Average study time for CCNA R&S?

MJK9550

I'm think I am going to get my CCNA after I finish my Sec+.

How long did it take you guys to get ready and pass these exams?

Study tips, advice, etc. ?

danny069

I've been studying on and off for years, but really trained for a whole year seriously only because I took two netacad classes at my university, which we had hands on experience working with routers, switches, and using hyperterminal to ssh into the console. What kind of networking experience do you have? I had zero experience and still do really in "networking" because I don't work on that stuff on a daily basis. Are you planning on taking the full exam? or in two parts?

quickman007

It took me 2 and a half months with a Network+ level of knowledge in networking. If I were to do it again, I'd spend about 4. Was really lacking in a few areas on the ICND2.

Queue

6 months

negru_tudor

about 1 year or so. studied on & off for CCNA then decided to push for the certification so did about 9-11 months of studying & bagged the old composite exam.

MJK9550

I'm going to do the two separate exams, as far as networking experience, I work with cisco equipment but I don't do too much with it. I also am studying for my network+ now and will take that at the end of the month. I feel like that's a really long time. I do have a lot of time to study though and am hoping I can do 1 month per test for the CCNA.

Techytach

I'd say 6 months if you have previous experience (work or net+, etc.)

More like a year if you're starting from scratch.

mikeybinec

I got CCENT last year, and in August of last year I failed ICND2.. I passed ICND2 last week, 'cuz I took a leisurely 12 months studying for it. I hated spending $150 and failing and so I wanted to be 110% sure I knew everything before I spent another buck 50.. So when the deadline for CCNA ver 2 popped up a couple of months ago, I decided to spend as many buck 50s I needed to to get the old CCNA ver 2 cert. Luckily I passed it on first try

negru_tudor

MJK9550 wrote: »

I'm going to do the two separate exams, as far as networking experience, I work with cisco equipment but I don't do too much with it. I also am studying for my network+ now and will take that at the end of the month. I feel like that's a really long time. I do have a lot of time to study though and am hoping I can do 1 month per test for the CCNA.

Just take your time with it. It doesn't have to be 1 year for you as well. I took that much time because I was studying several other sources aside from the Cisco NetAcad stuff and been doing all PT labs (Challenges, Troubleshooting etc. anything they threw at me) - kind of like a fanatic - but looking back, maybe I could have cut down 1 or 2 months. My advice to you is just get going and once you're comfortable with the topics, are able to handle your way around a basic lab (config. & tshoot) then go for it it could take you 6 months altogether (going by the experience you have) or more but at the end of it all, you'd have gained a lot of valuable knowledge

Good luck!

7255carl

it was about 4 months for me - directly after passing Net+

ypark

I studied about a month for ICND1 and a month and a half for ICND2. I'd say I put in about 20 hours a week during that time.

I believe for CCNA, the Official Certification Guide will suffice but many will suggest supplementing that with CBT Nuggets or Udemy. If you can afford real equipment, labbing hands on is the way to go. If not, packet tracer or GNS3 will do nicely.

networker050184

Reading the pass threads here through the years 3-6 months seams to be about average.

OctalDump

From when I first bought books to when I got the CCNA R+S? About 7 or 8 years. How long from when I first started seriously studying to when I passed ICND2? About 3.5 years? About how long I spent seriously studying in total? About 6 months at about 5 hours a week.

When I started, I only had Network+ and a little experience with 800 series routers. I think most people could get it done within 6 months with light studying and a few labs.

Codeman6669

Took about 8-9 months. Mainly because i took classes in it for school and that kinda slowed it down a little. I also work full time. I ended up dropping the last two classes and passing the CCNA about two months sooner then the classes ended, so i know it can be done faster. I also already had the Network+ and work in the networking field. Actually failed ICND1 by like 8 points. My boss failed ICND2, and the other two guys at work failed ICND2. SO accept now that you might not pass the first time, its really not a big deal, but it will feel like it lol

HP_Guy

OctalDump wrote: »

From when I first bought books to when I got the CCNA R+S? About 7 or 8 years.

Reckon I can beat(?) that! When (if) I ever (study and) pass, I'll post a pic of my book collection!

Sidingtons

I took 3 months to study for and complete CCENT. This was while I was studying full-time and working part-time, so I had plenty of time on my hands. Now I have a full-time job in IT and spend my commute time studying. I get about an hour and a half of solid study time on the train each day.

I study on my laptop and use the following resources:

Wendell Odom's Official Cert Guide
CBTNuggets (I'm waiting on ICND 200-105 [V3])
GNS3 for labs
XMind / MindNode for taking notes (highly recommend mind mapping for taking notes)

After each chapter I put everything I've learnt into GNS, verify everything.. then break it. Look at debug output, look at show commands and basically just mess around with everything until I feel I've learnt enough. Then put it all back into a working state. When something unexpected happens, that's great; that's exactly what you want.

After 4 and a half months I'm two thirds of the way through the content. I think I can smash out the rest in a month and a half - bringing me to the 6 month mark. After that I need to do final revision, do practice exams, touch up on weak areas etc. and then pass the exam in 1 or 2 attempts.

I think 6-8 months is realistic for me. I'm very thorough. I want to learn all of the content, and not just 'pass' the exam. Add to that I'm a bit of a perfectionist.

It makes me nervous when I see people doing it in less than 3 months (as in, "why can't I get it done that fast?"). What are your thoughts? Any tips for speeding things up a bit for the next exam?