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.