Exam Profile: Cisco CCENT/CCNA ICND1 (640-822)
Date: Dec 2, 2011
The ICND1 640-822 exam serves two main purposes. First, those interested only in the Cisco Certified Entry Network Technician (CCENT) certification can just take and pass the ICND1 exam. However, the next Cisco certification in the Cisco certification pyramid, CCNA, is much more popular than CCENT-and ICND1 can also be used as part of the path to CCNA. This paper discusses the ICND1 640-822 exam, including its somewhat unusual role in the Cisco certification hierarchy.
Almost everyone's Cisco certification journey starts with CCNA, and that journey often starts with the ICND1 exam. Cisco provides two paths to CCNA: pass one exam (CCNA 640-802) or two exams (ICND1 640-822 and ICND2 640-816). Both paths cover the same topics, and the cost is the same for both paths (assuming you pass each exam). Essentially, the ICND1 exam covers the first half of the topics in the CCNA exam, and the ICND2 exam covers the second half. So, whether you actually take this ICND1 640-822 exam, or the CCNA 640-802 exam, you will need to study the topics included in the ICND1 640-822 exam.
Note that if you take and pass the ICND1 exam, you achieve the CCENT certification. However, if you take and pass the CCNA exam rather than using the two-exam path to CCNA (ICND1 and ICND2), you do attain CCNA certification, but you do not receive a CCENT certification.
Because of its role as the first Cisco exam in your Cisco journey, the ICND1 exam includes the most basic topics related to modern networks. The topics include TCP/IP, IP routers, Ethernet LANs, and LAN switching. This exam also sets a foundation of protocol knowledge for both Local Area Networks (LAN) and Wide Area Networks (WAN), hardware basics, and a heavy emphasis on IP addressing and subnetting. It also introduces the Cisco Command Line Interface (CLI), a text-based user interface used to configure, monitor, and troubleshoot problems on Cisco devices, including Cisco routers and switches.
Exam Details
- Exam Number: 640-822
- Number of questions: 40-50
- Types of questions: Multiple Choice (single and multiple answer), drag-and-drop, Sim, Simlet, Testlet
- Passing scores: varies
- Time limit: 90 minutes
- Language: Multiple languages
- How to register: Vue testing centers
Trouble Spots
IP subnetting poses the biggest challenge for the ICND1 exam. IP subnetting, at a purely conceptual level, can be simple: take a large list of consecutive numbers and subdivide them into smaller ranges of consecutive numbers-following specific rules-thereby creating many smaller groups (subnets) instead of one large group. The challenge with subnetting comes from many other related issues, such as:
- Interpreting the terminology surrounding subnetting
- Remembering which math process to use to find a particular answer
- Mastering the use of a particular math process to find the answer
- Applying the related IP addressing and routing concepts while also working with the math
- Working through the analysis and math very quickly on the exam
Time pressure also makes the ICND1 exam somewhat challenging. That time pressure exists for many reasons. First, the exam does not allow you to skip a question and go back later, so there's a tendency to take extra time when unsure, which presents many time management problems. The exam includes three particularly time-consuming problem types: Sims, Simlets, and Testlets. While a time goal of 1 minute per multichoice question time budget is reasonable, these other questions typically require 4-8 minutes each-but each counts as 1 question from the overall count of the number of questions. Additionally, subnetting questions often require you to find several related values for a single question, so if you subnet well, but slowly, you may not have enough time. Finally, it would be everyone's first Cisco exam, so there's simply the issue of getting accustomed to the testing environment.
Finally, two question types-Sims and Simlets-require you to have practiced and become comfortable with typing commands on a Cisco router or switch CLI as if you were configuring and monitoring real equipment. As a result, most CCNA candidates need hands-on experience before tackling the ICND1, ICND2, and CCNA exams.
Preparation Hints
First, you should plan to study to learn deeply. No matter what tool you use for your primary study source, plan to do more than just read the book once and take the exam. Plan to reader, review, apply the concepts using lab exercises and question sets. Many people have passed and succeeded with ICND1, but there are so many variables impacting your changes of passing on the first attempt, that to get a passing score you will need to be well prepared.
