How long to study and pass?

geekboss

How long is a reasonable amount of time to study and pass an exam? I'm working on the MCSA 2008 still. I'd just like to know how long is a reasonable amount of time to study for one test?

Jon_Cisco

I took 9 months before I tested for CCENT. I plan to take the CCNA in a week which is about 11 months after I started studying.

If I just wanted to pass the test I am sure I could have crammed for two months and tested. However I am working on an associates degree so I was in no rush. Every person and every cert will vary depending on the urgency. In my mind each person has to judge their own reading comprehension speed. Use that as an estimate for how long the material will take to simply read it once.

After you figure that out the next question is how much time per week you will dedicate to studying.

Good Luck!

PurpleIT

As Jon said, it really varies. Some of the variable are:

• How much time are you going to dedicate each week?
  • What is your background? If you have IT experience, especially with the subject matter, it will be a lot easier than if you are new to IT.
• How motivated are you?
• What level of understanding are you aiming for?
  • "Mastery" is a lot harder than learning just enough to pass the test.
• Do you lab or are you just reading books?
• How many times are you going to go over each subject?
  • I may read a book, watch a video and then read another book for some subject while others may involves just reading one book.

When I started with certifications I was already working on a Help Desk and had been using computers since the 80s. Studying for the first test towards my MCSE (NT 4) took about 3 months, but there was a lot of foundational learning involved that carried over to other tests. Each subsequent test took roughly 6 weeks.