Cisco Certification: Five Things To Do DURING Your CCNA Exam

There are plenty of articles out there about how to prepare for the CCNA exam.� However, there are also things you can do to increase your chances of success on exam day during the most important part of the entire process -- the time that you're actually taking the test.

I've taken many a certification exam over the years, and helped many others prep for theirs.� Here are the five things you must do on exam day to maximize your efforts.

1.� Show up on time.� Yeah, I know everyone says that.� The testing center wants you there 30 minutes early.� So why do so many candidates show up late, or in a rush?� If you have a morning exam appointment, take the traffic into account.� If it's a part of town you don't normally drive in during rush hour, you might be surprised at how much traffic you have to go through.� Plan ahead.

2.� Use paper, not the pad.� Some testing centers have gotten into the habit of handing exam candidates a board that allegedly wipes clean, along with a marker that may or not be fine-pointed.� You do NOT want to be writing out charts for binary math questions, or coming up with quick network diagrams, with a dull magic marker.� It's also my experience that these boards do not wipe clean well at all, but they smear quite badly.

Ask the testing center employee to give you paper and a pen instead.� I haven't had one refuse me yet.� Remember, you're the customer.� It's your $100 - $300, depending on the exam.�

3.� Use the headphones.� Most candidates in the room with you understand that they should be quiet.� Sadly, not all of them do.� Smacking gum, mumbling to themselves (loud enough for you to hear, though), and other little noises can really get on your nerves in what is already a pressure situation.� In one particular testing center I use, the door to the testing room has one setting: "Slam".�

Luckily, that center also has a headset hanging at every testing station.� Call ahead to see if yours does.�� Some centers have them but don't leave them at the testing stations.� Wearing headphones during the exam is a great way to increase your powers of concentration. They allow you to block out all noise and annoyances, and do what you came to do -- pass the exam.

4. Prepare for the "WHAT??" question.�� No matter how well-prepared you are, there's going to be one question on any Cisco exam that just stuns you.�� It might be off-topic, in your opinion; it may be a question that would take 20 of your remaining 25 questions to answer; it might be a question that you don't even know how to begin answering.� I have talked with CCNA candidates who got to such a question and were obviously so thrown off that they didn't do well on any of the remaining questions, either.

There is only one thing to do in this situation:� shrug it off.� Compare yourself to a major-league pitcher.� If he gives up a home run, he can't dwell on it; he's got to face another batter.� Cornerbacks in football face the same problem; if they give up a long TD pass, they can't spend the next 20 minutes thinking about it.� They have to shrug it off and be ready for the next play.

Don't worry about getting a perfect score on the exam.� Your concern is passing. If you get a question that seems ridiculous, unsolvable, or out of place, forget about it.� It's done.� Move on to the next question and nail it.

5.� Finish with a flourish.� Ten questions from the end of your exam, take a 15-to-30 second break.�� You can't walk around the testing room, but you can stand and stretch.� By this point in the exam, candidates tend to be a little mentally tired.��Maybe you're still thinking about the "WHAT??" question.� Don't worry about the questions you've already answered -- they're done.� �Take a deep breath, remember why you're there -- to pass this exam -- and sit back down and nail the last ten questions to the wall.�

Before you know it, your passing score appears on the screen!

Now on to the CCNP !�� Keep studying !

Chris Bryant

CCIE #12933