CCNA vs 70-291

For those that have taken both,

which did you find harder?

I have experience with both windows and cisco, and all kinds of other stuff(been doing this stuff for a while).

I took a bunch of the old school MCP tests, but have not tested any microsoft certs for many years...

Anyway was considering going down this road... Maybe...

Just seeing how folks feel about the two test side by side... Difficulty wise.

Find more posts tagged with

Comments

nel

i havent took the ccna, but from what ive heard the ccna is alot harder.

i know you said you wanted to hear from those who took both! sorry!

liven

nel wrote:

i havent took the ccna, but from what ive heard the ccna is alot harder.

i know you said you wanted to hear from those who took both! sorry!

HOW DARE YOU ANSWER ME WITH OUT TAKING BOTH TESTS!!!

JK

THanks man I am just trying to decide what to study..

I am working on some CCSP, and CEH stuff.. But I might... Might go back to microsoft one of these days...

Who knows..

Thanks again

bighornsheep

I would say 291 was harder...that could be because after the painful learning curve with 291, CCNA's steep mountain didn't seem as painful.

But whereas 291 is close to the end in Microsoft learning....CCNA is only the beginning!

jeanathan

CCNA

I don't get to use cisco routers and switches much in day to day work. Cisco also takes more study time and requires higher passing score. Of course I haven't passed either so... they are both difficult for me.

jbaello

293 is the new sheriff in town!

mattsthe2

CCNA was wayyyyyyyyyy harder.

I find generally that the Cisco tests are harder overall. The Micorosoft exams you can generally pass reading books. The cisco stuff the questions are designed for hands on experience.

sprkymrk

mattsthe2 wrote:

CCNA was wayyyyyyyyyy harder.

I find generally that the Cisco tests are harder overall. The Micorosoft exams you can generally pass reading books. The cisco stuff the questions are designed for hands on experience.

I thought the CCNA was quite a bit easier. More straight forward, you either know it or you don't. One topic - basic IOS commands with some Net+ review thrown in.

The 291 has questions based on minute details scattered throughout 4 paragraphs of a lot of irrelevant information. Just reading the question can make your eyes glaze over and say "huh?". Time is not on your side. You must know DNS trouble shooting and setup in great detail, you must know DHCP, RRAS, WSUS, and other topics very well. The 291 covers more ground and in greater detail than the CCNA. If you've read and understand the Cisco Press book and had a chance to practice on a couple of routers and a switch you won't have any trouble. For the 291 you must know the MS Press book inside-out, which is about the size of 2 cisco books, plus a lab of 2-3 servers and a workstation. Then you also need at least one more book, like the Exam Cram or something.

I'm not making light of the CCNA, I just think people have it in their mind that's it's harder because it's "Cisco". Don't under estimate either exam though. Be prepared. The failure rate for first timers on both exams is higher than for many other exams.

mattsthe2

you bring up some good valid points.

Personally for me I found the Cisco stuff harder. But i have more Micrsoft Experience to boot than Cisco.

Everyone to there own.

sprkymrk

mattsthe2 wrote:

you bring up some good valid points.

Personally for me I found the Cisco stuff harder. But i have more Micrsoft Experience to boot than Cisco.

Everyone to there own.

Agreed!

Surprisingly enough, I have way more MS experience than Ciso as well. But I studied for the CCNA with a group of friends, which I have never done for a MS exam - so I am sure that was a major factor in my test experience. Suppose I could have mentioned that in my first post.

mattsthe2

sprkymrk wrote:

mattsthe2 wrote:

you bring up some good valid points.

Personally for me I found the Cisco stuff harder. But i have more Micrsoft Experience to boot than Cisco.

Everyone to there own.

Agreed!

Surprisingly enough, I have way more MS experience than Ciso as well. But I studied for the CCNA with a group of friends, which I have never done for a MS exam - so I am sure that was a major factor in my test experience. Suppose I could have mentioned that in my first post.

Man that is awesome. I wish i could find some Cisco people that are studing for CCNP (which is what im studing for now). Not only do you get all the benefits of studing in a group fashion which i dont need to go into...but you get to add any devices you may own to the groups to make one kick a$$ lab.