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I was reading the comments today at the bottom of the article from my previous blog entry, and was astonished at one of the comments left:

Cheater? I don’t think so

Submitted by Abyss (not verified) on Fri, 06/06/2008 - 11:36am.

I found your article interesting, but I disagree with you on one part.

I don’t believe TestKing is really cheating. I’ve used them for my A+, Network+, and my recently passed (on first try!) CCNA. Of course, I didn’t just memorize all the answers, but when you look at the person that does, in the process of memorizing answers, they tend to really learn the material.

I found that using TestKing with CCNA helped me remember some of the harder things, which the test can tend to be (Knowing which protocols are for which purpose, for example), things like this TestKing helps out with amazingly.

Of course, the biggest part with CCNA is that TestKing can’t really pass you, even if you do memorize every question and not understand it (which I admit may be possible, in this case it IS cheating, and the person doesn’t deserve their certification), is the Simulations. No matter how much TestKing you do, you won’t be able to do the Simulations unless you understand what you are doing.

In summary: I don’t believe TestKing is as much a “cheater” resource as you do. I believe it can be used to “cheat” but the majority of users (in my experience) use it for a valuable study resource, and help with the tougher knowledge questions.

Good article though! I agree with your other methods of learning, and I’d add one extra thing: Cisco NetAcademy, if available to you, or the Cisco Self-Study Books (Published by Cisco Press), Those helped me the most!

This seriously blew my mind. It’s one thing to not care you’re cheating, but its a whole other thing to believe what you’re doing is alright. So I posted my reply:

Cheater? Absolutely.
Submitted by IPv6Freely (not verified) on Thu, 07/10/2008 - 11:20am.

I think you’re mistaken. Using testking is absolutely cheating. What if - in highschool you stole a copy of your final exam, answers and all, from the teachers desk drawer, and used it to study… would that be cheating? I think anyone with common sense would say it is. This is absolutely no different.

Sure, somebody who cheats using Testking may not be able to do the sims, but you can certainly pass the CCNA without the sims. Theres usually only one or two of them. And they’re usually so incredibly basic, anyone who even skimmed through their CCNA book would be able to do them.

Testking is not a study resource. It is an actual copy of the actual exam, word for word, including diagrams. Whether you will admit it or not, you will retain the information you’re looking at - thereby cheating.

I also wanted to mention that by you cheating, my certification is less valuable. I think Testking and Pass4Sure and all of those other products (which are all owned by the same company) has tainted the certification, so many employers now look at the CCNA as being as worthless as the A+, or similar. CCNA is now simply a stepping stone towards certifications that employers will care about.

I worked my butt off to get where I am, and you cheating is basically a slap in the face - and I don’t appreciate it.

I think my reply says it all….