Would like some input.....

Hi, I just registered here to see if I could ask some questions about some things. I don't know if this is the appropriate place to do this but if it is I am sorry.

I am currently taking a 2 year course at a local tech school. Computer Repair & Networking is what they call it.

Semester 1: Comptia A+
Semester 2: Microsoft MCITP
Semester 3: CCNA
Semester 4: CCENT

I am in semester 3 and we are working on CCNA course material. We are using Netacad as our Curriculum.

Here is the deal. I don't know what it is but I am just not understanding any of the material. The material is so abstract to me, it is not a physical or visual idea. This is so much different than computer hardware or even operating systems. Talking about frames, packets, OSI layers, protocols, protocol data units, ARP tables, MAC addresses.....I don't even know what is what anymore. I don't know if I can handle all of this information.

Is this course planned out correctly? I feel like there is a huge gap in difficulty between semesters 2 & 3.
Is there a better curriculum than Netacad? Netacad does not seem well laid out or worded.

What should I do...

A. Continue with this class and spend hours trying to piece things together
B. Quit and find another course

Thanks in advance.

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Comments

Heero

If you want to get into networking, spend the hours outside of class reviewing and studying until you learn it. If you don't, you could potentially look into a different course.

Zefrik

Heero wrote: »

If you want to get into networking, spend the hours outside of class reviewing and studying until you learn it. If you don't, you could potentially look into a different course.

Do you have any books or online sources that you would recommend for studying?

NOC-Ninja

Zefrik wrote: »

Hi, I just registered here to see if I could ask some questions about some things. I don't know if this is the appropriate place to do this but if it is I am sorry.

I am currently taking a 2 year course at a local tech school. Computer Repair & Networking is what they call it.

Semester 1: Comptia A+
Semester 2: Microsoft MCITP
Semester 3: CCNA
Semester 4: CCENT

I am in semester 3 and we are working on CCNA course material. We are using Netacad as our Curriculum.

Here is the deal. I don't know what it is but I am just not understanding any of the material. The material is so abstract to me, it is not a physical or visual idea. This is so much different than computer hardware or even operating systems. Talking about frames, packets, OSI layers, protocols, protocol data units, ARP tables, MAC addresses.....I don't even know what is what anymore. I don't know if I can handle all of this information.

Is this course planned out correctly? I feel like there is a huge gap in difficulty between semesters 2 & 3.
Is there a better curriculum than Netacad? Netacad does not seem well laid out or worded.

What should I do...

A. Continue with this class and spend hours trying to piece things together
B. Quit and find another course

Thanks in advance.

I dont get why sem 3 is ccna then sem 4 is ccent. Am i missing something here?

I think you will learn if you buy your gears (switches and routers) and then study on your own after hours. All you have to do is start and follow the CCENT then move to CCNA.

Jon_Cisco

I took the Netacad courses last year as part of my associates degree. They definitely cover the material but you need to do a lot of work outside of the classroom.

My first question is did you type the list wrong because CCENT is the first half of CCNA.
ICND1 earns CCENT
ICND1 and ICND2 earns CCNA

Assuming you are taking the 4 part Netacad classes just make sure you are taking them in the correct order. It is normal to be overwhelmed at the start. There is a lot of information covered. As time goes on it builds on itself and starts to sink in.

I recommend using packet tracer to recreate all of the labs that come up in the course. Our teacher skipped most of them with the understanding that we should do them on our own time. Very few people did but the few of us who took the time to do the work passed the CCNA at the end.

The bottom line is if you plan to do networking you just need to put in the work and force yourself to learn it. If you can't do it now you won't be able to do it on the job either. If your interest is in another part of IT then just do what you have to do to pass the course. Find something you enjoy and it will be easier.

I don't recommend dropping the course unless you have ruled out IT as a job option.

Good Luck!

Zefrik

Thanks for the input everybody.

We are doing CCNA, at least that is what our instructor has it listed as.

