Exam Pattern & Syllabus

IT Certification and Career Paths

640-802 CCNA

 

Cisco Certified Network Associate Exam

Exam Number	640-802 CCNA Last day to test: September 30, 2013
Associated Certifications	CCNA Routing and Switching
Duration	90 Minutes (45-55 questions)
Available Languages	English, Japanese, Chinese, Spanish, Russian, Korean, French, Portuguese
Register	Pearson VUE
Exam Policies	Read current policies and requirements
Exam Tutorial	Review type of exam questions
New version of CCNA Composite Exam Is Now Available Beginning October 1, 2013, the 200-120 CCNA exam will be the only exam available for registration. Candidates who register for the 200-120 CCNA exam should prepare using 200-120 CCNA exam topics.

Basics

Exam Topics

Recommended Training

Additional Resources

The 640-802 Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA) is the composite exam associated with the CCNA Routing and Switching certification. Candidates can prepare for this exam by taking the Interconnecting Cisco Networking Devices: Accelerated (CCNAX) v1.1 course. This exam tests a candidate's knowledge and skills required to install, operate, and troubleshoot a small to medium size enterprise branch network. The topics include connecting to a WAN; implementing network security; network types; network media; routing and switching fundamentals; the TCP/IP and OSI models; IP addressing; WAN technologies; operating and configuring IOS devices; extending switched networks with VLANs; determining IP routes; managing IP traffic with access lists; establishing point-to-point connections; and establishing Frame Relay connections.

Cisco Agreement
Accepting the terms of Cisco Career Certification and Confidentiality Agreement is a very important part of obtaining Cisco Certification, failing which the application processing of certification may be halted


Validity
CCNA certifications are valid for three years.

Exam Description
The 640-801 is the exam available for aspirants pursuing Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA) Certification. Since 640-607 has retired, the article solely concentrates on the 640-801. The CCNA (640-801) exam focuses on the Interconnecting Cisco Network Devices (ICND) course as well as the new Introduction to Cisco Networking Technologies (INTRO) course. The courses and the exam ensure that the successful candidate has the important knowledge and skills necessary to select, connect, configure, and troubleshoot the various Cisco networking devices. The exam also includes topics on Extending Switched Networks with VLANS, Determining IP Routes, Managing IP traffic with Access Lists, Establishing Point-to-Point connections, and Establishing Frame Relay Connections.

There will be router/switch simulator questions, many multiple choice questions, and a few drag-and-drop questions, along with a few Multiple Choice Single Response and fill in the blank types of questions.

When switching between the simulator-based questions and the rest of the exam, the simulator engine may seem a little slow. For some simulator-based questions, you will be presented with scenarios. You need to remember configuration commands and listing commands to grasp the scenarios and troubleshoot them. Remember to have a blank sheet on which you can mark important points and remember to save any changes you make on the simulator relating to the configuration. The simulator is very much like the real one on the routers and switches, except that abbreviated editing and help commands may not be available. Ensure that you do not try these abbreviated commands and waste time; it is always better to use the entire syntax of any command you may be required to use.

Some concepts, such as the OSI model, the Access lists, the Subnetting, etc., are such that questions on them may be time consuming, as they require single-minded concentration, very clear basics, and some amount of calculation. The scenario type of questions need an eye for detailed and clear analytical abilities. Be clear with the command line configuration commands and their switches, and have an insight into the kind of testing the vendor may employ. That should help you have a CCNA Certificate under your belt.

The various testing methods a vendor (Prometric, in this case) may employ are as follows (pertaining to the CCNA exam):

Multiple Choice Single Response

The simplest one of the lot usually comes in between many complicated questions, to relax your brains and prepare you for the worst to come. This type sometimes may not fetch much score. If you are not aware of the answer, do not waste time guessing it. Skip the question and move to the next. It is the most common question type used in most exams; the response choices will be adjacent to radio buttons, which indicates that there can be only one correct answer to the question.

Multiple Choice Multiple Response

Checkboxes will replace radio buttons to indicate that there can be more than one correct answer, and it may range from two to four at times. The questions may, at times, state the number of correct choices. But the tricky part is, when the question states choose all that apply. Here, even if one choice is skipped, the answer may not be complete, and may not fetch the desired score.
Another hint here is, more the number of choices presented to the candidate to choose from, more may be the number of correct answers, when compared with usual. If there are 5 or 6 choices presented, it means there will be at least 3 correct choices, out of the available choices.

Fill in the Blank

The standard fill in the blank type of questions may have a single answer. It may also have three blanks to be filled and all the three in a single choice, making it a single response or may have the three blanks mentioned as three individual choices too, making it a multiple response type of a question. In other words, the fill in the blanks question may be a single response or a multiple response, with definitely multiple choices to choose from.

Drag-and-Drop Questions

In these type of questions, a number of elements may be presented and you may be required to drag the element from its current placeholder to the appropriate location on the screen to arrive at the correct choice of answer. You will usually be presented with more items than required to complete the picture, to confuse you. This type of a question may appear as a graphical match the following or a logical diagram of a particular process, or theory slightly out of place, which you may have to rearrange.

