Failing the CWAP Exam (Guest Blog)
By Jamie Price On 03/25/2021
CWAP: 1
Jamie: 0
A Big Fat Zero!
I was excited to write about passing the CWAP Exam and that you could, too. Except, I didn't pass the exam. I didn't fail my other CWAP exams up to this point. I knew the CWAP exam's reputation was that of a difficult exam. Therefore, I'm going back to the drawing board, and in order to pass the exam on my second attempt, I'm going to breakdown the learning material into bits-'n-pieces. I hope you find these nuggets useful. Let me know because I'm happy to share additional detail and any edits I make to this framework.
But you failed it—right?
Yeah—I did.
I thought I knew the frame categories well. I didn't. I thought I understood their use and where they logically fit. That was until I took the exam, and I realized I didn't know my frame types well. In fact, improving this one area is enough to pass the exam next time. Oh yes, next time is fast approaching!
Below is a logical breakdown for Management Frames, which perform connection management. I broke them down into sub-categories on Quizlet, a free self-service quizzing platform – think electronic notecards.
source: https://quizlet.com/571739414/cwap-cards-name-your-frame-with-ss-ds-bonus-flash-cards/?new
The Executive Summary:
Use the groupings to help assist you in destroying the frame category on your upcoming CWAP exam!
MANAGEMENT:
Anything with association or dropping association, MANAGEMENT.
Anything with Probe or Beacon, MANAGEMENT.
ATIM, Authentication or Action, MANAGEMENT.
DATA FRAMES:
Anything Data
Anything QoS
Almost everything with CF... except CF-End + CF + ACK
CONTROL FRAMES - all else.
Breakdown
Management has everything to do with BEACONS & PROBE:
Beacon
Probe Request
Probe Response
Management has everything to do with ASSOCIATION:
Association Request
Association Response
Reassocation Request
Reassociation Response
Management- Everything to to join or drop the connection- hint: (Does it ADD Up?):
Authentication
Dissassocaition
Deauthentication
Management- The Odd Ones- I cannot group these, but they are management. You would say it's a hint they start with A, but Control Frames have one "A" member.
Announcement Traffic Indication Message (ATIM)
Action
Action no Action
Control Frames- assists in delivery of traffic. They all seem like direction & control.
Clear to send (CTS)
Request to Send (RTS)
Acknowledgement (ACK)
Block ACK (BlockAck)
Block ACK Request (BlockAckReq)
PS-Poll (*Requests data with power save)
Control Wrapper
Reserved
Control Frames- the odd ones:
CF-End + CF + ACK; odd because all other CF titled frames are Data
Frames, but not this one.
Data-
Collection of the data named data frames
Data
Data + CF-ACK
Data + CF-Poll
Data + CF-ACK + CF-Poll
Data- The CF Data frame combining
CF-ACK (no MSDU)
CF-Poll (no MSDU)
CF-ACK + CF-Poll (no MSDU)
Data- Collection of the QoS:
QoS Data
QoS Null (no MSDU)
QoS Data + CF-ACK
QoS Data + CF-Poll
QoS Data + CF-ACK + CF-Poll
QoS CF-Poll (no MSDU)
QoS CF-ACK + CF-Poll (no MSDU)
Data- The Odd One:
Null Function (No MSDU)
*and I do find this one really odd because it's to control/manage power. So wouldn't that be control/management? No. It belongs to data, let it be with data.
The executive data restated:
Use the groupings to help assist your brain of the correct frame category.
MANAGEMENT:
Anything with association or dropping it, MANAGEMENT.
Anything with Probe or Beacon, MANAGEMENT.
ATIM, Authentication or Action, MANAGEMENT.
DATA FRAMES:
Anything Data
Anything QoS
Almost everything with CF... except CF-End + CF + ACK
& the odd one Null Function
CONTROL FRAMES - all else.
Clear as mud? Maybe. Exposure and experience are everything, this is just another tool, but I hope it helps you with your journey.
Twitter @jamieinbox
Tagged with: cwap, exam, wireless, framework, learning, material, education, management frames
Blog Disclaimer: The opinions expressed within these blog posts are solely the author’s and do not reflect the opinions and beliefs of the Certitrek, CWNP or its affiliates.