Average time to get CCNA certified

Snow.bros

Hi all,

For those of you who have taken all CCNA exams, how many exam do you have to take to get CCNA certified, how long does it take an average reader to complete the CCNA certification and what study material will you need to help you complete this?

I appreciate any comment or opinion!

markulous

I would imagine a lot would depend on experience. If someone has been in a network environment for a couple of years working with Cisco equipment, it would probably take significantly less study time than someone that's never worked in that environment.

Jon_Cisco

I spent all of last year on CCNA.

Started Net Academy classes that count towards my associates degree in Sept 2013.
No networking experience beyond my companies internal network which is maybe 50-100 devices on a single subnet. So no routing or switching at all.

After my classes were all screwed up (school taught the wrong course in semester 1) I cancelled my CCENT in January of 2014 and ordered CBT Nuggets to get the information straight.

During my last semester I read Odem's book for CCENT. Tested and passed in May.

CCNA for June but I had to reschedule for an unfortunate chain of funerals on 3 separate test dates.

Read Odems ICND2 book and tested for CCNA in August 2014.

---

If you consider averages think about the amount of starts and stops many people have with certs in general.
If you include the ones the fail or give up the average is going to blow way past anything you will see posted here.

If I was doing it on my own with no other courses at the same time I would guess 2 months per test.
Roughly a chapter a day and time for labbing in between chapters.

chronos42

Jon_Cisco wrote: »

I spent all of last year on CCNA.

Started Net Academy classes that count towards my associates degree in Sept 2013.
No networking experience beyond my companies internal network which is maybe 50-100 devices on a single subnet. So no routing or switching at all.

After my classes were all screwed up (school taught the wrong course in semester 1) I cancelled my CCENT in January of 2014 and ordered CBT Nuggets to get the information straight.

During my last semester I read Odem's book for CCENT. Tested and passed in May.

CCNA for June but I had to reschedule for an unfortunate chain of funerals on 3 separate test dates.

Read Odems ICND2 book and tested for CCNA in August 2014.

---

If you consider averages think about the amount of starts and stops many people have with certs in general.
If you include the ones the fail or give up the average is going to blow way past anything you will see posted here.

If I was doing it on my own with no other courses at the same time I would guess 2 months per test.
Roughly a chapter a day and time for labbing in between chapters.

What did you use to lab, and what were your experiences with those particular tools?

bharvey92

At the time I studied for my CCNA it was through Net Academy. I completed 4 semesters (passed them) and sat the CCNA exam. It took me about a year, but I did have to complete all semesters. If I would have self-studied I'm not sure it would have taken that long.

To pass the CCNA, I would recommend CBT nuggets, Packet Tracer and maybe even touch on GNS3. You need to have a solid understanding of network fundamentals eg: OSI Model, Packet headers, how packets traverse and the process that is taken mostly. You also need to nail routing protocols, LAN technologies (VTP, STP, VLANs) and then hit the Frame-Relay and PPP technologies (all these things you can lab in packet-tracer).

Other guys might be able to confirm these topics with the new exam but the content is probably still fairly similar.

Jon_Cisco

So I know I went above and beyond the test requirements. I'm working on a career change so I'm trying to put 100% into it.

First I bought 2 switches and 2 routers. I wanted the equipment on hand for when I got to the point of needing it.
2610xm routers and 2950 switches ordered from Certification kits. Came with a pretty good lab book.

Packet tracer doing mostly Net Academy labs for most of 2013.

Bought a 1841 router and 3560 switch in January. Not needed of CCNA but I plan to continue my study into CCNP.
Also bought a Access server to work with all 6 devices quicker.

Subscribed to CBT Nuggets and started with the CCENT videos in February.

GNS3 and Packet tracer as I got into routing more. Packet Tracer is great but it is limited in it's commands. I used GNS3 to verify things that didn't work in Packet tracer.

Bought a 3750 switch for CCNP switching labs.

Read both of Odem's books and labbed almost exclusively in packet tracer for all of my review from June - August 2013.

---

OK that was drawn out but it is mostly the order I followed.
Here is what I found to be key at the CCNA level.
Real equipment helps to understand what your reading about.
Seeing the connections fail on real equipment is very different then in a simulator.

After you have learned the basics you can move to almost 100% simulators as you are now trying to understand the concepts and already understand the general functionality of the equipment. I used packet tracer because of it's easy user interface and the switching features.

Sorry so long.
Jon


P.S. What I would suggest. Watch a video series before reading a book. Don't worry about understanding it all during the video series it's just your introduction to make the reading easier to comprehend later.

Dieg0M

Took me 80 hours and a small 1 week bootcamp.

chronos42

Jon_Cisco wrote: »

So I know I went above and beyond the test requirements. I'm working on a career change so I'm trying to put 100% into it.

First I bought 2 switches and 2 routers. I wanted the equipment on hand for when I got to the point of needing it.
2610xm routers and 2950 switches ordered from Certification kits. Came with a pretty good lab book.

Packet tracer doing mostly Net Academy labs for most of 2013.

Bought a 1841 router and 3560 switch in January. Not needed of CCNA but I plan to continue my study into CCNP.
Also bought a Access server to work with all 6 devices quicker.

Subscribed to CBT Nuggets and started with the CCENT videos in February.

GNS3 and Packet tracer as I got into routing more. Packet Tracer is great but it is limited in it's commands. I used GNS3 to verify things that didn't work in Packet tracer.

Bought a 3750 switch for CCNP switching labs.

Read both of Odem's books and labbed almost exclusively in packet tracer for all of my review from June - August 2013.

---

OK that was drawn out but it is mostly the order I followed.
Here is what I found to be key at the CCNA level.
Real equipment helps to understand what your reading about.
Seeing the connections fail on real equipment is very different then in a simulator.

After you have learned the basics you can move to almost 100% simulators as you are now trying to understand the concepts and already understand the general functionality of the equipment. I used packet tracer because of it's easy user interface and the switching features.

Sorry so long.
Jon


P.S. What I would suggest. Watch a video series before reading a book. Don't worry about understanding it all during the video series it's just your introduction to make the reading easier to comprehend later.

This information is very much appreciated. Cheers, my friend.

coralreefguy

I do L2/L3 helpdesk for a big MSP, I don't get to touch Cisco hardware or console into anything but I am very familiar with the theory and concepts of most networking ideas (routing, switching, vlans, packet headers/datagrams, access lists, etc). My total time from start-> CCENT was 3 weeks of studying / practice tests / labbing.


Best of luck.