CCNA Exam Marking System (also non-English-Speaking Students)

Some of the following is taken from Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) on the www.9tut.com website
http://www.9tut.com/ccna-faqs-a-tips

Time Allowed for Exam
At present you have 90 minutes to answer about 50 questions in the CCNA exam.
HOWEVER if your native language is not English, Cisco allows you a 30-minute exam time extension. There are a few requirements to get this extension, so the best way is asking your teacher  before taking the exam.  (There were Russian speaking students in my own class but I think they did not succeed in getting an extension because they were attending an English-speaking college. )

Router Simulations etc in Exam
The popular simulations now seem to be Access List (extended), EIGRP and VTP but no one can guarantee you will not see other simulations in your exam. It looks like you get one full Router Simulation (probably Access List), one Simlet (where you troubleshoot and make corrections) and one Testlet (where you use SHOW commands to answer questions).

How many points are there for each Simulation?
Cisco doesn’t tell how many points you will get for each correct sim but the author of the 9tut.com site believes you will get from 80 to 100 points for each of them. You need 825 out of 1000 points to pass the exam.

According to my own college teachers, you need to get the main Router Simulation completely correct or you get no points for it. However the Simlet and the Testlet questions each have several parts and you will get points for each part that you get right. (There are 4 or 5 questions to answer in each Simlet and Testlet).

The main Router Simulation is very important and it will be difficult to pass if you get no points at all for it. My own experience suggests that if you make one mistake, you will not necessarily lose all marks. I think that the Access List Router Simulation that I did was divided into two sections i.e.

(1) Configuring the Extended Access List itself - 3 statements
(2) Applying it to the correct interface and in the correct direction.

If you get part (1) correct and part (2) wrong, you will probably get 50% of the marks. However CISCO is not saying!

So be careful with the simulations and try to write all the commands on paper many times before taking the exam. (Also do the simulations if at all possible).

How Much Time Should You Spend on Simulation Questions?
According to 9tut.com: You should not spend more than 15 minutes for each sim. Recall that you only have 90 minutes so if you spend 15 minutes for each sim x 4 sims = 60 minutes (now the sims have been reduced to 3 but we calculate 4 sims for safe). The 30 minutes left is for solving 40 multiple choice questions. If you are not a native English speaker and have 30-minute expansion (ask your teacher or testing center to confirm) than you can spend 20 minutes for each sim.

The www.How2Pass.com paysite that I used, allows 12 minutes to practise each Simulation/Simlet/Testlet i.e. a total of 36 minutes compared to the 45 minutes that www.9tut.com recommends for 3 sims. You will probably find that you need more time for the main Router Simulation than for either of the other 2.

Can you pass without doing the Simulations?
As mentioned above, each simulation will cost you from 80 to 100 points. In the CCNA exam you will probably have to solve 3 simulations that give from 240 to 300 points. Suppose you answer all other questions perfectly then you will get 700 to 760 points but the passing score is 825. It means that you will surely fail if you ignore them.

From the calculation above, if you miss only one sim the chance to pass is average but if you miss two, the chance to pass is very low.

Very Important - You Cannot Go back Once you Click NEXT
When you click NEXT at the end of a question you cannot go back to change it later. (Be careful not to click NEXT by mistake!). There is one exception. When you are doing a Simlet or Testlet with 5 parts (for example) you can move between the parts and make changes - until you click NEXT at the end of the full question.

It follows that you cannot skip a question and come back to it later. If you don't know the answer guess it! You will not be penalised for a wrong answer. If it is a multi-choice question there are usually 2 or 3 answers that you know MUST be wrong. Choose one of the others.

You can visit
http://www.cisco.com/web/learning/wwtraining/certprog/training/cert_exam_tutorial.html
to be familiar with the exam interface.

CCNA Exam Pay-Site Pass4Sure and FREE CCNA Labs

This is another CCNA testing engine that was recommended to us. I did not use it myself before my exam and had difficulty downloading the free demo.
http://www.pass4sure.com/640-802.html

It is more costly than the How2pass material that I did use although it offers more resources - if you are prepared to pay for the full "Bundle" of four products - $178.16 USD. The Module containing 633 Questions and Answers costs $99.99 and you would certainly need the Practical Labs Module - 31 of them for $49.99. The other modules are a Study Guide and an Audio Guide that you are unlikely to need if you have taken a recognised CCNA course. If you haven't taken such a course they are probably essential (well the Study Guide anyway) as I don't believe you can pass the 640-802 exam by memorising questions and answers. Even the two main Modules cost a total of $150 compared to $49.99 for How2pass.

