Passed ICND1 884/832 - 2nd attempt

First ever reddit post lol. Thanks everyone for sharing your studying techniques and what not. They definitely helped me figure out how to tackle this. I found this page after googling when I began my CCNA journey at the beginning of the year so lurked during the time seeing how everyone was getting a passing score.

My resources used were Todd Lammles Complete Study Guide, Packet Tracer, Boson Exam sim, Ryan Beney ICND1 videos on youtube (currently incomplete).

First attempt I failed with a score of 778/832. I read through all the ICND1 topics in the book (just once), did all the questions and labs via packet tracer. Moved on to Boson exam right after, working up from 500/600 scores to constant 900+ scores. However, I really just started memorizing the questions and didnt have a foundation of the knowledge really so thats what lead to my failure the first attempt.

Second attempt, I took a break for about two months after that due to work and loss of motivation. Then I scheduled my exam again and gave myself a month to study. This time around I made notes on all my missed questions as I ran through Bosons sim (previously I hadnt been noting them). I watched all of Ryan Beneys videos on youtube (majority I watched twice) and this was nice because I realized the videos were easier for me to learn the material than going through the book again. They also gave me a good refresher and helped cement the knowledge from lammles book. I made flashcards for things like routing protocols, IPv6 addresses, TCP, etc. I also tried to go over each section in the exam topics for my two lowest areas from the first attempt and made sure I was at least somewhat familiar with everything listed.

Last three sections I scored the same on both attempts...but my scores were as follows....attempt 1 vs attempt 2 Network Fundamentals - 75% vs 92% LAN Switching Fundamentals - 50% vs 81% Routing Fundamentals - 80% Infrastructure Services - 78% Infrastructure Maintenance - 63%

Anyways, just sharing again to say thanks for everyones sharing of information and for anyone that might find this useful. Keep at it!

P.S. My background is system administrator, almost 7years, with an Associates, A+, S+ as my current credentials. I have very little to no experience on the network side so majority of this information is new to me. I have an interest in network infrastructure however and looking to break into the network side of the house hopefully after I obtain my CCNA.