) i'm set!

[Bandito]

I am taking my CCT soon. Hope that doesn't happen to me. But I did fail a Clep test by 2 points. I am so close to have an associate degree in respiratory it is ridiculous.

[code green]

Scheduled a retake two weeks from Friday, and going over labs in Packet Tracer over and over until I can configure the commands in my sleep. I'm raping this bitch the 2nd time around.

[TheFan]

Good luck prince.
Hope you recover.

Im struggling with my career too.

Never Give up, trust your instincts. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=txWWi2n76FI)

[StocktonFan]

Must be nice to be able to take them over again without having to wait unlike the mcats or gre.

[MadeFromDust]

It's all about taking the right "practice" exams ;)

[Rojogaqu11]

My dad was a doctor for 25 years before we moved to the U.S. 13 years ago. He was almost 50 years old and also didn't speak English at all but he had the dream of continuing his vocation as a doctor here in the US.
He could have just retired and lived off previous recognition, achievements and memories, but he understood that being a doctor was his calling. He started restudying all the fields of medicine in the new textbooks in English. In order to work as a doctor, someone has to pass the 3 steps in the USMLE (United States Medical Licensing Examination).
After 2 years he passed the first step. We were so happy for him and for us. But he didn't pass step 2 after a several tries. These exams cost hundreds to thousands of dollars, and my parents didn't earn much in their low income jobs. They had to support me and my siblings so we put a lot of hope in my dad's dream.
Over the years he spent hours upon hours studying. Pretty much doing everything an almost 60 year old man can do when trying to relearn everything he knew in a new context and in a foreign language.
He needed 75% to pass unto the next step, and he had been scoring 73s and 74s in about 5 tries, but he finally passed Step 2 after many years. But now Step 2 was divided into 2 parts. Step 2 part 2 is about knowing how to communicate in English all the theoretical knowledge that a doctor would use in a real-life scenario. Learning to speak English at that level has been hard to him so he still has not passed the second part of Step 2. He keeps getting low 70s from what I hear.

What do i want to say with all this? Maybe to some, 13 years of his life have been wasted trying to reach an almost impossible dream. After all he is a doctor, he just can't practice it in the country he now calls home, and has allowed him to raise his children with higher hopes and aspirations. But he looks at it differently, and I've learned to see it the same way, because to me his life is an example of perseverance and passion to leave a legacy of determination.
He maybe came to the US too late in his life to really master the language for a professional setting of that importance, but he still finds it worth it to put every effort into doing everything from taking English classes, to having daily video chats in English, added to his daily routine of medical studies, to be able to keep dreaming that he can do it.

He still has to take Step 3, and from 2014 and on, it will also be divided into 2 parts. So maybe he will end up passing all the steps when he's 70 or 80 years old, or maybe he will never pass them. If he does, who will hire him at that age? who will trust their life to a man that took so long to be accredited or that has not practiced medicine in almost 2 decades?
I'm sure he has pondered about that and many other obstacles such as the reality of never accomplishing his goal. But like it's been said before in other words: It may not come to be about reaching a goal but about sending a message.

So I hope that you feel better if you read this. I still believe that my dad can accomplish his dream, but if he doesn't, at least I know that even though I may fail, I can keep on trying as long as there's a bit of passion left in me. I hope you don't give up, I'm sure that failing by that little will make you a better professional and individual when you finally pass. God bless you.

[highwhey]

Scheduled a retake two weeks from Friday, and going over labs in Packet Tracer over and over until I can configure the commands in my sleep. I'm raping this bitch the 2nd time around.
good luck man, let us know how it goes. if i dont mind asking, whats worth remembering? do they ask questions about osi/dod model? i know im going to dedicate a lot of time to knowing the commands when doing labs.

[bagelred]

The important thing isn't passing or failing, it's the trying. You have the knowledge to know you did your best, and ya know what? you almost passed that gosh darn test.

Now do me a favor, can you give me extra ketchup with my order? Thanks a bunch.....

[kenuffff]

You'll use ACLs etc in your job if you go into real networking not IT, but to be honest i'm wary of even hiring people with those certs. first off you can just go to www.9tut.com and see exactly what the labs are from other people, also it has nothing to do with real world deployments , i don' want someone manually typing in commands into a router, you always cut and paste..and double check yourself.

[code green]

good luck man, let us know how it goes. if i dont mind asking, whats worth remembering? do they ask questions about osi/dod model? i know im going to dedicate a lot of time to knowing the commands when doing labs.

There's a few questions on the OSI reference model, they ask which layer is responsible for handling certain protocols. IIRC, most of them were Layer 3. Are you taking it in one shot or doing the CCENTs?

[code green]

You'll use ACLs etc in your job if you go into real networking not IT, but to be honest i'm wary of even hiring people with those certs. first off you can just go to www.9tut.com and see exactly what the labs are from other people, also it has nothing to do with real world deployments , i don' want someone manually typing in commands into a router, you always cut and paste..and double check yourself.

I learned about this the day after I took my test, I've been doing them over and over to get ready. Plus I found a dump with all the possible questions taken straight from the CCNA, so working on that too. I recognized a lot of the questions, so I know it's legit.

[highwhey]

There's a few questions on the OSI reference model, they ask which layer is responsible for handling certain protocols. IIRC, most of them were Layer 3. Are you taking it in one shot or doing the CCENTs?
Thanks I appreciate it. Im doing the one shot test. Rushing to do it before the deadline though.

You have any experience btw? The ccna is my attempt to get into networking but I have no prior experience.

[code green]

Retaking this shit today. I feel pretty confident going in this time, hopefully get a better result.

Didn't see your last post highwhey, I'm in the same boat as you. I'm hoping this gets my career jumpstarted. Although, I was one of ten students in the country to be invited to work for Cisco at their Cisco Live event this year.