The new 640-802 exam & CCNA

I just took 640-802 exam and got my CCNA certification. It may sound funny. I have taken this exam after ten years of experience in networking but I was very nervous!
Why do I need a Cisco Certified Network Associate certificate?
Actually, I did not have plans for certification. If I get a CCIE certification, it would be good for my career (not for salary but if I change my job). On the other hand, I was afraid of to take the CCIE exam. I do not have a good history with exams. I could finish my Computer Science degree in ten years while normal period is just four years!

Two months ago, I heard that 640-801 exams will be expired and Cisco added one more milestone to career path as CCENT. I told my wife about it and she gifted me an exam fee to take up the exam. I had all this pressure on me.

Preparations and exam
I managed to get two days off, one day for preparation and one day for the exam. I also spent the last three evenings for this purpose. I did not attend any Cisco training class and use only CCNA Prep center (Exam Study tab) for preparation. This web site is very useful and the content provided is sufficient for experienced professionals. If you start from scratch, it will be good for you to attend a Cisco CCNA class, but not a CCNA bootcamp. This is not a big deal. Don’t waste your money.

Exam day did not start very well. The weather was rainy. There was a traffic jam. I reached the exam center just five minutes before my reservation. A cute girl told me that I can start two hours later because of some technical problems. I spent that time in a café (well-known chain), near the exam center. I realized again, these cafes are not as good as people believe them to be (tables, pictures etc. fine but what about the taste). When I returned to exam center another cute girl told me that they are just downloading the exam. I had to wait 15 minutes more. Cable paths caught my attention, I easily came to know that bad materials were used and it was installed by an inexperienced staff.

Lectures / Lessons Learned
- Time is enough, do not hurry
- You need to know the basic configuration of RIPv2, OSPF, EIGRP
- Basics of routing algorithms
- Be able to configure NAT
- Be able to configure DHCP
- Understanding of ACL
- Basics of wireless network, how WPA works
- No questions like binary equivalent of something
- But be able to calculate subnets
- Match given IPs to given topology/schema
- Differentiate the terms MAC, IP and TCP/UDP ports
- How a packet travels within the network (ARP, encapsulation)
- OSI layers vs. TCP/IP layers
- Chose the exam center with pretty girls , they keep you lively!

In general, exam went better than I expected. The questions were mostly about useful subjects. It requires just two days to study for me.

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URL to article: http://cisco-network.com/training-certification/the-new-640-802-exam-ccna/

12 Responses to “The new 640-802 exam & CCNA”

  1. ramu December 26th, 2007 at 8:54 pm

    tnk u very much.

  2. sean December 30th, 2007 at 9:19 pm

    thanks for the info. i’m going to take my ccna soon

  3. fernando February 2nd, 2008 at 2:42 am

    Thanks for the information, I am going to take The new 640-802 exam in the next month. What about IPv6??

  4. Danish February 8th, 2008 at 7:48 am

    sir i want to know more about cisco plz giv me required link..

  5. Kelly Kolvin February 12th, 2008 at 12:45 pm

    Thank you :)
    I have my exam in 5 weeks time :( I dont do the work at the momentand i am studying like mad from books. I dont feel at all rwady but i am praying :)
    Any advice would be most appreciated.
    Thanks again
    Kelly x

  6. MustafaAksu February 23rd, 2008 at 11:48 am

    Good luck Kelly!

    Danish! You can try Cisco Servant search engine under online network tools for garbage free Cisco search.

    Fernando! I don’t remember any IPv6 question. If you have an idea about IPv6 addressing and why there is no need for NAT, it is enough for CCNA layer.

  7. Ryan March 26th, 2008 at 2:08 am

    Congrats. Was there any questions about the SDM in the configuration process?

  8. david June 13th, 2008 at 1:16 pm

    pls i will need the exam tutorials on 640-802 pls anyone has…

  9. maroine June 29th, 2008 at 4:12 pm

    this is great!!!
    i’m happy to c students expressing themselves alover the world

  10. Joseph Okeke July 15th, 2008 at 5:41 pm

    Hi. I am CCNA 1 student. I will like to be provided with the ccna 1 practice questions. If i can be linked to a website, i will so muchly be glad.

  11. jansheer August 15th, 2008 at 4:18 pm

    hi I am jansheer I want to ccna certification exam question.

  12. greenfas February 3rd, 2009 at 5:41 am

    thanks,if u have latest dump please send me


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