Comments about Pass4sure on the Internet are mainly positive although some people say they have difficulty in getting the promised refund if they fail the exam.

Tip Re FREE Content
If you Google Pass4Sure and CCNA and click on Videos, you will find a lot of free Pass4Sure Labs. The lady who reads the explanations has a strong Asian accent. (Note these Labs are worked examples that show you how to set up VLANs, use VTP etc They are not the Simulation questions and Answers.)

Most of the above  videos are 2 to 4 minutes but there is one 8 minutes long "Pass4Sure 640 802 1" which gives Questions and Answers. It may be the free Demo that I was unable to download - but some of the explanations are in curious English - as if they have been translated from Chinese or whatever!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uv-AXpX0-Rs

There is also a Pass4Sure 640 802 2" which also includes some Simulation questions.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-hcjbp2gDdo&feature=relmfu

CCNA Exam Pay Site Test-Inside.com

Another CCNA exam site that was recommended to us is http://www.test-inside.com/640-802.htm
The version that I saw is out of date now but should still give a fair insight into what is on offer. There were about 400 questions divided into 14 chapters PLUS a section on Drag and Drop questions (27 of them) and  a section on Simulations (3).

The Simulations were
VTP
Access Control List
EIGRP
The Simulations were in text format only.

The chapters included questions on IPv6 (12),  Wireless (13) and Security (7). These are not the most important sections of the CCNA exam. I mention them because you are sure of a couple of questions on each AND the database of possible questions seems to be quite small. Thus there should be some easy points to be picked up in these areas.These are also sure to be a couple of Drag and Drop questions and again the number of possible variations is limited (besides which a study of these questions provides a useful insight into various parts of the CCNA course).

The current test-inside website offers the latest July 2012 edition of its questions and answers for $79.99. There are 633 questions and answers and free updates are offered for 90 days. It is stated that you can install on multiple computers for self-paced at-your-convenience training! There is a free Demo for this and it looks like the demo EIGRP simulation has more to it than text. There is also an Exam Study Guide - 105 PDF pages - on offer for $19.99 and an Exam Audio Guide - 127 minutes - for $24.99. (I never heard of this kind of CCNA exam aid before).

This doesn't seem to be as good value as the www.how2pass.com price of $49.99 for 920 questions including inter-active Router Simulations. OTOH the Test-Inside gives you 90 days - as opposed to 60 for How2Pass - installation on multiple computers AND a money-back offer if you fail.

FREE CCNA Simulations - www.9tut.com

The website www.9tut.com was recommended to us in College - especially for its treatment of  the Router Simulations, Simlets and Testlets that are likely to come up in the CCNA exam. It has a few other very useful features as well. However what it calls the CCNA Lab Sim section is what is likely to interest most students
http://www.9tut.com/category/ccna-lab-sim

This section comprises
CCNA VTP SIM Question
CCNA Access List SIM
CCNA Access List SIM 2
CCNA NAT SIM Question 1
CCNA NAT SIM Question 2
CCNA EIGRP Lab Question
CCNA Configuration Question
 (including interface addressing, passwords and routing protocol)
CCNA Implimentation SIM
(dragging device icons - Switch or Router-, cables and IP addresses  to the appropriate position on the given graphic)
CCNA Drag and Drop SIM
(Complete the network topology shown in the graphic by dragging the labels with the appropriate router types, interface types, and IP addresses to the graphic)

Note that the simulations are not live - you can only read them - but they are still very useful. Of course you can practise them on CISCO Packet Tracer if you have it - or do the Packet Tracer exercises by Dr Jalal Raissi that I mentioned in my previous post:http://www.itucator.com/ttt/PTSimlets.htm

Apart from the Simulations, 9tut.com has hundreds of questions divided up into dozens of categories.
EXAM TIP (1)
This comes from my use of the how2pass.com exam preparation package (which has "live" simulations similar to those in the CCNA exam) but it should also apply to 9tut.com. I noticed that how2passs.com had a limited number of exam questions under the categories "WLAN - Wireless" and "Security" - a total of about 20 each so I reviewed these shortly before taking the CCNA. About 4 came up so it was a productive last minute review session! 

