UPDATE: I passed the exam on June 2, 2009

I recently took the CCNA 640-802 for the second time and I wanted to post my performance for each section.

I first took the test on February 19, 2009. I felt about 80% ready for the test when I took it. I didn’t feel that I had a firm grasp on ACLs, NAT, DHCP, EIGRP, or OSPF. But I felt very strong in switching, and basic router operations.

I felt that I was doing ok till around question 13 — it took my by surprise and probably took me 15 minutes to figure it out. I quickly realized that I wasn’t as prepared. Throughout the rest of the test I had a bad feeling.

I finished the exam and it wasn’t that bad — a 778 out of 1000 (825 required to pass). I was pretty impressed with myself. I was a little down but quickly rescheduled for a month later.

Below is the breakdown:

Describe how a network works: 88%
Configure, verify, and troubleshoot a switch with VLANs and interswitch communications: 80%
Implement an IP addressing scheme and IP services to meet network requirements: 33%
Configure, verify, and troubleshoot basic router operation and routing on Cisco devices: 43%
Explain and select the appropriate administrative tasks required for a WLAN: 100%
Identify security threats to a network and describe general methods to mitigate those threats: 80%
Implement, verify, and troubleshoot NAT and ACLs in a medium-size enterprise branch office: 80%
Implement and verify WAN links: 66%

Score: 778 (825 needed to pass)

So, I knew where I needed to improve. Let’s see how I did on March 19, 2009 — a full month of studying 2-3 hours a day.

Describe how a network works: 85%
Configure, verify, and troubleshoot a switch with VLANs and interswitch communications: 66%
Implement an IP addressing scheme and IP services to meet network requirements: 50%
Configure, verify, and troubleshoot basic router operation and routing on Cisco devices: 46%
Explain and select the appropriate administrative tasks required for a WLAN: 100%
Identify security threats to a network and describe general methods to mitigate those threats: 100%
Implement, verify, and troubleshoot NAT and ACLs in a medium-size enterprise branch office: 75%
Implement and verify WAN links: 100%

Score: 776 (needed 825 to pass)

776?! 2 points lower than the first attempt and feeling fully confident and maintaining positive throughout the whole test and finishing with 20 minutes left? Well after losing some sleep last night I believe I identified some things I got wrong and how to make it right. I believe that if I would have gotten the same score on switching and VLANs, I would have passed. As far as scoring so low on the fundamentals of a router — I can’t explain. There’s not much to know — hostname, configuring an interface, setting passwords, vty access, etc.

I really want to retake 640-802 again instead of taking ICND1/2 — If my assumptions on scoring are close to right, I’m probably missing 1-2 too many.

I’m going to think about it over the next few days and make a decision.

If you’re not following me already on twitter, you can do it now. I’m @bdwill.