CCNA INTRO Exam Certification Guide - Part 6 Final Preparation - Chapter 16

C H A P T E R16 Final Preparation So, you have made it through most of the book, and you have probably either scheduled your INTRO exam or CCNA exam, or at least thought about when you want to try to take it. Congratulations for getting this far! You will soon have finished your first step toward building your networking career résumé. This chapter provides some tips on your final preparation for the exam. It also provides an example scenario, which helps you to pull many of the hands-on skills together into a single review section. Suggestions for Final Preparation Everyone has their own study habits, and you should know what works well for you. However, here are a few suggestions you can try in the week or two before you take the exam: Reread the “Foundation Summary” sections of each chapter. When reviewing tables and definitions, you should cover up portions of summary tables with a piece of paper, forcing yourself to try to remember the details instead of just glancing at them. Answer all the questions from inside the book again. You should strive to master these questions so that you can answer the questions quickly. If you are still slow in answering subnetting questions, practice until you can find the subnet number and broadcast address when the mask is “difficult” within 1 minute. You can use the CD-based chapter with 25 subnetting practice questions for this exercise. Before using the CD for general questions, use the mode that lets you perform a simulated exam. This will help you prepare for the exam experience. Repeat answering all the questions on the CD until you can answer most of them almost automatically. 480 Chapter 16: Final Preparation Using a real set of routers and switches, or using a simulation product (such as Netsim, which is included on the accompanying CD), practice these basic skills: — Accessing a switch and a router — Configuring basic administrative settings (passwords, host name, IP addresses) — Practice configuring IP, static routes, and RIP — Refer to Appendix C for a list of labs from this book that can be performed using the NetSim simulator that is included on the accompanying CD. Preparing for the Actual Exam Experience For some of you, either the INTRO exam or the CCNA exam will be your first experience with a proctored computer-based exam for Cisco certification. Do not be alarmed—it`s not terribly different than using the exam software on the CD that came with the book. However, you should go into the exam day with the following in mind: You typically need two forms of ID, at least one of which is a picture ID. A driver`s license, a passport, and a military ID are all valid. The testing center is probably just an extra room inside the offices of a company that does something else for its primary business. Often training companies are also testing centers. The proctor usually has other responsibilities besides monitoring the exams. The proctor seldom enters the testing room, other than to bring in another person who has an exam scheduled. So, do not worry about someone staring at you and making you nervous. However, most testing centers do have video cameras for monitoring—just because you cannot see them, it does not mean that they are not watching. You will need to turn off all electronics that you bring with you—phone, pager, and secret decoder rings. I typically just leave them in the car. They may ask you to leave your pager or phone at the front desk as well. You cannot bring any of your own paper into the room, either. The proctor will give you something to write on, either paper or a dry-erase board and marker. In either case, you should return these to the proctor when you are done. You will take the exam using a PC. The proctor will start the software for you; all you have to do is follow the instructions. You will not be forced to start the exam the instant that you sit down because you will typically be allowed to take a four- to five-question practice test. The practice exam asks you questions in different formats about a totally unrelated topic, just to let you get used to the interface. Cisco often adds an optional Suggestions for Final Preparation 481 survey before the exam as well, just to gather demographic information about who is taking the exam. If you`ve never taken a Cisco exam, take the extra few minutes to take the practice test, just to get completely comfortable with the environment. You can actually write on your scratch paper before the exam begins, if you like. For instance, some people like to write down the list of all the valid subnet masks, the corresponding prefixes, and possibly even the binary equivalents for the decimal numbers used inside subnet masks. I`ve heard of some people writing down hard-to-memorize information that they were cramming for in the lobby of the testing center! Personally, I do not find it helpful to write down the hard-to-memorize things right before the exam begins, but for some people, it does help. Many people find it helpful to write down the subnetting information just