Is this goal realistic?

Cyberscum

I have decided to start my CCNA journey. I hope to finish in two months and have broken it down to this:

-CBT nuggets/packet tracer and sim lab of 2 routers and 3 switches (have not bought yet.)

About 3 hours a day of bookwork

About 6-10 hours a week of labbing

Is 2 months possible with CISSP understanding of networking?

Jon_Cisco

Assuming you retain the information that you read that time frame would work. Nobody can tell you if you are capable of learning or not. I personally took a year to learn the information for the CCNA.

It has a lot more to do with your reading speed and comprehension. Figure out how fast you can read and understand a technical book. Then figure out how many days it will take you to cover the material. Build in time for lab and review and that's a good estimate.

Good Luck!

Cyberscum

@JCISCo
I will have to gather all of the study material I am going to use and go from there. I know shallow level network knowledge like OSPF/IGRP/RIP, Dis Vector/LS, LAN (Ethr/FDDI/TOKEN), WAN (SONET), FRAME/ATM/X.25, etc.. but only book knowledge...

So it might take a while to learn the practical.

techfiend

It wasn't realistic to me, I spent about 2 months studying CCENT (Lammle book+labs), 25-30 hours a week and thought I was only halfway to testing. Practice tests I was getting 70-80% after reading the whole book twice and checking weak areas. Upon revisit I will probably try different study material, I like the flow of the Lammle book but feel it doesn't cover everything.

Do you know subnetting and osi model? I've read those are a large part of the test(s).

Are you planning on taking the single test or two tests? Single would make it more realistic, if you can retain all of the information.

Alex90

I would say one of the best things you could do is book the exam now! I've found that since booking the exam and having a goal/timeline to stick to has forced me to study. And at the end of the day, even if I don't pass first time I think I'll still be most of the way to achieving my goal.

thatguy67

Alex90 wrote: »

I would say one of the best things you could do is book the exam now! I've found that since booking the exam and having a goal/timeline to stick to has forced me to study. And at the end of the day, even if I don't pass first time I think I'll still be most of the way to achieving my goal.

YMMV with this approach. I thought that would be a good approach for me but I ended up getting stressed out a couple days before, and started rushing as the test got closer and closer. I found that it adds an element of stress when the clock is ticking down. For my retake, I am going to make sure I've mastered the material, then schedule the exam 24-48 hours in advance when everything is contextually good (I've been exercising, eating right, sleeping plenty, basically no psychological setbacks).

Alex90

thatguy67 wrote: »

YMMV with this approach. I thought that would be a good approach for me but I ended up getting stressed out a couple days before, and started rushing as the test got closer and closer. I found that it adds an element of stress when the clock is ticking down. For my retake, I am going to make sure I've mastered the material, then schedule the exam 24-48 hours in advance when everything is contextually good (I've been exercising, eating right, sleeping plenty, basically no psychological setbacks).

Yea I understand what you mean. I gave myself a decent time frame, I'd already been studying on/off for a while so decided to book my exam 2 months in advance. Time will tell whether this approach works for me because I have my exam at the end of this month.

I've certainly found that my study rate has increased to fit in as much as I can before the big day. One thing that I want to do going forward, is to set a goal of having the exam done within a certain time. For example next year I aim to do CCNP, CCNA Voice and DC (6 months CCNP, 2 months for CCNA Voice and 4 months for CCNA DC). Some people have said it's a bit unrealistic/optimistic but im my opinion if someone can study their butt off for a year and pass CCIE, then there is no reason that I can't pass these exams within this time frame if I study equally as hard! I'm studying about 30 hours per week a the moment and have been for the last couple of months, if I can keep this up then I think I can do it!

I've gone a bit off topic but anyway, booking the exam and setting a time frame seems to work for me but I guess it doesn't work for everyone.

stlsmoore

Alex90 wrote: »

Yea I understand what you mean. I gave myself a decent time frame, I'd already been studying on/off for a while so decided to book my exam 2 months in advance. Time will tell whether this approach works for me because I have my exam at the end of this month.

I've certainly found that my study rate has increased to fit in as much as I can before the big day. One thing that I want to do going forward, is to set a goal of having the exam done within a certain time. For example next year I aim to do CCNP, CCNA Voice and DC (6 months CCNP, 2 months for CCNA Voice and 4 months for CCNA DC). Some people have said it's a bit unrealistic/optimistic but im my opinion if someone can study their butt off for a year and pass CCIE, then there is no reason that I can't pass these exams within this time frame if I study equally as hard! I'm studying about 30 hours per week a the moment and have been for the last couple of months, if I can keep this up then I think I can do it!

I've gone a bit off topic but anyway, booking the exam and setting a time frame seems to work for me but I guess it doesn't work for everyone.

Hopefully you currently work with all of these technologies daily? I couldn't imagine tackling all 3 of those exams within one year and still retaining most of the information. I'm just now finishing up my CCNP R/S, it's been close to a year with 1-3 hours of study everyday.

