CCNA Passed! : From 0 to CCNA in 14 days

ddrmaxgt37

Hey guys,

I've been lurking the forums for the last two weeks. Thanks for all the tips and advice.

I needed to take the CCNA for my next gig and only had a few months. So, I studied for two weeks and passed!!

I've seen a lot of posts saying how CCNA is very hard. I learned that it is only has hard as you make it out to be! I studied Todd Lammle's book, studying 1-3 chapters a day. Then I spent a week learning more specific concepts and doing labs. GNS3 was super useful. I didn't have the time or resources to acquire my own hardware.

Here are a couple things I did to make sure I retained all the information.

1. I took lots of notes. Even though Todd's book was very good, I didn't want to have to read it again every time I needed to brush up on a detail. writing concise notes helped a lot.
2. I wrote up a note sheet of the common steps for CLI configurations and troubleshooting. When I was first doing the sims and labs, I kept this next to me for reference. It helped a lot.
3. For things like memorizing ip addresses and port numbers, I just made a few flashcards and reviewed them every few days after lunch or before sleeping.
4. Basically, I lived and breathed CCNA for 2 weeks. It definitely helps drill the information into your head.

If I were to do it again, I would try to manage my time better. I spend a little too much time on one of the earlier questions and that ended up making me feel a little rushed for the rest of the exam.

Also, the dry erase marker that was given to me crapped out half way through. Make sure to test it out before starting the exam.

Cheers

JohnnyBiggles

Wow 2 weeks? Do you work or go to school?? Do you sleep??? How many hours a day?

Dakinggamer87

Congrats!!

alxx

congratulations!

Whats on the list next ?

wave

Congrats!!! Just two weeks of study, wow!

Obviously you started a decent Networking background? I seriously doubt a newbie could study and pass the CCNA in two weeks.

Yuu

WD Bro

I thought CCNA in 60days was something to look forward to lol

Eildor

I suppose if you were to do 3-4 hours reading a day, plus some time on labs it would be possible to pass CCNA in a short period of time (add some subnetting practice in there too). Just depends on how much information you can retain I think some of us are guilty of dragging it on for too long, and then we forget what we learnt a month ago.

Congratulations by the way -- what's next?

Shanman

congrats

That is a great accomplishment!

Ryan82

I would be skeptical of someone going literally from 0 to completing their CCNA in 14 days. That was a hard test. I studied for 6 months I would say and failed the first time. Granted I wasn't spending 4 hours a day studying.

Congrats nonetheless. I would highly recommend reading Network Warrior next. Its a pretty good practical book that is an excellent follow on to your CCNA studies.

alan2308

Congrats!


Now the challenge is to retain anything.

cischico

It took me 7 days to pass the CCNA test. I was taught by Todd Lammle. I didn't know how privileged I was until after the first day. The man is really passionate about teaching Cisco courses. Congrats on passing on your own. I studied 18 hours a day for those seven days. In the end it was worth it. Passed with a 917.

instant000

1. Congrats on the pass!
2. How many hours did you take to prepare? Number of days can be misleading.
3. What was your experience level going into it?

Steveg31

18 hours a day? Is that even possible!!?? Congrats to both of you on the pass though. I wish I could study for at least 8 hrs a day, but I have to work and sleep. All the boring stuff.
Hopefully I'll be ready by the end of August.

cischico

Steveg31 wrote: »

18 hours a day? Is that even possible!!?? Congrats to both of you on the pass though. I wish I could study for at least 8 hrs a day, but I have to work and sleep. All the boring stuff.
Hopefully I'll be ready by the end of August.

I had a lot of motivating factors. I paid 5K upfront, I took leave and flew to Texas from Japan to take the course and I had an opportunity to take the exam right after the class for free.

Lammle was available everyday until about 10pm to midnight or so and I took advantage of that and asked him many questions and redid all the labs until I knew how to do it with out reading the book. It was the most intense studying I have ever done in my life second only to military ET school which was 12 hours a day for 4 months. Before I took the course I had a little experience with Cisco hardware. I knew a little bit about the IOS, but not that much. Lammle's teaching skills were outstanding and his training guide is top notch.

beach5563

How was working with GNS3? Do you have to have a real router with IOS? I heard that you have to have a pretty powerful computer to use it. I was thinking of maybe using Packet tracer. I have the CBT nuggets videos. MAybe I will add the boson tests with it and go that route.

ddrmaxgt37

I didn't have that great a background before taking the exam. I had taken a networks course a few years ago, but didn't really remember very much other than the dod model and tcp/udp. The only network hardware I had ever used before were just cheap home wireless routers.

I spent 4-6 hours a day on weekdays and pretty much the whole day on weekends. It was at times pretty hard, but taking the quizzes at the end of each chapter and doing well helped me a lot.

@beach5563 As to GNS3, I did use it on a very powerful computer, but I don't know if that is necessary. All I had to do to get it working is download the all-in-one package for windows and obtain an iOS image. Real hardware isn't necessary. I found some tutorials on youtube on how to use it.

@Ryan82 thanks for the recommendation. I'll check out the book.

mikej412

ddrmaxgt37 wrote: »

passed!!

Congratulations!!

beach5563

Thanks and you are a real inspiration. I pretty much did the same thing years ago when I took it. I had been in IT doing telecom stuff and I went to a 6 week CCNA class on weekends. I used the Todd Lammle book too but I only got 809 and needed 849. So im going to make another run at it soon.

kast1

Good job on passing the CCNA in two weeks. Any plans for CCNP or any other certs?

instant000

beach5563 wrote: »

How was working with GNS3?

GNS3 is cool.

Do you have to have a real router with IOS?

You need a real IOS to use it, which you usually have, if you have real routers around there somewhere.

I heard that you have to have a pretty powerful computer to use it.

Not too sure about that. Look at this:

Journey of a Network Engineer: How to minimize CPU utilization when using Dynamips/GNS3 (idlepc + idlemax)

I was thinking of maybe using Packet tracer.

Cannot comment on it, never used packet tracer.

I have the CBT nuggets videos.

The CBT Nuggets videos get great reviews, but I did not observe any to know what they offer for CCNA.

MAybe I will add the boson tests with it and go that route.

The Boson tests have a reputation for being difficult. Probably can't go wrong with these.

beach5563

Thanks so much for your advice. I really appreciate it.

instant000

beach5563 wrote: »

Thanks so much for your advice. I really appreciate it.

You're welcome.