Simulator Questions

These type of questions simulate the administrative environment and are very similar to the real one, and expect you to carry out an administrative task to complete the question task. For example, you may be presented with a hyper terminal screen and asked to remotely configure a switch or a router as you would in real environment, using the relevant commands. The final result will be graded, versus the path or the process you took to arrive at the result; therefore if the question says use the easiest method to achieve the task when there is more than one way of doing it and you choose the less easier one you will not receive the expected score at all.

You've learned the details about the Exam, its pattern, objectives, etc. Now it's time to learn how to master the course and prepare scientifically.


 Exam Syllabus :

• 1. CCNA SYLLABUS NEW 640-8021. Internetworking1.1. Internetworking Basic1.2. Internetworking Models1.3. The OSI Reference Model1.4. Ethernet Networking1.5. Ethernet Cabling1.6. Data Encapsulation1.7. The Cisco Three-Layer Hierarchical Model2. Introduction to TCP/IP2.1. TCP/IP and the DoD Model2.2. IP Addressing2.3. Broadcast Address3. Subnetting, Variable Length Subnet Masks (VLSMs), and Troubleshooting TCP/IP3.1. Subnetting Basics3.2. Variable Length Subnet Masks (VLSMs)3.3. Summarization3.4. Troubleshooting IP Addressing4. Cisco’s Internetworking Operating System (IOS) and Security Device Manager (SDM)4.1. The IOS User Interface4.2. Command-Line Interface4.3. Router and Switch Administrative Configurations4.4. Cisco’s Security Device Manager (SDM)5. Managing a Cisco Internetwork5.1. The Internal Components of a Cisco Router5.2. The Router Boot Sequence5.3. Managing Configuration Register5.4. Backing up and Restoring the Cisco IOS5.5. Backing Up and Restoring the Cisco Configuration5.6. Using Cisco Discovery Protocols (CDP)5.7. Using Telnet5.8. Resolving Hostnames5.9. Checking Network Connectivity and Troubleshooting6. IP Routing6.1. Routing Basics6.2. The IP Routing Process6.3. Configuring IP Routing in Our Network6.4. Dynamic Routing6.5. Distance-Vector Routing Protocols6.6. Routing Information Protocol (RIP) The Technical Zone
• 2. 6.7. Inferior Gateway Routing Protocol (IGRP)6.8. Verifying your Configuration7. Enhanced IGRP (EIGRP) and Open Shortest Path First (OSPF)7.1. EIGRP Features and Operation7.2. Using EIGRP to Support Large Networks7.3. Configuring EIGRP7.4. Load Balancing with EIGRP7.5. Verifying EIGRP7.6. Open Shortest Path First (OSPF) Basics7.7. Configuring OSPF7.8. Verifying OSPF Configuration7.9. OSPF DR and BDR Elections7.10. OSPF and Loopback Interfaces7.11. Troubleshooting OSPF7.12. Configuring EIGRP and OSPF Summary Routes8. Layer 2 Switching and Spanning Tree Protocol (STP)8.1. Before Layer 2 Switching8.2. Switching Services8.3. Spanning Tree Protocol (STP)8.4. Configuring Catalyst Switches8.5. Cisco Network Assistant9. Virtual LANs (VLANs)9.1. VLAN Basics9.2. VLAN Memberships9.3. Identifying VLANs9.4. VLAN Trunking Protocol (VTP)9.5. Routing between VLANs9.6. Configuring VLANs9.7. Configuring VTP9.8. Telephony: Configuring Voice VLANs9.9. Using the CAN to Configure VLANs and Inter-VLAN Routing10. Security10.1. Perimeter, Firewall and Internal Routers10.2. Recognizing Security Threats10.3. Mitigating Security Threats10.4. Introduction to Access Lists10.5. Standard Access Lists10.6. Extended Access Lists10.7. Advanced Access Lists10.8. Monitoring Access Lists10.9. Configuring Access Lists Using SDM11. Network Address Translation (NAT) The Technical Zone
• 3. 11.1. When Do We Use NAT?11.2. Types of Network Address Translation11.3. NAT Names11.4. How NAT Works11.5. Testing and Troubleshooting NAT11.6. Configuring NAT on Our Internetwork11.7. Configuring NAT Using SDM12. Cisco’s Wireless Technologies12.1. Introduction to Wireless Technology12.2. Cisco’s Unified Wireless Solution12.3. Configuring Our Wireless Internetwork13. Internet Protocol Version 6 (IPv6)13.1. Why Do We Need IPv613.2. The Benefits and Uses of IPv613.3. IPv6 Addressing and Expressions13.4. How IPv6 Works in an Internetwork13.5. IPv6 Routing Protocols13.6. Migrating to IPv613.7. Configuring IPv6 on Our Internetwork14. Wide Area Networks14.1. Introduction to Wide Area Networks14.2. Cable and DSL14.3. Cabling the Serial Wide Area Network14.4. High-Level Data-Link Control (HDLC) Protocol14.5. Point-to-Point Protocol (PPP)14.6. Frame Relay14.7. Using SDM for WAN Connections14.8. Virtual Private Networks The Technical Zone.