Study Techniques

jrmcent

SO I have been using the Sybex book to study from, I am up to chapter 5, IP Routing. Now my question is, should I stop reading for a while and practice with what I have learned so far? I mean I plan to practice anyway, but I was wondering if anyway found it beneficial to practice this way, without reading ahead of what you are doing with the routers. If not, any other study techniques/habits you picked up and found helpful?

iproute

I chose to apply everything I could along the way. For example, when I was studying OSPF, I configured my lab to use OSPF. When I started learning about VTP, I set it up on my lab. It just seems to help the knowledge to become concrete in my mind.

markzab

With Lammle's style of writing it's almost like a story for me. The way I used to study, and am now, is I go through the book completely the first time without stopping. I do the reviews and labs at the ends of each chapter by writing them out on a piece of paper so I dont write in the book this first time around. Then once I've completed the book I start again but this time only skimming each chapter and writing down important points off each page. This can be time consuming because there are SO MANY important points. If there is something I have to memorize like a table of some sort this is where I'm doing it as well. Finally I try to read tech notes or anything that might be missing from the book off the web. I do as many practise tests as I possibly can until I'm flawless on them. Memorising the questions and answers of 100's of questions isn't pointless IMO because you never know when one similar to one you memorised might pop up on the test.

In other words...be thurough and don't go in until you feel you've got it ALL down. I never failed a test out of the 6 I blew through in like 9 months a long time ago so obviously my method works for me.

Seek perfection.

iproute

markzab wrote:

Memorising the questions and answers of 100's of questions isn't pointless IMO because you never know when one similar to one you memorised might pop up on the test.

I agree with this. Using these practice tests can jog your memory about very small details and maybe even set a few things straight that you have slightly off in your mind. They can also help you assess whether or not you need to "brush up" on a particular topic. I personally wouldn't feel ready to take the test if I couldn't get 100 percent on any given practice exam (old ones covering things such as IPX/SPX excluded ). When you get an answer wrong, make sure you understand the answer and why you got it wrong.

Also, If you're going to take a crash course class (say a boot camp style 30-40 hour class), these can be a good way to introduce you to the material, but they certainly aren't enough to provide all necessary knowledge for any human that I know. I actually called around to various people who had taken the class before I did, and found that they all failed, but they all took the exam straight out of the class.