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Hi all,

I am planning to give CCNA exam.

I have no acces to any real routers and switches. Coaching is expensive. I have e-books and one real book from Vendell Odom. I have a purchased copy of both routersim and netsim. I am daily practicing on both of them. There are good labs in netsim. Other than that I have CBT nuggets. IMHO, I think I have everything for preperation other than real coaching/training/teaching.

That`s all that I have to get prepared. I started getting into all this stuff about 3 weeks back. I have to ask you guys that:

1. Does my preperation stuff looks satisfactory, or shall I really go for coaching?

2. Shall I give one CCNA exam and try to do it or would it be wise to break it and give two papers separately as CCNA (intro) & CCNA (ICND)?

All the suggestions are highly appreciated.

Regards & Thanks.

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Comments

Slowhand

If you're concerned that you might need some formal classroom-style training, look into what your local university or community college offers. A lot of schools will have extension programs or credit classes specifically geared towards certifications like CCNA and MCSE. If you're not able to find anything like that, think about picking up a complete course, like TestOut, which gives you step-by-step instruction, an instructor explaining all the concepts on both a whiteboard and on a computer, and also gives you the chance to work through labs and simulators as part of the process, before testing you on each topic learned. I used the TestOut courses for my MCSA exams, and I really liked them.

Good luck, and I hope that helps.

outstream

Thanks for the reply, but what about real exam? Shall I give one exam for whole course or break it down into two parts?

Pash

http://www.techexams.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=7268 - nice faq for the ccna there posted by webmaster.

Check the exam blueprints on the cisco website to see what is required for each path and then make a decision based on that. I think the CCNA prep centre even has a "which path is best for me?" test on it somewhere. Have a look around.

Good luck.

rakem

outstream wrote:

Thanks for the reply, but what about real exam? Shall I give one exam for whole course or break it down into two parts?

Id just go the one exam. Its what i did. I studied hard for about 8 months and passed first time... You just really need to dedicate yourself to it, and get some good books.

optimus

Personally, I don't know how anyone could pass the CCNA without actual hands on expereince doing the configurations in real routers, or with a simulator. If you can't afford the actual equipment, take a look at Boson's simulator. It is pretty good. It is worth it to if you look at what it costs taking the CCNA three times, vs. using the simulator and practicing, enabling you to pass the CCNA the first time.

- Optimus

outstream

rakem wrote:

Id just go the one exam. Its what i did. I studied hard for about 8 months and passed first time... You just really need to dedicate yourself to it, and get some good books.

My problem is a bit different. I dont have that kind of time. My manager at work is constantly pushing me to give the exam. He says he needs the certification ASAP. Infact in the begining of December he asked me to do it, and he said I have to give exam in December. With great effort I convinced him to give me some extra time and now according to him I really have to give exam in January.

optimus wrote:

If you can't afford the actual equipment, take a look at Boson's simulator. It is pretty good. It is worth it to if you look at what it costs taking the CCNA three times, vs. using the simulator and practicing, enabling you to pass the CCNA the first time.

Sir, as I mentioned in my original post, I do have Boson`s Netsim aswell as RouterSim. And I am practicing daily on them.

mikej412

A lot depends on your current experience. And then your motivation to study and actually making that time to study is very very very important.

Hands on experience with real equipment is the "way to go" -- but the CCNA can be done with simulators if that's the only option you have right now.

If you do have a networking background (or are extremely motivated), you should be able to do the CCNA in a month or two. If you are starting your Cisco studies with no networking experience, then it might take longer.

There really isn't much advantage to taking two exams -- it just means you'd have to answer a lot more questions and pay more money for the exams.

If you were taking a class and got a voucher for the INTRO/ICND exams, then it might make sense to do them individually so that you did the exams right after the classroom work.

But with self-study, the one exam option means you get less trivia questions from the INTRO material, but you also get some of the "easy INTRO stuff" rather than 100% of the "harder ICND stuff." Either way -- know your subnetting. Check out some of the links in the Forum CCNA FAQ -- within the first few links you should find the links to the subnetting practice web site. You'll also want to check out the exam "blueprints" on the Cisco Web Site. You can see the topics covered by the exams - the single CCNA vs the INTRO/ICND and compare those to what you think you've already studied to see if you are "on target."

I vote for the single 640-801 CCNA exam options. If you have the "good books" and pay attention to those CBT Nuggets (and take good notes), and work with the Sims -- you should have enough to pass the CCNA by that January date your boss wants. Print out your selected exam option "exam blueprints" and use that as your final study and review checklist before you take your exam(s).

Good Luck!

Though practice on real equipments will give you more knowledge and confidence, I believe you should be able to handle CCNA with simulators. When I prepared for CCNA I used Boson's netsim. I was very confused with topics related to WAN. But the CBT Nuggets really helped me a lot. I should tell that I had practiced basics such as configuring IP address and routing using two real routers for few days. But the real practice on tough topics such as switches, WAN, etc was done just using NetSim. Though I took 640-801, I think breaking it into two parts will be better if you are not very confident.

Good luck

Paul Boz

You have all you need. All you need is a simulator (I like the Boson Netsim) and the Sybex CCNA book by Lammle, 5th edition. It covers everything on the current CCNA curriculum including NAT on the CD.