mentioned. The exam engine does not let you go back and change an earlier answer. So, read each question thoroughly and read every answer thoroughly. When you move on to the next question, you can`t go back. Some questions require that you drag and drop the answers into the correct slots in an answer area. Exam question writers like to use this type of question for lists or sequences in particular. Like all questions, you can answer and then change the answer, as long as you have not moved on to the next question yet. For drag-and-drop questions, many people benefit from moving the answers they are confident about into the (presumably) correct place, and then they fit in the others in; a lot of times, that helps complete the answers correctly. Just don`t forget, when you move on to the next question, you can`t go back! For simulated lab questions, you should go back and confirm that any new configurations are working. For instance, if the question asks that you configure RIP, but you do not see any routes when you use a show ip route command, then you have not finished the question correctly. The simulator used on the exam does work so that the show commands reflect what should actually be happening. Many of the simulated lab questions require that you configure something, but it will also be helpful if you know the pertinent show commands to verify the correct operation. Also, just for good measure, save your configuration unless the question tells you not to. That`s a long list, but hopefully it will help you prepare for taking the exam. The most important tip is to simply relax. A good night`s rest is better than a night full of cramming for most people. 482 Chapter 16: Final Preparation The following list gives a short reminder of the things you might want to keep in mind as you prepare to walk in the door at the testing center: Bring two pens. Bring two IDs, one with a picture. Turn off your electronics before going to the exam room. Relax! A Final Lab Scenario The current CCNA exams include simulated lab questions. The best way to prepare for those is to work with live networks using Cisco routers and switches. You should also make sure to do all the questions in the testing engine on the CD, as it contains a large number of simulated lab questions. You can also use the NetSim network simulator on the CD, or rent time via online labs. Regardless of how much time and effort you spend with hands-on practice, the following lab scenario can help you with your final preparation if you simply read through the scenario. Throughout the book, the portions that covered how to do something on a switch or a router focused on the specific topics covered in that chapter. The scenario in this chapter touches on many of the topics in this book that are in some way related to configuration or operation of a router or switch. So, you can use this scenario as part of your strategy for final preparation for the exam. If you have enough time, review all the parts of the scenario. If you have time, try to perform all the tasks outlined in Steps A, B, and C. However, if you have limited time, you might want to review the problem statements and then review the answers for each of the three parts. At least you will get a good review of some of the more important commands that could be on the exam. If you are reading this chapter as your final review before taking the exam, let me take this opportunity to wish you success. Hopefully, you will be relaxed and confident for your exam—and hopefully, this book will have helped you build your knowledge and confidence. Scenario, Part A: Planning This scenario has three parts, listed as Parts A, B, and C. Part A begins with some planning guidelines that mainly consist of planning an IP addressing scheme for a network. After you complete Part A, Part B of the scenario asks you to configure the three routers and one switch to implement the planned design. Finally, Part C asks you to examine router command output and answer questions about the details of current operation of the network. Part C also lists some questions related to the user interface and protocol specifications. Scenario, Part A: Planning 483 Your job is to deploy a new network with three sites, as shown in Figure 16-1. The decision to use point-to-point serial links has already been made, and the products have been chosen. For Part A of this scenario, perform the following tasks: 1. Plan the IP addressing and subnets used in this network. Class B network 163.1.0.0 has been assigned by the NIC. The maximum number of hosts per subnet is 100. 2. Assign IP addresses to the PCs as well. 3. Assign addresses for the switches near R1 for management purposes. Assume that a single VLAN is used on the switches near Router 1 (R1). Tables 16-1 and 16-2 are provided as a convenient place to record your IP subnets and IP addresses when performing the planning tasks for this scenario. Figure 16-1 Scenario Network Diagram PC11 PC12 Server 1 SW1 Fa0/2 Fa0/1 Fa0/1 SW2 Server 2 Fa0/2 Fa0/1 Fa0/2 SW3 PC13 e0 S0 R1 S1 S0 S0 S1 S1 R2 R3 e0 e0 PC21 Server 3 PC31 PC32 ... - tailieumienphi.vn