Passed ICND1 / CCENT - my way to pass

cisco-user · April 2016

Hi Guys!
I have recently passed ICND1 / CCENT, and I would like to share my experience to help others.
If I will sound funny / odd or incorrect - sorry, I am not a native English speaker.

First of all, I have used following resources to study:
- UDEMY: "Cisco CCNA (200-120): The Complete Course" by Lazaro Diaz
- UDEMY: "Cisco CCNA (200-120) Labs: Gateway to Success!" by Lazaro Diaz
- UDEMY: "CCNA 2015 - CCNA 200-120 exam - a complete guide - Cisco" by Maroius Kuriata
- Book "CCNA Routing and Switching 200-120 Official Cert Guide" by Wendell Odom
- https://www.youtube.com/user/danscourses
- subnetting.net - Subnet Questions and Answers
- Watch Video - Creating a Subnet **** Sheet
- subnettingquestions.com - Free Subnetting Questions and Answers Randomly Generated Online

I was using Udemy videos first to get the idea of what I am trying to archive and is it worth to waste the time. I have bought them with discounts available online (search on Google). It was wort it. BTW, Marious Kuriata speaks so slow that I was listening to him with x1,5 speed.

The book helped me a lot! I have read ICND1 part about 5 times, however last 3 were mostly to consolidate information. It takes about 10 hours to read the part 1 required for ICND1.

I was studying 1-4 hours, 5-6 days a week. The most important part is consistency. You have to study for at least 30 minutes every single day. I took me about 5 months without any knowledge about networking and IT industry, however I am sure that you can pass after 3-4 months of heavy studying when you start from ZERO like me.

Studying every single day was the hardest part. I was using Pomodoro timer on my smartphone to track the time and gain focus without exhausting myself. It was worth it. The app tracked the time since I started learning, so I have spent 33 hours in April since the beginning, 43h in March, 38h in February, and so on. I don't have a record of time spent in earlier months but it was about 2 hours a day. In my example it was about 250 hours total.

I had to give up my gym membership, but I will go back to training in the future.

What do you have to know to pass the exam? Everything basically, however these are the most important IMHO:
- know your show commands - you will use them many times during the exam
- you also have to know what you will see in particular show commands
- you have to be able to make subnetting calculations in your mind, quickly
- in subnetting finding the increment a.k.a. "magic number" is really important and easy to make a mistake
- when you read the book - focus on "Key Facts"
- you MUST check the exam tutorial on Cisco website - it will save your time
- remember that you will be stressed - don't underestimate that factor. It can wipe your brain out.
- USE subnetting **** sheet to save your time! - big help, easy to remember
- DIKTA questions from the book are much harder than exam questions, so don't worry
- I think it is worth it, to do few exams online like Boson Practice Exam. I didn't buy it, but I will do that before CCNA. The thing is that knowing your "stuff" is one thing, but often tricky question from exam are something completely different.
- it is worth it to practice flashcards
- TAKE YOUR TIME during the exam, do not rush. Read all questions and answers few times.
- practice, practice, practice, practice labs! Every time you watch the video, create the same topology and configuration
- to be honest, you do not need to buy anything except the book to pass. All other info is available on YouTube for free.

It is enough time during the exam to answer all the questions.
You will get two laminated boards and a sharpie to make notes. Use it.

If you have more questions, let me know.