Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA) Exam Details:

To earn this Cisco certification, you must pass the following online exam(s):

Option 1: CCNA Composite

200-120 CCNA

CCNA Composite Exam: This exam is known as 200-120 CCNA composite exam as this certification includes combined syllabus of Routing & Switching Technologies at associate level. Candidates can prepare for this online exam by taking the Interconnecting Cisco Networking Devices: Accelerated (CCNAX) course. The exam for CCNA certification by Cisco will assess aspirants’ knowledge and skills required to install, operate, and troubleshoot a small to medium size enterprise branch network. The topics covered under this specific exam include all the topics that have been divided between ICND1 and ICND2.

OR

Option 2: ICND1 and ICND2

If a candidate is not willing to give composite CCNA exam 200-120, then he/she can also appear for ICND1 and ICND2 exams. In these exams syllabus of CCNA is equally divided into two parts.

100-101 ICND1

The 100-101 ICND1 (Interconnecting Cisco Networking Devices Part 1) is the exam associated with the Cisco Certified Entry Network Technician certification and a very first step towards Cisco CCNA Routing and Switching certification. Candidates have to prepare for this exam by taking the Interconnecting Cisco Networking Devices Part 1 (ICND1) course. The exam includes topics on the Operation of IP Data Networks; LAN Switching Technologies; IP Addressing (IPv4 & IPv6); IP Routing Technologies; IP Services (DHCP, NAT, ACLs); Network Device Security; Basic Troubleshooting. After taking/clearing the ICND1 exam, aspirant will become CCENT (Cisco Certified Entry Network Technician) certified. Clearing this exam successfully will prove candidate’s ability to install, operate, and troubleshoot a small branch office network.

Recommended read: Cisco Announces Changes in Exam Fee of CCNA, CCNP & CCIE Written Certifications

AND

200-101 ICND2

The 200-101 Interconnecting Cisco Networking Devices Part 2 (ICND2) is the exam associated with the CCNA Routing and Switching certification. Candidates should prepare for this exam by taking the Interconnecting Cisco Networking Devices Part 2 (ICND2) course. The exam covers topics like LAN Switching Technologies; IP Routing Technologies; IP Services (FHRP, Syslog, SNMP v2 and v3); Troubleshooting; WAN Technologies. Successfully clearing the ICND2 exam proves candidate's ability to install, operate, and troubleshoot a small to medium size enterprise branch network.

To clear the above mentioned exams one requires Hands On training at a Cisco training provider institute. The topics which are covered during the training of CCNA certification must be clearly known up till now.

Evolution of CCNA 640-802 to 200-120

CCNA certification calls in for a lot of hard work and patience on the aspirants’ part. Earlier Cisco’s CCNA certification was known as CCNA 640-802 with ICND1 having a code as 640-822 and ICND2 as 640-816. The content of the syllabus had been distributed amongst ICND1 and ICND2 according to the older version of CCNA. Cisco made certain improvements/advancements in syllabus of CCNA renaming it to CCNAx with a new exam code 200-120. This newly updated and improved CCNA Certification consists of certain advancements that have been made to the syllabus, making the aspirant/student well versed with new technologies in the IT industry. The syllabus of this newly improved CCNA certification has been split into two parts namely 100-101 ICND1 and 200-101 ICND2.

Difference between CCNAx and ICND1 & ICND2 Certification

To pass the new CCNA certification one needs to pass the CCNA certification online exam by either giving CCNA’s Composite exam named 200-120 CCNA i.e. Interconnecting Cisco Networking Devices: Accelerated (CCNAx) or by giving another set of exams named ICND1 and ICND2 i.e. CCNA in the latter part has been divided into two parts, each of which has a special importance of its own. If a CCNA aspirant clears the ICND1 exam, he/she becomes a Cisco Certified Entry Networking Technician (CCENT) whereas after taking/clearing ICND2 exam an aspirant is Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA). However, Accelerated CCNAx prepares an individual by incorporating topics of ICND1 and ICND2 under one category. Put simply in the latter option of the CCNA Certification, fees and syllabus of the CCNA Course by Cisco is split into two halves i.e. fees of $295 is divided into two parts. The fees for the CCNA exam is usually paid online in U.S.D using credit card of the student but certain exam centers allow paying of fees in cash with an extra dollar conversion cost. Syllabus too gets deflected in terms of topics being split into halves and equally divided into two portions. After passing the ICND1 exam, one needs to take and pass the ICND2 exam within 3 years of passing ICND1 exam else the ICND1(CCENT) Certification expires. Since CCNA Certification has been upgraded, aspirants must take training on the newly improved syllabus of the CCNA course and must give the exam for the same only.

