Exam description and details

- [Instructor] Cisco's new 200-301 CCNA exam became available in February. The consensus seems to be surprised at the level of difficulty as well as the level of detail covered on both published and unpublished exam topics. This course looks at the various resources, methods, suggestions and tips to assist you in preparing for the exam. Achieving the CCNA certification is the first step in preparing for a career in IT technologies. To earn this certification, you must pass one exam that covers a broad range of IT fundamentals. Although there are no formal prerequisites, Cisco does recommend that you have basic computer literacy knowledge, basic PC operating system navigation skills, basic internet usage skills and basic IP address knowledge. Currently, the exam consists of 102 questions. You have two hours to complete the exam. It's important to know that you cannot go back once you've clicked on Next. There is no review option for this exam. There is a timer in the upper right hand side of the screen, indicating how much time you have left. After you complete the last question, you go through a couple more screens before you find out your results. You'll be given a score sheet with your results from the testing center. You must achieve an 825 out of 1000 points to pass. If you do not pass you can wait five calendar days before the day after the failed attempt to re-test. I've noticed in the past that students have a different version of the exam after the five day waiting period. It's a good idea to watch these tutorials on question types. The last thing you want to do is spend time figuring out how to answer a question during your exam. Knowing what to expect saves all the exam time on the exam questions. The five question types include Multiple-Choice Single Answer, Multiple-Choice Multiple Answer, Drag and Drop, Fill-in-the-Blank and Testlet. I had no Fill-in-the-Blank or Testlets on my exam, but that doesn't mean they won't be added sometime in the future. Here are the exam topics as well as the percent each topic covers of the total exam. You can expand each topic for a more detailed list by clicking on the drop down arrow beside the topic. I'd like to focus on the Cisco disclaimer in this paragraph. It reads, "The following topics are general guidelines for the content likely to be included on the exam. However, other related topics may also appear on any specific delivery of the exam. To better reflect the content of the exam and for clarity purposes, the guidelines below may change at any time without notice." I was surprised to see so many additional topics on my exam that are not listed here. In my opinion, I think it would be a good idea to master all the exam topics from the previous CCNA exam 200-125 in addition to the 200-301 exam topics. I have provided both lists in the exercise files for you. About 75% of the topics are the same. In addition to the possibility of additional exam topics, I recommend mastering all areas of a topic. Here's an example of what I mean. If you look under published topics you see 3.4 Configure and verify single area OSPFv2, 3.4.a Neighbor adjacencies, 3.4.b Point-to-point, 3.4.c Broadcast (DR/BDR selection), 3.4.d Router ID. In addition, you need to also know route redistribution, LSA types, algorithm calculation. Dig deep on all topics, a broad understanding is not enough. Now that we've looked at the mechanics and topics of the exam, let's look at scheduling your exam. You can register your exam day and time at HTTPS home.pearsonvue.com or just plain vue.com. Once you get there, click on the drop down arrow beside For test takers. Then schedule an exam. Scroll down a bit and type Cisco in Ready, set, test. At this point, if you already don't have an account created, you're going to have to create one here. I'm going to go ahead and use my Sign In, and click on View Exams. From here, you want to type in the number of your exam, 200-301 and click on 200-301 Cisco Certified Network Associate and click Go. You have the option of taking the test at a test center or at home. We're going to look at taking it at a center right now and click Next, and choose your language you prefer. Click Next again. Here is a screen just confirming you have the right exam, and it also gives you the price of the exam. We're going to click Next here, and accept the exam policies. Click Next again. On this screen, I'm typing in my ZIP Code, so that I can get a list of testing centers around my house. I see T. Lab right here. I'm going to check this box and click Next. A calendar comes up, and I can choose any of these available days. And choose my time at this point. And from here, you move to the page where you either put in a credit card, or if you're lucky, you might have a voucher you can use. You can also choose to take the exam at home, but I want to give you a warning if you choose that option. I had a student who followed the process and received a message stating there was a problem. He was not able to call, email or chat with anyone for help on the day of his exam. I also read about other people having the same experience on Reddit. Let's take a look at the exam policies. On the day of the test you need to bring with you two types of identification. Both must have your signature and one must be government issued. If you're taking the test at home, you must have these IDs ready to upload to the testing center. Leave all personal items at home. A mask is required during the exam and you can't have food, gum, etcetera while you're taking the exam. Your picture will be taken as well as a digital signature for your score sheet. Pockets are checked and should be empty. Your monitored by a proctor through a camera. If you leave the exam, your exam is over. If you're testing at a center, you'll be given a whiteboard and marker or scrap paper and a pencil or pen. If you're testing at home, you may be able to use the OnVue Whiteboard. I've attached a how to PDF for you to review in the exercise files for this course. You'll also find a list of COVID policies here on Pearson's website. It's extremely beneficial that you know all the details of your exam ahead of time. It could be the difference between passing or failing, because you thought you could go back to questions you were unsure of, or rescheduling, because you didn't have the appropriate identification. There's a lot of details that could make your testing experience at the very least inconvenient and at the very most a failing result.