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Passed CCENT
Jon_Cisco
Member Posts: 1,772 ■■■■■■■■□□
in CCNA & CCENT
It took me almost a year for several reasons.
I was trying to follow the Netacad timeline at school.
My school screwed up the courses so we took part of the old curriculum and part of the new one.
I bailed on my first scheduled test date in Feb.
Things I used to study.
http://www.techexams.net
Single best resource for motivation and real world answers!
netacademy courses.
The packet tracer exercises help you grab the concepts pretty quickly if you follow them all.
Also the Syntax Checker while being limited helps to reinforce what you just read and is helpful in understanding how commands are entered. Overall the Netacademy is an expensive way to learn but if your getting college credits for it also it might be worth it.
Home Lab
Yes I do most of my work in GNS3 and Packet Tracer but I am a firm believer in seeing it all work on real equipment. I also feel that the troubleshooting sticks better when I am using my lab.
CBT Nuggets
I was not a fan of video training previous to this study. However after my classes screwed me over I signed up for CBT nuggets and watched the ICND1 series. I found it was easier to read the material after seeing the videos. For me it was easier to read when I knew where the material was heading.
Wendell Odem's ICND1 book
Prepare for typo's and look up the corrections. I hope more recent printings are updated but I picked up the first printing and it had some issues. However the test that were included were very helpful for my finishing prep.
My final prep was two weeks of practice test. pearsons that came with Odem's book and transcender that came with CBT Nuggets.
My strategy for the practice tests was to keep a pad with me and write down any answer I didn't understand. After each test I would review the answers I got wrong but then I would look up the topics that I didn't understand. By week two I was scoring passing grades each test.
Now on to part 2!
I was trying to follow the Netacad timeline at school.
My school screwed up the courses so we took part of the old curriculum and part of the new one.
I bailed on my first scheduled test date in Feb.
Things I used to study.
http://www.techexams.net
Single best resource for motivation and real world answers!
netacademy courses.
The packet tracer exercises help you grab the concepts pretty quickly if you follow them all.
Also the Syntax Checker while being limited helps to reinforce what you just read and is helpful in understanding how commands are entered. Overall the Netacademy is an expensive way to learn but if your getting college credits for it also it might be worth it.
Home Lab
Yes I do most of my work in GNS3 and Packet Tracer but I am a firm believer in seeing it all work on real equipment. I also feel that the troubleshooting sticks better when I am using my lab.
CBT Nuggets
I was not a fan of video training previous to this study. However after my classes screwed me over I signed up for CBT nuggets and watched the ICND1 series. I found it was easier to read the material after seeing the videos. For me it was easier to read when I knew where the material was heading.
Wendell Odem's ICND1 book
Prepare for typo's and look up the corrections. I hope more recent printings are updated but I picked up the first printing and it had some issues. However the test that were included were very helpful for my finishing prep.
My final prep was two weeks of practice test. pearsons that came with Odem's book and transcender that came with CBT Nuggets.
My strategy for the practice tests was to keep a pad with me and write down any answer I didn't understand. After each test I would review the answers I got wrong but then I would look up the topics that I didn't understand. By week two I was scoring passing grades each test.
Now on to part 2!
Comments
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devils_haircut
Member Posts: 284 ■■■□□□□□□□
Honestly, the thing I liked most about using CBTNuggets for ICND1 prep is actually the 5-part "fly-through" at the start of Jeremy C's ICND2 material. He basically covers all the initial setup of a small Cisco network from scratch in GNS3.
Congrats on the pass. I'm slated to take my ICND2 on May 20th. -
Optionsbankintheroll
Member Posts: 121
Congrats man! I feel I am almost ready, but not quite yet. I started studying in February with no prior knowledge of anything Cisco. I have had a lot of time to study as I am just out of college. Like you, I use packet tracer, CBTNuggets, Odom's book, and practice exams. I have also started building my lab for CCNA, and possibly beyond if I decide to go that route.