Cisco Authorized Exam Testing Centers

Top notch companies like HP, DELL, Solaris, IBM, Oracle, etc. have certification examinations of their own. Such certification exams of different companies are conducted by only two organizations named Pearson Vue and Prometric. These two companies are solely responsible for the operation of these exams but with a major division i.e. Cisco certification exams for courses like CCNA, CCNP, CCIE (only Written), etc. are exclusively handled by Pearson Vue. Whereas, Microsoft’s examinations are solely conducted by Prometric which include examinations for all the courses of Microsoft. The exams for Cisco certifications are conducted by various testing centers in different cities of different countries of the world, these exam centers must be authorized by Pearson Vue. Being globally present in almost every city of every country, they lay down certain guidelines for institutes who wish to conduct such exams at their premises. Guidelines like availability of devices and other prerequisites which enable them to be a certified center for conducting Cisco certification exams. The examination which is conducted by authorized centers is an online type of examination.

CCNA Online Exam Pattern and Questions:

• Type of Questions
• Total number of questions
• Total time duration
• CCNA Exam registration process
• Passing Marks and Percentage (%) required to clear CCNA Certification
• About Simulations
• Documents required while appearing for exam
• Do’s and Don’ts during exam
• CCNA Result and Cisco ID process
• CCNA Certification Kit
• Reordering of Cisco CCNA Certification kit

Now coming to the type of questions which appear in these online examinations? The answer is MCQs i.e. Multiple Choice Questions. There are about 55 MCQs in CCNA exam where one requires obtaining 82.5% of passing rate. In other words out of 1000 getting 825 marks is mandatory for an aspirant if he/she wants to pass the CCNA exam by Cisco. Every question has separate weightage of its own i.e. the distribution of the marks for CCNA online exam varies from one question to another. The questionnaire consists of MCQs and simulations which have their separate heft. Simulations are practical scenarios presented on computer’s screen. The CCNA aspirant has to execute that scenario in order to generate an apt result of the simulation put across. Simulations require configuring devices, running certain commands and finding solutions which are in accordance with the question asked. All of this is a virtual process where 4 to 5 questions are displayed on the screen one by one and individuals need to answer as they appear. These questions carry more marks as compared to the MCQ part of the CCNA online exam.

One major factor which must be kept in mind while preparing for the CCNA certification online exam is the language in which student is taking the exam. Usually English is the native language of many students and they prefer giving their CCNA Exam in English itself. The time for the specified CCNA online exam in English is 90 minutes and must be completed within the given time slot or before the time elapses, if not then the test will be considered as intervened. If one’s native language is other than English then that student will officially get 30 minutes of extension by Cisco systems. It is always a good practice to book your CCNA exam beforehand at least one day prior despite booking it right before the exam starts. Many centers conduct these Cisco Certification exams on weekdays i.e. Monday to Friday while some centers also conduct them from Monday to Saturday. One needs two id proofs if he/she wants to appear for the Cisco Online exams.

Download PDF Cisco CCNA Certification Online Exam Details

During the onset of the CCNA online test each question appears on screen one at a time with its multiple choice list of options out of which one has to choose the right answer(s). It should be kept in mind that a question once attempted cannot be re-answered afterwards i.e. on clicking the submit button for a question, one cannot change it again. One should adjust his/her speed according to the time and should try to match the speed along with the timer that has been made available alongside the test screen during your CCNA exam. After finishing the CCNA online test, the result is displayed on the screen there and then. In other words whether you have passed or failed the online CCNA exam, the result is known on the spot. Your result gets printed and you get a hard copy of your result in your hand. The printed copy of the result consist of a small image of the aspirant, date at which the exam has been taken, name of the candidate, candidate’s id, Cisco id of the candidate, Registration id, Validation id, Testing Site, Exam Number, Passing Score required to clear CCNA exam, Candidate’s Score, and grade of the individual. It also shows the performance rate in each area of the subject highlighting the areas where one is strong and where one needs more concentration. A striking add-on to one’s career, CCNA’s completion allows an individual to use its logo into his/her resume.

Even if one fails the CCNA exam, the result sheet is generated with the specified individual’s credentials. On successfully clearing the CCNA exam aspirants receive an e-mail from Cisco Systems which consists of a link to be clicked by the receiver. The sent link on being clicked gets redirected to a page where the address of the candidate is asked. All this is asked in order to initiate the delivery of the Cisco’s CCNA Kit to the successfully passed candidate. Cisco’s CCNA Kit consists of a number of goodies like individual’s CCNA Certificate, Congratulations letter, Cisco given CCNA id card, etc. all of  which takes 4 to 6 weeks of time to get delivered to the specified address. One major advantage of passing CCNA exam is that one gets a Cisco account of their own which consists of information related to all the Cisco certifications done by an individual. One gets an official Cisco id which can be used to refer the details like recertification date, level of the certification achieved/done from time to time. One also gets online access to the certificates of the Courses successfully achieved with a facility of reissuing of the certificates if lost or damaged by paying only $50.

To know about the recertification of CCNA R&S Certification, please click the following link: http://blog.networkbulls.com/cisco-ccna-exam-recertification-details/