Alex90

Well not all of them. I'm a Voice Engineer so I'd say 70% (maybe more) of my working day is spent on CUCM, Unity etc and the rest is working on the R&S side of things. There are dedicated network engineers at work so I don't get really get a chance to get hands one with the more advanced stuff, I guess most of the R&S stuff I do is basic admin and troubleshooting on the 6500's. DC wise, I have no hands on experience but this will be last one I attempt next year if I have time.

Don't get me wrong, I know it will be a massive task but I like a challenge

Tbh I never thought I'd say this but I actually love studying this stuff - it's like and addiction...the more you learn, the more you want to learn!

How have you found CCNP? Was route the hardest one?

stlsmoore

Ahh ok you're getting the hands on so that'll def. make difference. It's still going to be a hell of a year though for you though lol. I'm liking the CCNP R/S a lot. Route was difficult but not impossible by any means. For me I found that certain study material had me over thinking problems on the exam itself. Namely the CCNP Simplified series, the labs are def. above what the exam will test you on.

I too was about 70% voice and 30% everything else networking. I was going to go CCNP Voice route but it was then that I realized that I just didn't like voice much, I just happen to fall into it. Going for the design certs next and then prepping for the SDN craziness that's about to happen.

Alex90

Yea I'm lucky in that sense, I really feel for the guys that go through the Cisco certs and don't have the chance to get hands on in their job. It's time consuming enough to study for them with the hands on so I can't imagine what it must be like not to have that.

Do you think you'll have the CCNP done by the time the old exams get retired? What was your average time to complete each exam? I'm hoping to have it done in 6-8 months if I can, maybe 3-4 months for route and then 2 months for switch and tshoot...fingers crossed that's achievable!! Are you still doing more on the voice side of things? I quiet like the voice stuff if I'm honest but a bit like you I sort of fell into it rather than choosing it! In an ideal situation I want to continue with the R&S track and persue the DC and voice tracks as well. Throw in a bit of SDN and vmware and that should round off the next 10 years of studying for me nicely lol!

So what's next for you...CCDA/CCDP?

stlsmoore

Yup taking my last exam (TSHOOT) in an hour, hopefully I can squeeze out a pass. ROUTE took me a solid 5-6 months but I was only studying 1-2 hours a day. SWITCH was 2-3 months, and TSHOOT I spent 2 months but everyone says to just take it 2 weeks after SWITCH. Guess we'll see about that one here shortly.

No more voice exams for me if I can help it lol. I'm fine with administrating and troubleshooting the majority of VoIP requests that land my way. I'm even comfortable with implementing smaller scale VoIP projects as well. However I'll leave the rest to the big dogs like Shodown on here. Unified Communications is a really fast moving target in my opinion due to how quickly the technology changes in that arena and I just can't keep up with it.

fredrikjj

Cyberscum wrote: »

I have decided to start my CCNA journey. I hope to finish in two months and have broken it down to this:

-CBT nuggets/packet tracer and sim lab of 2 routers and 3 switches (have not bought yet.)

About 3 hours a day of bookwork

About 6-10 hours a week of labbing

Is 2 months possible with CISSP understanding of networking?

I don't know what CISSP understanding of networking is, but yes, it's realistic if you study a lot every day. It's going to suck if you have a job though

Alex90

stlsmoore wrote: »

Yup taking my last exam (TSHOOT) in an hour, hopefully I can squeeze out a pass. ROUTE took me a solid 5-6 months but I was only studying 1-2 hours a day. SWITCH was 2-3 months, and TSHOOT I spent 2 months but everyone says to just take it 2 weeks after SWITCH. Guess we'll see about that one here shortly.

No more voice exams for me if I can help it lol. I'm fine with administrating and troubleshooting the majority of VoIP requests that land my way. I'm even comfortable with implementing smaller scale VoIP projects as well. However I'll leave the rest to the big dogs like Shodown on here. Unified Communications is a really fast moving target in my opinion due to how quickly the technology changes in that arena and I just can't keep up with it.

Good luck mate, let us know how you get on!!

TechGuru80

Since CISSP literally doesn't equate to technical knowledge of networking...it won't be a factor. 2 months will be really tight for the full CCNA. Most people I have seen average around 2-3 months per test if you went the two test path.

[Deleted User]

I think that the CISSP touches on a lot of the foundational topics of the CCNA. The telecommunications chapter in the Shon Harris AIO touches on the OSI model, routing protocols, WAN protocols, etc. I think this foundational knowledge will help you when you begin digging into the configuration portions of the CCNA. I think the CISSP knowledge adds a foundational layer and the labbing will build the technical know how needed to pass the CCNA. Maybe I am that far out of touch with the CCNA that I don't understand how the CISSP knowledge wouldn't provide any value to the CCNA study process.

TechGuru80

The CISSP is a management exam based around policies and very high level topics such as port numbers (I believe are on there). The CCNA is a test requiring a thorough understanding of the OSI model, routing protocols, switching concepts, configuring and troubleshooting. Does it help? Minimally...not like Network+ would for example.