CCNP Self study

dredlord

Hi everyone, As im about to embark on the CCNP wagon ( CCNA exam next month hehe) I was wondering if self study is a good idea ( I do work in the largest NOC in my country) and I was planning to use the cisco press official exam cert guides, GNS3 + dynamips, cisco press practical studies. I was planing to start with the BCMSN exam so that I could give the CCDA a try (as I used most of the CCDA material for my dissertation). Any information / tips re the matter are appreciated. Thanks in advance

astorrs

You'll need a couple of switches there too, as dynamips can't effectively mimic a switch (yes I know it can do a 16port NM but its not the same)

dredlord

I forgot to mention that hardware is not a problem as at work we have a training lab with all the latest and greatest hardware for us to abuse :P

Im just worried if self study is the way to go for the CCNP and what materials one should acquire to excel at the challange. I do have the latest CBT nuggets for CCNP

scheistermeister

If you can get access to the Cisco Online Net Academy material I HIGHLY suggest it. That and the CBT Nuggets are all the reading and watching material I have used so far (used school lab and dynamips for hardware).

While the Net Academy I am in does have an instructor she has been very little to no help through the CCNP part of the course and I have really only been doing self study. The proof of this is in the grades of the class. Me and one other person who works in the field for HP are the only ones with decent grades; everyone who relies on what she teaches in class have scored very low on the online Cisco tests (60% and below).

dredlord

Thats the reason behind my idea of going self study since my experience with CCNA teachers was not so great for the price one pays for the accadmy lessons.

gcj_singh

dredlord wrote:

Hi everyone, As im about to embark on the CCNP wagon ( CCNA exam next month hehe) I was wondering if self study is a good idea ( I do work in the largest NOC in my country) and I was planning to use the cisco press official exam cert guides, GNS3 + dynamips, cisco press practical studies. I was planing to start with the BCMSN exam so that I could give the CCDA a try (as I used most of the CCDA material for my dissertation). Any information / tips re the matter are appreciated. Thanks in advance

kpjungle

dredlord wrote:

Thats the reason behind my idea of going self study since my experience with CCNA teachers was not so great for the price one pays for the accadmy lessons.

I agree strongly with this point! at least where I took it as well.

APA

As long as you have the motivation and desire ..... self study is always a good option IMO....

Certain cert's require instructor led classes first before you can officially obtain the qualification so I really think those are the only ones classroom time is worthwhile...

The desire to excel and the motivation to learn new things should be enough to get you through self study

optimus

Just curious, where/who is the biggest NOC? : Your talking USA?

astorrs

optimus wrote:

Just curious, where/who is the biggest NOC? : Your talking USA?

The OP's profile says he's from Malta.

As for the largest NOCs its got to be telco's: AT&Ts is huge, as is BT's. MSN and Google have massive NOCs too. You'd have to if you were Google, with their nearly 500,000 servers.