How well do CBT Nuggets videos prepare you?

albanga

Hey All,

Well its time to get serious. In October (last year!!) My boss got me to start watching CBT nuggets videos the he had in the hopes i would be able to get my CCNA. As time went by things happened and i fell off that path only occasionally studying but the time between watching each video was too distant and i was forgetting everything.

In the last month however i have gone back and studied the remaining videos I had and finished them off. Then to see where i was at i came in here (long time member from my Microsoft days) and finished all the practice exams. My results were as follows;

Intro Exam - 16 of 35 (45.7%)
Router Command Exam - 16 of 30 (53.3%)
CCNA Exam - 26 of 55 (47.3%)

I realise these are not great scores but what i do when i study is i write down what i think is the important parts of the text or the videos i have watched. When studying these videos i filled 1 1/2 notepads of text and drawings. What i am doing now is typing all these notes into Word. All up i have squeezed around 20 hours of videos into 25 pages of notes. Before re-writing these notes i sat the practice exams and got the above scores with a year and a bit worth of patchy video watching but i plan to sit them again next week and see what i can get. Im hoping to be up around the 80-90% mark.

Sorry i got of the beaten path then, i just want to know do these videos prepare you well. I plan to read A LOT of stuff on this forum and sit a heap of practice exams and also i have a boson simulator. I was hoping that i could use the nuggets as my base?? Do you believe this is a good base product, or am i better off reading a whole book?

msteinhilber

Definitely not a good base study material. Pickup the CCNA Certification Library by Odom for a good in depth read. Some people like the Sybex CCNA book by Lammle as well as it's a bit easier of a read. Books should be your primary study source which will expose you to what you will want to practice on real gear, dynamips, or a simulator.

It really doesn't matter what certification you are pursuing, CBT's of any sort IMO are strictly supplemental material. Books and hands on should be your primary methods of study. Taking notes is great be it from the videos or from a book - but do look over the exam objectives so that you have a good idea of what you are going to be tested on so you know what you should know inside and out.

Check out the CCNA FAQ sticky in the forum here, there is a lot of good information within to help you prepare and answer common questions.

ColbyG

I use CBTNuggets as my primary source of info, then I supplement with books and Google. I learn much better from videos than from reading.

laidbackfreak

+1 for CBT's I find these cover the core areas of a track. I then suplement these with further reading usually the cisco books and whitepapers etc. On top of all this is LAB's.... LAB's.... and more LAB's

I dont think one source is enough for anything I like to see things from different perspectives it helps me get a more rounded view of things.

dynamik

They'll provide a solid foundation, but they lack the details you need to pass the exam.

billscott92787

They provide a great foundation. They do go into some detail. The best thing you can do for yourself is get the Cisco Press Exam Certification Library. (ICND1 AND ICND2 books). These will provide the in-depth information that you need to pass. What you can do (which is what I did when studying for my CCNA), is read a chapter in the book, than what the video that goes along with that information in the text, so that you are getting double the dose, so to say. That way something you don't really pick up, or understand in the reading, it may make more sense when they hit it in the labs. IF you can, I would get a hold of the Train Signal CCNA videos (Chris Bryant CCIE # 12933). He does a VERY good job of going along the same schedule or whatever as the Chapters in the Cisco Press books.

shodown

Part of a tool box. The more tools the better job you can do overall. I like them. We got a streaming account at work so I use them all the time.

networker050184

About as well as the quick reference sheets do. Great overview, but not enough depth.

luke_bibby

For the ICND2 and CCNAS exams, I watched the CBT nuggets before reading the books so I had a 'pretty good' idea of what I needed to learn. Somethings though, like subnetting, I learned completely from the CBT nuggets videos because Jeremy explained things awesomely.

But yeah the other guys are right, not enough depth in them to pass an exam

eduromer

albanga wrote: »

Hey All,

Well its time to get serious. In October (last year!!) My boss got me to start watching CBT nuggets videos the he had in the hopes i would be able to get my CCNA. As time went by things happened and i fell off that path only occasionally studying but the time between watching each video was too distant and i was forgetting everything.

In the last month however i have gone back and studied the remaining videos I had and finished them off. Then to see where i was at i came in here (long time member from my Microsoft days) and finished all the practice exams. My results were as follows;

Intro Exam - 16 of 35 (45.7%)
Router Command Exam - 16 of 30 (53.3%)
CCNA Exam - 26 of 55 (47.3%)

I realise these are not great scores but what i do when i study is i write down what i think is the important parts of the text or the videos i have watched. When studying these videos i filled 1 1/2 notepads of text and drawings. What i am doing now is typing all these notes into Word. All up i have squeezed around 20 hours of videos into 25 pages of notes. Before re-writing these notes i sat the practice exams and got the above scores with a year and a bit worth of patchy video watching but i plan to sit them again next week and see what i can get. Im hoping to be up around the 80-90% mark.

Sorry i got of the beaten path then, i just want to know do these videos prepare you well. I plan to read A LOT of stuff on this forum and sit a heap of practice exams and also i have a boson simulator. I was hoping that i could use the nuggets as my base?? Do you believe this is a good base product, or am i better off reading a whole book?

Its probably a great way to learn, what i do is, i watch the videos and make some notes, then i read the book and that makes it a lot easier to understand, there are some information that its not on the videos so you do need to read them, i then do some labs, and review whatever i have doubts, either with the videos or the book, Jeremy is an awesome teacher, so for example i was literally falling sleep with the ONT Book, i watched the video, it was fun stuff i came back to read the book and much much easier .
Good luck!!!

albanga

Thanks for all the feedback everyone, I will definitely take everyones advice and find another study source (being a book) to go along with what i have learnt from the videos.

I'm actually in that stage now when i enjoy studying (it only happens every so often so i need to capatalise!)so hopefully i can maintain it up and past Christmas time.

I'll be sure to keep going through these forums in the coming months as i prepare myself to take the exam and with everyones help am confident i can get the result.

So a big thanks to everyone, and hopefully in a few months time i can be on here iving my advice on how to pass

Cheers