Should I look at getting some equipment to setup a lab? ex: switches, routers, etc. Or will packet tracer be enough?

MTciscoguy

Packet tracer will be enough, but just enough, I like having the equipment because there is so much more exploring and work you can do, remember when you get your degree, packet tracers is not what you are going to run into in an office somewhere, you will be dealing with hardware and most likely hardware that someone else configured and you can bet they did it completely different than you would. Get the equipment if you can afford it, and rest in knowing, that you won't have to be intimidated when you walk into your first job assignment.

Ryuksapple84

I completely understand that you are not getting this. I was like this in the beginning as well when I first started. You need to start with CCENT first, not CCNA.

Also, the best way I found to study was through Chris Bryant's video boot camp. That is the only way I was able to learn this. These are abstract concepts and will take time to understand. You need to stop relating what you learn with hardware or anything else you have learned so far. Start with a FRESH perspective. PM me if you want more info, I would be happy to help out.

Admiral Akmir

Cisco NetAcad is pretty dry in my experience. We used it in school and I remember really struggling to get through some of the chapters. When I graduated and started to self study for the CCENT, I used Wendell Odom's book, and I never really felt overwhelmed. I think that it's important to find a study guide that clicks with you.

Don't get me wrong, NetAcad is VERY thorough and will teach you everything, the problem for me was that the presentation was way too dry, it was like listening to a robot recite an RFC or something. In the sticky on this forum there's a bunch of recommended resources, I would look at other books and study guides and see if any of them make more sense to you.

Pupil

Admiral Akmir wrote: »

Cisco NetAcad is pretty dry in my experience. We used it in school and I remember really struggling to get through some of the chapters. When I graduated and started to self study for the CCENT, I used Wendell Odom's book, and I never really felt overwhelmed. I think that it's important to find a study guide that clicks with you.

Don't get me wrong, NetAcad is VERY thorough and will teach you everything, the problem for me was that the presentation was way too dry, it was like listening to a robot recite an RFC or something. In the sticky on this forum there's a bunch of recommended resources, I would look at other books and study guides and see if any of them make more sense to you.

I had the exact same bad experience with NetAcad. Plus, having to read the lengthy material via a web browser sucked. I used Todd Lammle's book for CCENT and it's way more enjoyable.

mikeybinec

i thoroughly enjoyed my 4 semesters at NetAcad.. Spending 4-5 hours, 2-3 days a week was fun and having the experience of working with real hardware was well worth it. I cannot for the life of me understand why someone thinks Packet Tracer is all they need. You gotta know what a DB60 is, A Smart Serial, plugging in WICs etc

As for Odom, when he started preaching ip address <ip address and subnet mask> secondary
I knew he was starting to confuse his readers with extra stuff that is not CCNA related

Zefrik

Thank you everybody. It feels like every week I get angry and just about quit but this thread has helped.

I am going to try and find an alternative to NetAcad for my own personal use. I am growing to hate it more and more.

Zefrik

I am thinking about getting some equipment to setup a small home lab. From what I have read it would be best to have 3 routers and 3 Switches?

Would 1760 routers be okay?
Would 2950 switches be okay?

Jon_Cisco

I took the four NetAcademy courses last year and my school really screwed up the system. Two teachers teaching every other class using different versions of the course. In the end the students that wanted to learn just did double the work at home. Everyone else cheated for the easy grade.

If you can find the time to do the reading and all of the Packet tracer labs it really will teach you a lot. I found it best to do each packet tracer twice. Once when learning and then again the next week to reinforce what I learned.

Don't give up. If networking is not your thing find something enjoyable. However CCNA is a nice compliment to almost any IT degree. Just to give you some real world feedback about my classes. We started with maybe 25 people in September. The second semester was down to around 15. Only about 10 students finished the class. Of them I took the test and I believe 1 or 2 others might. So just know your not alone but you can do it.