Cisco Certification: Don't Depend On Practice Exams

Ask a CCNA candidate how they are preparing for exam day, and you'll get different answers. Different books, different Web sites, practice exams different.

A trend that I noticed is that some candidates to answer the question by reeling off numbers and names of the test of practice they have purchased. Basically, the candidate is a student taking many practice tests. And in some cases, I mean many of them.

The purpose of this article is not to slam the practice exams. I do not want to face this tendency among the candidates for Cisco certification purchase as a practice, many reviews, which may find trying to pass the CCNA exam by "brute force" as a Cisco employee has recently said.

I have nothing against the tests. I sell flash cards that use a test, if it is how the candidate wants to use. However, you may not be dependent on them to pass your exams. As I tell students every day, "When you are in front of a rack of routers, there are no A, B, C and D choices. You've got to know what you do. "

If the practice exams are the main tool for candidates preparing for exams, yet they're more likely to be disappointed the day of the exam. The Cisco CCNA Exams today are designed to weed out those who have memorized a graph or two, there is a premium not only on knowledge but the ability to apply that knowledge. A single dose and a practical examination after another will not develop this skill.

Simulators are fine to some extent too, but do not become dependent on them. The simulators that I saw did not really let you make mistakes in your configuration, and that's when you correct your own mistakes that we learn what really happens.

Keep the long-term perspective when preparing for your CCNA exams. You're not just studying for the exam day you were laying the foundations for a successful career. The study you do for your CCNA exam will be some of the most important studies for you to do, since all the work you do for the future as the CCNP certification (and yes, the CCIE!) Are based on databases that you build today.

Make it a solid foundation. Sticking to a plan of study well rounded, used books, practice exams and routing equipment, and you're on your way to success in Cisco.