Practice on the CLI. Buy used gear, use emulators, use the simulator, rent or borrow gear, but plan to practice the configurations and spend time understanding the router and switch commands. The certskills.com web site has some links to help you work through the topic of building a CCNA lab.
Practice subnetting until you can do it all, do it well, and do it fast.
Finally, collaborate when you hit the wall by plugging in to the Cisco Learning Network (learningnetwork.cisco.com). This is a wonderful place where you can pose questions and often get multiple answers in minutes or hours. It's a hugely popular place for folks to collaborate on their path towards Cisco certification.
Recommended Study Resources
Because of the unusual place ICND1 holds in the certification hierarchy, many Cisco Press ICND1 products can be bought standalone or in a set for CCNA study. For example, best selling CCENT/CCNA ICND1 640-822 Official Cert Guide, Third Edition can be purchased:
- by itself (print and/or eBook)
- as a Premium Edition eBook with an enhanced practice test engine
- as part of the CCNA 640-802 Official Cert Library, Updated Third Edition
- as part of the CCNA 640-802 Cert Library, Simulator Edition
If you decide to pursue CCNA, you can save money by purchasing the bundles and libraries that include products for both ICND1 and ICND2. If you do not know yet, you can start with ICND1 products.
Focusing on ICND1, you need a primary study book, hands-on equipment, and practice. For primary study, the aforementioned CCENT/CCNA ICND1 640-822 Official Cert Guide, Third Edition provides many tools to help you prepare. Like all Cisco Press Cert Guides, besides explaining the technology, this book offers many other tools to help with exam prep, including planning review tables, notations of the most important topics in each chapter, and a CD question bank with exam software.
The CCENT 640-822 Network Simulator provides the most cost-efficient way to get the hands-on skills required for the ICND1 exam. This software product simulates the Cisco router and switch CLI: you type commands, and the software reacts as if you were doing the same thing on real gear. It comes with almost 100 scripted lab exercises that also teach and reinforce the concepts.
Finally, for practice, you have a several good tools:
- CCNA Flash Cards and Exam Practice Pack: practice questions and flash cards
- Cisco CCENT Mind Share Game: an educational game developed by Cisco to help reinforce key exam topics
Finally, studies show that many people that pursue Cisco certification use two separate primary reading sources. Interconnecting Cisco Network Devices, Part 1 (ICND1), also from Cisco Press, is created from the authorized Cisco course of the same name. This book gives different examples and explanations for the ICND1 topics as compared to the CCENT ICND1 Official Cert Guide.
Where to Go from Here
After passing the ICND1 exam, achieving your CCENT certification (congratulations), you really have only one reasonable next step in the world of Cisco certifications: take ICND2 to get your CCNA certification. You could take other exams, but you would still need to circle back to pass ICND2, and get your CCNA certification, before you could attain any of the other certifications. (Note: there is an exception to this rule: the CCIE certification has no literal prerequisites.)
Passing the ICND2 exam to achieve your CCNA opens up a much wider set of options. At that point, you can go wide or deep. To go wide, you would choose another Cisco technology area, and pursue a CCNA certification in that technology concentration. All you need to do is pass one additional exam for that technology. As of the writing of this paper, the CCNA concentrations are:
- Security
- Voice
- Wireless
- SP Operations (Service Provider)
After you achieve CCNA, you can also pursue the Cisco Certified Design Associate (CCDA) certification. As the name implies, this cert focuses on design. Like the CCNA concentrations, CCDA requires CCNA as a prerequisite and requires an additional exam to attain CCDA.
Finally, you can also choose to go deeper into routing and switching. Two such options currently exist: CCIP and CCNP. CCIP has a decidedly Service Provider bias, while CCNP is more Enterprise-oriented. Although both require CCNA as the only prerequisite, the much more popular option between these two is to pursue the CCNP certification.