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8.1. Exam Strategy and Time Management

💡 First Principle: The CCNA exam tests whether you can think under pressure, not just what you've memorized. With 100-120 questions in 120 minutes, you have about one minute per question. Spending three minutes on a difficult question means three other questions get shortchanged—and that's how people fail with knowledge they actually have.

What happens without time discipline: Consider this scenario—you're 30 questions in, but you've spent 45 minutes because a few simulations took 5 minutes each. Now you have 75 minutes for 70+ questions, some of them also simulations. Panic sets in. You rush through the rest, missing details you would have caught with a calm read. Poor time management turns a passing score into a failing one.

The counterintuitive truth: Sometimes the best strategy is to guess and move on. A question you don't know costs you one point whether you spend 10 seconds or 10 minutes on it. But 10 minutes spent on one question could have answered 10 others correctly.

Time Management

  • 120 minutes for 100-120 questions = ~1 minute per question
  • Don't spend more than 2 minutes on any question
  • Mark difficult questions and return later
  • No going back once you move past a question in some exam formats

Question Strategy

  1. Read the entire question before looking at answers
  2. Eliminate obviously wrong answers first
  3. Look for keywords that change meaning (NOT, EXCEPT, ONLY)
  4. For simulations, verify your work with show commands

Day Before

  • Review your weakest areas
  • Get good sleep
  • Know your test center location/login