Learning strategy

boxerboy1168

After having not been in school for over ten years in the last six months during my New Horizons bootcamp training I had to completely start from scratch and figure out how I learn. Now I have it down to a science for myself so I thought I would share for those in similar situations.

1. Do not rush the material. If you need to schedule out the test for 4 more weeks it's better to do it and feel comfortable and confident with the information.

2. Stop when you hit something you are unfamiliar with. I have found that forcing myself to recall information and explain it in my own terms enables my memorization and understanding of said concept. Pause the video series, use Techtarget, Techexams wiki and generally the internet to research the topic deeper until you can simplify the concepts and terminology down into something you can easily understand and remember.

3. Go back and recall the information after you have dedicated time to another topic and force yourself to recall the information independently of researching it.

4. Discuss the topic with others interested in or in the same field. Forum post are great for this.

Hope this helps someone out there enjoy.

ande0255

#1 I almost learned the hard way when I crunched through one source of CCNP Material trying to make it within a 4 month window, and once I pushed it out another month and filled in the technical gaps with INE it has made so many configurations I've learned so much clearer for exam day.

#2 I don't agree with this one at all, when I don't understand something, I pull up google and find the vendors official explanation if absolutely no other training material (others blogs, RFC's, youtube explanations, different training materials, etc). Stopping when you don't get something sounds like a good reason to stop studying because "you just don't get it" and sounds like terrible advice.

I would advise no one to stop when things get difficult, unless it is due to absolute mental fatigue, if you don't understand something that means you should claw into that topic twice as hard!

#3 I'd just make a blog you can reference later, or others use OneNote, many use wordpress because its free and an easy way to to post and access your old study notes including router output and such.

#4 I write my study posts as though I'm teaching it to someone else, as I love to write and teaching helps me learn the topic I am teaching better, and I have regular people who subscribe to my blog as study notes on topics

That is my takes on your notes, writing a blog that can be shared with peers over scratching down **** in a notepad then using the notepad to lab, and those notes being all I can reference rather than the router output of debugs / errors / behaviors like a wordpress blog.

I'd suggest everyone got one honestly, or use something similar like one note and be good about organizing your notes, but I don't know a lot of people who want to talk "ROUTE" with me so I just put it on my wordpress.

I almost agree with you, I think we are on the same wavelengths, and I think you must have meant "when you hit the point of mental exhaustion," because you should NEVER give up during a study session because something gets hard. Think outside of the box and figure it out!!

boxerboy1168

Oh I mean stop as in don't just power through it. Stop and try to understand it better before moving onto the next subject.

Poly worded!

Cisco Inferno

kinda hard when you only have $3500 and 5 days per exam bootcamp.

for self study, yes. absolutely true.

UncleB

boxerboy1168 wrote: »

2. Stop when you hit something you are unfamiliar with. I have found that forcing myself to recall information and explain it in my own terms enables my memorization and understanding of said concept. Pause the video series, use Techtarget, Techexams wiki and generally the internet to research the topic deeper until you can simplify the concepts and terminology down into something you can easily understand and remember.

When I hit a subject that just bounces off my brain then I do look for other peoples explantions of it through using a search engine and if I continue to struggle then I leave it to one side until I've covered all the other areas of study before circling back. By this time it often makes more sense but if it doesn't then a little mind altering substances can help get into a more receptive state.

A glass or three of whisky is my substance of choice and so far it has done the trick of opening the doors of perception for the elusive stuff that regular studying just can't capture for me. I wake up the next morning and it is just there, sometimes along with someone elses umbrella, briefcase and on one occasion their bra, but the important stuff is in my head.

This may not work for everyone however.