If I may ask, what are the netacademy courses? Do they cost anything? -
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mikeybinec
Member Posts: 484 ■■■□□□□□□□
Congrats... I did Netacad also but detoured to Nat Uni after not passing 604-802 a couple of years ago..Came back and noticed the new objectives (Etherchannel and Hot standby from CCNP)Cisco NetAcad Cuyamaca College
A.S. LAN Management 2010 Grossmont College
B.S. I.T. Management 2013 National University -
OptionsJon_Cisco
Member Posts: 1,772 ■■■■■■■■□□
bankintheroll wrote: »
If I may ask, what are the netacademy courses? Do they cost anything?
www.netacad.com
As far as I know the classes are offered through schools at least in the US. I don't know if there is any other way to register.
For me it was 4 course for a total of 16 credits towards my associates in Computer Science degree. -
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DoubleNNs
Member Posts: 2,015 ■■■■■□□□□□
Congrats!! I've been following your studying. Awesome you finally took it and passed!
Are you gonna take a breather b4 going onto part 2, or straight thru?Goals for 2018:
Certs: RHCSA, LFCS: Ubuntu, CNCF CKA, CNCF CKAD | AWS Certified DevOps Engineer, AWS Solutions Architect Pro, AWS Certified Security Specialist, GCP Professional Cloud Architect
Learn: Terraform, Kubernetes, Prometheus & Golang | Improve: Docker, Python Programming
To-do | In Progress | Completed -
OptionsJon_Cisco
Member Posts: 1,772 ■■■■■■■■□□
Congrats!! I've been following your studying. Awesome you finally took it and passed!
Are you gonna take a breather b4 going onto part 2, or straight thru?
I am going to test for part 2 in June. I'll watch some videos and pick up the book in a week or two.
For the summer I'm going to do a small amount of interning to get some real world exposure. I plan to jump into Microsoft's world for a little while because I have several related classes next year.
Long term I picked up a second layer 3 switch today for CCNP switching. I don't expect to test for that this year but want to stay active on cisco gear. -
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Deathmage
Banned Posts: 2,496
Congrats!
doing CCENT study myself, started the weekend after passing the Sec + exam. I setup 2 2600 routers to a core 1721 switch and each 2600 is connected to a 2650 switch. I setup a vlan on my MDF HP Procurve I used with my Sonicwalls for my home network and let me tell you nothing is more awesome to have both switches able to stream netflix on my laptop connected to the switches.....
I'm using the CCNA is 60 days Kindle book, Todd's CCNA Deluxe book, and the CBT Nuggets videos. However....I'm having only one small problem..... I can read the chapter in like 2 hours but for some reason I get lost in CLI and BAM 5 hours have vanished (with no recollection of how) lol! .... is that normal? -
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davenull
Member Posts: 173 ■■■□□□□□□□
... but for some reason I get lost in CLI and BAM 5 hours have vanished (with no recollection of how) lol! .... is that normal?
review the logs, you must be dropping some packets...
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no!all!
Member Posts: 245 ■■■□□□□□□□
Congrats! Hopefully this will be me in a month
A+, N+, S+, CCNA:RS, CCNA:Sec
"In high society TCP is more welcome than UDP. At least it knows a proper handshake" - Ben Franklin
2019 Goals: CCNP:RS & relocate to St. Pete, FL! -
OptionsJon_Cisco
Member Posts: 1,772 ■■■■■■■■□□
... I can read the chapter in like 2 hours but for some reason I get lost in CLI and BAM 5 hours have vanished (with no recollection of how) lol! .... is that normal?
I know exactly what you mean! -
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EngRob
Member Posts: 247 ■■■□□□□□□□
Congrats! Thanks for the info. Just started the course myself at WGU and i'm quickly finding i'm also not a fan of CBT Nugget video training. I will check out the book you suggested. I need paper!!
