Looking For Some Input From Fellow Members of The Board About CCENT & CCNA

coreyb80coreyb80 Member Posts: 647 ■■■■■□□□□□
Morning everyone and happy Wednesday. After going back and forth for some months now I've finally decided on networking. I work for a great company which has allowed me to obtain a few routers and switches, which I have setup in the lab, to lab with courtesy of one of the networking guys. I've been playing w/ the router for a couple days and learning some commands. The guy also gave me a CCENT and CCNA books to read to help w/ the exam. My question to everyone here is should I do both or simply study for the CCNA exam which I hope to have completed by this time next year, or maybe even soon?
WGU BS - Network Operations and Security
Completion Date: May 2021

Comments

  • --chris----chris-- Member Posts: 1,518 ■■■■■□□□□□
    The consensus is the composite (CCNA) exam is for those who need to re-certify or have some experience with Cisco under their belt.

    The two part method (ICND1 & ICND2) are for people who are new to the subject and dont have much hands on/field experience.
  • NYC_TECHNYC_TECH Registered Users Posts: 2 ■□□□□□□□□□
    I went the 2 exams route for same reason mentioned above (no hands on exp.). Worked out well, no regrets, was less intimidating. Cost wise I believe it is around the same.
  • coreyb80coreyb80 Member Posts: 647 ■■■■■□□□□□
    Thank you and looks like I will go the 2 exam route as I have little to no experience at this point.
    WGU BS - Network Operations and Security
    Completion Date: May 2021
  • Jon_CiscoJon_Cisco Member Posts: 1,772 ■■■■■■■■□□
    There are a few things to consider.

    The cost of getting to the test center.
    The cost of taking the test.
    The amount of stress involved in taking a test.

    I think most people would be better off with the two exam route unless the cost of travel is to high.
  • thatguy67thatguy67 Member Posts: 344 ■■■■□□□□□□
    If you're doing self-study I would take the 2-exam route. I was going to break it up but decided to do the composite. I got a discount voucher from NetAcad. So I ended up paying around $125 for the composite exam. The email said that I only got ONE voucher and I didn't really want to risk buying a single voucher for ICND1 and then finding out that I have to pay full price for ICND2. The fine print said I could get a discount for both ICND's but I would rather get the request process done once and once only.

    I took CCNA 1-4 (two semester-length courses concurrently) this spring at a community college so I've got the material down. I did an internship on Fridays and basically worked on Cisco routers about 10 hours a week outside of class. The labs for both classes bumped the total amount of weekly hands-on hours to around 15-16.

    Overall, I expect to have my CCNA by July. So 0 to CCNA in 7 months, and I might be taking it somewhat slow for what it's worth.

    If you are able to put in time like that and have access to a professional who can aide you occasionally, you should be prepared to sit for the exam within a year.
    2017 Goals: []PCNSE7 []CCNP:Security []CCNP:R&S []LCDE []WCNA
  • JeanMJeanM Member Posts: 1,117
    coreyb80 wrote: »
    Thank you and looks like I will go the 2 exam route as I have little to no experience at this point.

    I noticed your signature says "2013 IT Goals: CCENT" :) Is your clock wrong?
    2015 goals - ccna voice / vmware vcp.
  • coreyb80coreyb80 Member Posts: 647 ■■■■■□□□□□
    JeanM wrote: »
    I noticed your signature says "2013 IT Goals: CCENT" :) Is your clock wrong?

    LOL na it's not I just haven't touched my signature since last yer.
    WGU BS - Network Operations and Security
    Completion Date: May 2021
Sign In or Register to comment.