I want to be a CCNA!

Hi everyone, I just turned 18 a month ago. I am pretty nifty with computers and networking and I am looking to get a reputable certification. I could not find any prerequisites for the exam 640-802. I was wondering if it requires an AA or years experience in the field? Thank you.

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mikej412

Since you're 18, you're good to go! If you were under 18 you'd need a parent or guardian to sign the Cisco Certification Agreement.

There are no education or experience prerequisites/requirements. Some of the more advanced Cisco Certifications will suggest experience, but they don't require it.

There is no longer a price difference between the single 640-802 CCNA exam and the 2 exam option for the CCNA (ICND1 & ICND2), so you might want to take a look at the 2 exam option -- that would give you the CCENT for the ICND1 exam and the CCNA when you pass both (ICND1 & ICND2).

Check out the CCNA FAQ for some useful links and tips.

bigmach

Thank you for the reply, as of now I am looking at the sticky thread to find good books and resources to pursue this.

skeet2331

Cisco press books are very good and more detail then is needed for the exam.

Cbt nuggets training videos are execellent.

Todd Lammel books are very good also.

You will want to get a couple routers and switches to practice on some real equipment check ebay for good used equipment. If you have any questions search or ask.

bigmach

One more thing, how long do you think it will take me to be ready for my CCENT exam? Currently I do nothing so I could devote a LOT of my time to studying and lab.

mikej412

The problem with spending a LOT of time all at once studying is that you may cram enough information into your brain to pass the ICND1 exam for the CCENT, but you may not remember it when you need it as you cram in the information for the ICND2 exam. And even if you did manage to pass both exams and get the CCNA -- your head could explode during a job interview.

That said.... how fast do you read? How quickly do you comprehend what your read? How well do you retain the information you read? How good are you at taking and reviewing your notes? How motivated and dedicated are you? What's your networking background, knowledge, and experience? What's your Information Technology background, knowledge, and experience? What's your computer background, knowledge, and experience? Do you have access to a Cisco Networking Lab at school, work, or are you going to build one at home? Or are you going to try and get by with just a Simulator?

I've posted here in the past that I think someone who's motivated, dedicated, studying in the evenings after work and all day on the weekend could study for and pass the CCNA in a month -- even if they have no prior networking experience but are pretty darn smart. If you're not pretty darn smart, but still motivated and dedicated, you may want to allow 2 months (or more).

If you treat studying for the CCNA (or the two exam option) as your job, you may be able to do a couple of book chapters a day and some lab work (when you get to that point in your studies) and then toss in a CBT Video or two in the evening. If you wanted to toss in another book chapter in the evening you'd have to be careful about burning out. Then you'd probably take the weekends "off" and only do some lab work and review your notes for the week. If you did hit a snag with something during the week, you may "work on the weekend" to re-read and do extra study so that you don't fall behind in your work (studies). If you're keeping up with your studies, you may go ahead and page through next weeks chapters to get a feel for what you'll be learning next.

the_Grinch

My suggestion would be to do Network+ first. It provides a great base for the Cisco stuff you will be learning. Also, if your still in high school, see if the technology department will let you help out. They probably won't let you touch their networking equipment, but you could help setup pc's and get them onto the network. My high school allowed students to do this (paid them as well) and a bunch of my buddies used that experience to get them started on their careers. One is now a fulltime tech at a school district and servs as the back up administrator when the actual one is out. Everything else these guy suggested is right on and really work on the subnetting!

bigmach

how fast do you read? How quickly do you comprehend what your read? How well do you retain the information you read? How good are you at taking and reviewing your notes? How motivated and dedicated are you? What's your networking background, knowledge, and experience? What's your Information Technology background, knowledge, and experience? What's your computer background, knowledge, and experience? Do you have access to a Cisco Networking Lab at school, work, or are you going to build one at home? Or are you going to try and get by with just a Simulator?

I read fast, but I go over what i read maybe 2-3 times in order to fully understand what everything means. I usually retain stuff that I'm interested in and this is one of them. Hmm, I need to work on my note taking skills ^.^ haven't used a pen and paper in ages. Networking background is mainly helping my grandpa with his office and computers on their network not a cisco network and my home network. I have alot of experience with computers, more than the average computer user. I've fixed almost all my problems with my pc from networking to malignant trojans without bringing it to geeksquad. No, I dont have access to a cisco lab, I am going to build one. I really want this because i plan on moving to hawaii sometime early next year for school and I do not want to work at McDonald's.

human151

Learning Cisco/Networking is not easy if you have not really been exposed to it. As far as using a cisco LAB,I do not believe it is necessary for the CCNA, although if you can get one then by all means go out and buy some gear. here are some alternative:

http://www.ciscopress.com/bookstore/product.asp?isbn=1587202166

and

http://routersim.com/CCNA6_Home.html

I have the routersim.com product and I really like it because there are about 220 labs included in the program. Stuff such as Labs configuring network interfaces, configuring RIP 1 & 2. configuring WAN serial connections, configuring OSPF, EIGRP, NAT and PAT, VLSM, VLANS, Configuring a VTP Domain, Access lists and many more.

Its nice to have a program whichs helps you learn all those things, rather than just having your own lab and not having any direction as to what to practice....its like yeah I have all this cool equipment and it sure does look purty but what do I do with it

and dont think that your going to learn all this stuff overnight. reading something and truly understaning something are two different things. The cisco tests really test your knowledge of the subject, they are not just multiple choice.

famosbrown

I would say setting up a home lab would be SOOO valuable and will make the studying SOOOO much more fun and enjoyable. The little things like upgrading a IOS or playing wround with TFTP, making your own cables, watching the lights and not just memorizing what the book says about the light patterns, but actually seeing them, upgrading hardware, no limits on hardware, etc., etc. will set you apart slightly from the CCNA who didn't touch any equipment at all.

It will also motivate you to add more equipment, learn more than the CCNA material/objectives and go further in the Cisco certification career path. If you stick around long enough here or reasearch so prior posts, you will see members who just started out with a couple of switches and routers, and now they have a rack full of stuff.

I'm starting to compare it to golf...it's addicting and no matter how frustrating it gets sometimes, you keep going back at it and wanting more! I just can't wait until I'm done with Grad school, so I can put more time into it. I've been studying for ICND1 FOREVER it seems like.