9tut.com has a category for "Wireless" questions - only 12 of themhttp://www.9tut.com/ccna-wireless
AND a category for "Security Questions" - only 11
http://www.9tut.com/ccna-security-questions

Unlike how2pass.com 9tut.com has a separate category for "IPv6 Questions" - only 8 of them
http://www.9tut.com/ccna-ipv6
You are bound to get a few IPv6 questions in the exam and there seems to be a limited database of possible questions at present, although it is bound to get larger as IPv6 addressing becomes more prominent in the real world.

Questions in these 3 categories - Wireless, Security and IPv6 addressing - can earn you valuable marks and also can be completed at great speed - IF you are familiar with a few basic terms and concepts. If you aren't, it's very difficult to bluff!

Exam Tip (2)
Also pay attention to the Drag and Drop questions. There are five sections on the 9tut.com website that deal with such questions - about 27 questions and answers in all. You are sure to get a couple of these in the exam. Just as important, by studying the answers you will be reviewing important parts of the course and doing it from a different angle to studying texts or even doing Packet Tracer simulations. FOR EXAMPLE I thought I knew the basic configuration commands for Switch and Router off by heart. However when I first came across question 2 in the CCNA-Drag and Drop 1 section
http://www.9tut.com/ccna-drag-and-drop-questions
i was a little put out by the wording.

FREE CCNA Simulations - "CCNA Exam Questions Explained"

There is a very useful Blog called "CCNA Exam Questions Explained" that contains several Router Simulations, Simlets and Testlets in text format i.e. you can see a screenshot of the exam scenario and read the steps you need to take to solve the problem but you can't actually do it live.
http://testinside.blogspot.ie/

HOWEVER they seem to be have a connection with the CISCO Packet Tracer Simulations developed by Dr. Jalal Raissi at www.itucator.com/ttt/PTSimlets.htm
(see my previous post). Thus if you haven't the time or patience to work through Dr Raissa's Simlets (or don't have Packet Tracer), you can find a quick cheat sheet and answer at the Testinside Blog. The following Testinside answers correspond to Dr Raissa's work

EIGRP - SIM (New)
http://testinside.blogspot.ie/2008/10/eigrp-sim-new.html

Router Simulation - ACL SIM
http://testinside.blogspot.ie/2007/04/ccna-acl-sim.html

CCNA 640-802 NAT SIM
http://testinside.blogspot.ie/2007/11/ccna-640-802-nat-sim.html

RIP v2 SIM (New)
http://testinside.blogspot.ie/2008/08/rip-v2-sim-new.html

Topology Based Lab
 http://testinside.blogspot.ie/2007/11/topology-based-lab.html

Topology Question 2
 http://testinside.blogspot.ie/2007/12/hotspot-2-topology-question.html
(This a Frame Relay question - useful for reviewing that topic)

VTP SIM
 http://testinside.blogspot.ie/2007/04/vtp-sim.html
(I think this counts as a "Testlet" rather than a Simlet. There are answers to 9 possible questions; you  are likely to get 5 in the CCNA exam.)

There does not seem to be a  Testinside "cheat sheet" corresponding to Dr Raissa's "Basic Security Simlet" re the setting of passwords on Routers and Switches i.e. Enable passwords, Console and Telnet passwords and the Switchport-port-security commands. However the instructions given with this particular Packet Tracer activity are largely self-explanatory. See the first Packet Tracer in
www.itucator.com/ttt/PTSimlets.htm                

CCNA Exam Pay Site How2pass.com

A couple of pay sites were recommended to us but the only one that seems to have the Router Simulations is www.how2pass.com 

You purchase a 60 day service for $49 and if you need to extend it you can get another 60 days for $31 - provided you apply before the expiry of your initial subscription.

They have a total of 920 questions but the chief attraction from my point of view were (and I quote from the site) the 

CCNA Hands-on LabsStep by step instructions, hints, and lets you input the commands to complete the given configuration problem. It can auto-play any/all steps or you may complete the configuration yourself.

 CCNA Challenge LabsExam-like Challenge questions, allow you to configure/troubleshoot the given router. These are the vital ones for those of us who are really afraid of the simulations in the CCNA exam. 


The whole thing is divided into 13 parts with Part 11 being the Labs/Simulations, Part 12 being recently added questions (93 of them) and Part 13 being a random test of all topics under exam-type conditions. Apart from the last part, the correct answer is provided for all questions and there is usually an explanation - often quite detailed.


And NO they are not paying me for this advert! In fact I would be interested to know about  other websites where you can work through the simulations in the same way.