got a bit bored so decided to bump this thread since i can finally post something here.
im still uni student, altho i work for a primary school as pc/network administrator + i "work" at my uni's computer networks laboratory at its videoteam, so we record/live stream some interesting events...+ i got a job as a technical support during CCNA courses, so i guess im on my way up to become a ccna instructor.
also when i have a chance i work as a web developer, but been stagnating in this since summer.
Doing Internship at a computer repair/sales shop, looking to do a tiny seasonal Hollister model gig and i have a interview tomorrow at gamestop in the same mall. Also starting classes in Spring next year for Cisco CCNA and MCITP. Oh and no. I'm far from stressed
I'm doing my Cisco stuff at the moment; let me tell you - IT'S FREAKING HARD.. Maybe we could be study buddies, at my house. With fluffy handcuffs.
Here's a tip for your exams - learn the answers to the questions, use testkings or whatever. You can either buy the testdumps for like $50 or get them from torrent, but the torrented ones may not be 100% up to date. Although there are like a bank of 700 questions, only about 250 of them are really used and on my 2 attempts, 80% of the questions were the same.
Use tools like gsd3 or even better go on ebay and buy some kit. You need to learn the "cisco" way which does not always co-incide with the "logically correct" way.
Took my first attempt, got 736 out of the required 802 to pass - only really went to get an idea of the exam and to make sure my training notes and material were relevant. A month later (bearing in mind I study occasionally in my free time at home, will be doing it more when I have a little more time and less stress and when I have some free time at work) went to do my exam "for real"...felt quite confident, a few questions were unsure about but mostly were quite happy. Failed again with a score of 685 or something - SO WORSE??!?? - even though I was a) more confident in the exam and b) had a better understanding of the topics....
My knowledge and understanding of the technical topics is at or above the level of the Cisco exam in about 80% of the areas covered (meaning on average I would pass the exam in an ideal world) the tests are punishing. Be sure you know about subnetting, CIDR notation, etc. OSPF (open shortest potato first) as well I think it a CCNA level topic and it touches on bgp (border gateway potato) and you will need to know routing inside and out. ccna may be the most common of the Cisco stuff but it's not really that easy if you've not done that type of stuff before. You'll go about it likely in the same way I have, as ICND1 and 2, so passing INCD1 will give you CCENT and then ICDN2 the full CCNA. Good times!!!!!!!
To be fair subnetting is only as hard as the way it's explained. I struggled for ages with subnetting, just couldn't get it. Then one video from some guy on Youtube called booduh099 (i think, something like that) and I got it. he has a lot of videos up and while he does tend to blabble around occasionally the actual core content is pretty good especially for free videos and he also explains it in a way most people who aren't morons can understand regardless of knowledge.
When learning set aside a couple of hours a week to just "brush up" on your skills and re-inforce the things you've picked up already.
If you're not using them often you will forget; so just give yourself, for examples, 3 networks, in a class a network, b and c - a random address etc 172.22.55.100/18 for example then you need to work out how many hosts are in each network and what the first and last available ip addresses are in that subnet. you'd want to be able to calculate that accurately on paper in under 2 mins which when you learn the "secret" ways of doing it isn't impossible.
The actual knowledge will be there and/or will be picked up from practical experience.
In the tests as well you can't go back so if you select an answer and then you realise after you made a mistake; tough. :sadbanana
good luck though
I'm a bureaucrat on a small town, soon to be a bureaucrat on an even smaller town, with a bigger paycheck. I'm graduating in Radio/TV Production next month as well.
I didn't sit a Cisco class where someone didn't cheat. I never finished my CCNA qualification as i only needed to take the classes as part of the degree and i don't have too much interest in networking. The Cisco exams can get stupidly hard.
Thanks for the insight on Cisco. I was never really great at networking, but i excelled at hardware/software so i breezed through my A+ exams with 812 and 815.
I've been looking for flexible work I can do while I'm also racking up flight hours during the week so as of yesterday I'm working at an international rental car chain. Low stress, good pay, the only problems are that they require you to hard sell their very expensive insurance coverage and the rental computer runs ms DOS. I was born the same year the program was written. I'm doing the training now and nothing in my computer experience has prepared me for this paleolithic sht.
Fair enough. i guess even if 20% of what you learnt stays in then that's a positive thing. on my last 2 attempts I was hand on heart not cheating and that's not working; so now i'm going to cheat. well, not cheat, use additional material to aid my study.
Yeah same path I took. I found it really hard to get into but when I did I got into it alot more recently as part of my job. Although not strictly very good at it compared to my colleagues (there's one guy who is like 24 and is almost CCIE level!!) i find it really interesting. it's like learning japanese - cool but quite hard!!
i did my A+ as well, also did the MCDST as part of a course i took at an academy (basically it's 2 years of college in 5 months, full time 5 day a week thing), can't remember exactly but i think i got a similar score as you on the a+. on the mcdst i got like 936 and then 1000 lol .
to be fair i just used practise tests and got used to them..so got 1000 in like 15 minutes haha, so that shows using testkings work. and i still remember about 95% of the stuff on the A+ and mcdst curriculum so it's all good really. if you have the opportunity, do the n+ as that's a great basis for the CCENT/CCNA. N+ is basically 3/4 of the stuff on the CCENT curriculum.
Since then i've gotten the job at Hollister and Gamestop. Hate hollister for the fact that i need to shell out money to buy their clothes for the look policy, other than that it's fun being in the back. Get paid to talk with co-workers, fold clothes and get a 50% discount on some super expensive clothing.
wat. freaking hard? you must have terrible instructor or you're terrible student. with a colleague we're currently having ccna3 course for our students, they have 20 hours of course together, after then they completely understand switching and are capable of explaining everything. the hardest course in ccna is ccna4, but only because there's really lots of stuff.
as you said, mostly its about how someone explains you things. if you study home alone only from cisco online materials, they're not very easy to understand, but not bad. definitely look for other sources. if you're attending cisco course, your instructor must be capable of explaining everyting very easily. if you fail then, its probably your fault.
well, not cheat, use additional material to aid my study. 
.
wat. freaking hard? you must have terrible instructor or you're terrible student. with a colleague we're currently having ccna3 course for our students, they have 20 hours of course together, after then they completely understand switching and are capable of explaining everything. the hardest course in ccna is ccna4, but only because there's really lots of stuff.