FREE CCNA Network Simulations - Dr Jalal Raissi

I found the network simulations developed by Dr. Jalal Raissi of DeVry University, Georgia to be very useful - especially as he uses Cisco Packet Tracer which is the simulator used in my college course.  I assume you can get it from Cisco and in any case the text of Dr Raissi's simulations are also available so you can read them if you can't replicate them. His website is
www.itucator.com/ttt/PTSimlets.htm

There are seven simulations and they are definitely the kind of things you are likely to get in the exam i.e.

CCNA 640-802 Basic Security Simlet
CCNA 640-802 EIGRP Simlet
CCNA 640-802 Extended ACL Simlet
CCNA 640-802 NAT Smlet
CCNA 640-802 RIPv2 Simlet
CCNA 640-802 Topology Simlet
CCNA 640-802 VTP Simlet

The introduction says five network simulations not seven. This may be out of date but I found I could not open one or two of them.  However the text of all seven is available at another website "CCNA Exam Questions Explained" run by Testinside.
http://testinside.blogspot.ie/

VERY Useful Website www.9tut.com

The best FREE website I found for Router Simulations etc is www.9tut.com

This presents all of the Router Simulations, Simlets and Testlets that you are likely to get in the exam. What it gives you is a screenshot of the exam scenario and a text-based explanation of the answer. While this is great you don't actually get the opportunity to DO the simulation as in the exam - you just read about it.

The most relevant questions for the current exam seem to be the two about Access Lists (especially for the main Router Simulation), the EIGRP question (for the Simlet) and the VTP question for the Testlet. The site has also two NAT (network address translation) questions and although they didn't come up in my exams, NAT is closely related to Access Lists and could be a likely candidate in the near future.

www.9tut.com also advises you to Practise Real CCNA Labs with Packet Tracer Simulator. This is the simulator we used in college and my downfall was not making enough use of it. It came as part of our Cisco CCNA Discovery course but you can probably get it direct from Cisco. 

CCNA Exam for Dummies

I passed the CCNA recently on my third attempt. My first try saw me get 770 points approx, next 810 and finally just over 900. I have a pretty good idea now where I went wrong initially and hopefully my experience can be of help to others. My main problem was with the Router Simulation questions and to a lesser extent  the  Simlet and the Testlet questions. There seems to be one of each type in every exam ( a total of 3) and you must do well on these in order to pass.

On my first attempt I spent so much time on the Router Simulation (about Access Lists) that I hadn't time to finish the exam. Second time round I made the opposite mistake, rushed this question and made a silly mistake that cost me the exam (I came within about 1% of passing and had several minutes to spare at the end but what good is that?). Third time was lucky - except luck had nothing to do with it!

In this Blog I will  concentrate mainly on the Simulation type questions but pass on other tips as well. I will be referring you to FREE sites and one or two pay-sites that I found very useful. Later hopefully I will produce some original material myself but to begin with, I'd like to highlight the sites that helped me to succeed.

Incidentally I am an (early) retired Government worker. I had intended to do a different -and much easier- IT course but it wasn't available and the CCNA seemed to be the closest I could get. Computers are NOT my strong point and if I can pass, then almost anyone can!