Best way of learning CCNA.

I'm looking to get my CCNP by the end of this year. My big question is what is the best way to study for my CCNA? Obviously this is a bit personal in terms of what works best, but I wanted some opinions from other CCNA certified people.

I'm a very hands on and visual leaner, so just grabbing a book and reading all night long doesn't work so well for me.

The two options I'm thinking of are these:

1: Build a home lab for approx $200 and study on my own. Then take the test.
2: Take a CCNA 5 week class for $700, then take the test.

Option 2 looks good because the classes will keep me motivated, but the CCNP class is $2,500, so already having some of the home lab would come in handy.

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Comments

martell1000

for building a lab i would get 2 3550s and 2 2950s and emulate the routers in gns3 by doing so you can get done anything in ccna and are well equipped for the ccnp.

if taking a class is useful you must decide for yourself. i would rather invest the money in equipment, books and some training videos so you can
learn whenever you like, set you own pace and beat it by yourself.

on the other hand if you need the motivation from going to class its surely not a bad thing to do if the teaching is good.

r00ty

That's awesome! Didn't even know about gns3.

Thanks so much.

I think I might build this lab to practice with outside of class, but take the CCNA class to keep me motivated. Then do CCNP on my own.

ChickenNuggetz

This question gets asked a lot (and rightly so), I'm going to copy and paste in a response I gave in reddit's r/ccna about a similar situation:

There's something that you need understand here that's pretty easy to forget: very few people can actually just simply read something and learn it. Very few. There's nothing you can do about that, it simply means you need to diversify the way you are learning. Here's my advice (trust me, I'm a teacher):

Attack the material from several perspectives: just reading wont do. Watch videos, lab it up, flash cards for key concepts, listen to podcasts, etc.
Come up with a study method (this will take some trial and error) that works best for you. Everyone learns differently, you need to figure out how you learn best.
Repetition. Practice makes perfect. You need to practice EVERYDAY. You need to understand that as you progress through the book, the topics you cover will be based on topics you learned about earlier. If you dont understand the fundamentals, you'll never progress beyond a certain point.
TAKE YOUR TIME. Seriously, what's the rush? Rushing it will only cause frustration. Half the battle is motivation and being frustrated because you're rushing it will only serve to be a detriment in the end.
Enjoy what you're doing. This helps with #4 and the whole motivation thing. If you dont enjoy what you're doing, you'll end up resenting it and generally hating life. Something like security can be mind numbing at times, if you're getting frustrated by material that is considered entry level (and CCNA is considered entry level for networking) perhaps this field is not for you (I'm not trying to be mean, but rather give a real perspective on the situation)

For me personally, I start by watching one of the CBT nugget videos (for that particular topic); it helps to familiarize myself with the subject at hand. I then read the chapter highlighting key points that seem important and critical. I then WRITE OUT notes based off of what I highlight, rephrasing it in my own words to ensure I understand what I'm writing. Then I make flash cards based off of the notes I've taken. I study those flash cards on a DAILY basis. I lab to review concepts and commands, I do this often. Then rinse and repeat for the next chapter/subject.

To add a little bit more to this and comment on your "options," taking a class sounds like a good idea to keep you motivated but do keep in mind that a) its expensive; b)having a bad teacher/bad class could sour your motivation; c) how were you in grade school/college? did class motivate you then? I would definitely consider these so that you dont end up wasting $700 and taking away very little. Self-study definitely has its positives. Yes, motivation can sometimes be hard to find, especially with so many distractions. On the other hand, self-study can afford you the opportunities to explore and learn the things that you really find interesting that you may not otherwise be able to do in a classroom environment. For example, I found routing protocols to be fascinating while learning the basics for the CCENT and ended up taking two more weeks to really explore more complex protocols that were outside the scope of the CCENT curriculum. Additionally, this served to help my motiviation even more with my studies of networking

Just some food for thought, I hope that helps!

beach5563

ChickenNuggetz wrote: »

This question gets asked a lot (and rightly so), I'm going to copy and paste in a response I gave in reddit's r/ccna about a similar situation:

There's something that you need understand here that's pretty easy to forget: very few people can actually just simply read something and learn it. Very few. There's nothing you can do about that, it simply means you need to diversify the way you are learning. Here's my advice (trust me, I'm a teacher):
Attack the material from several perspectives: just reading wont do. Watch videos, lab it up, flash cards for key concepts, listen to podcasts, etc.

Come up with a study method (this will take some trial and error) that works best for you. Everyone learns differently, you need to figure out how you learn best.

Repetition. Practice makes perfect. You need to practice EVERYDAY. You need to understand that as you progress through the book, the topics you cover will be based on topics you learned about earlier. If you dont understand the fundamentals, you'll never progress beyond a certain point.

TAKE YOUR TIME. Seriously, what's the rush? Rushing it will only cause frustration. Half the battle is motivation and being frustrated because you're rushing it will only serve to be a detriment in the end.

Enjoy what you're doing. This helps with #4 and the whole motivation thing. If you dont enjoy what you're doing, you'll end up resenting it and generally hating life. Something like security can be mind numbing at times, if you're getting frustrated by material that is considered entry level (and CCNA is considered entry level for networking) perhaps this field is not for you (I'm not trying to be mean, but rather give a real perspective on the situation)

For me personally, I start by watching one of the CBT nugget videos (for that particular topic); it helps to familiarize myself with the subject at hand. I then read the chapter highlighting key points that seem important and critical. I then WRITE OUT notes based off of what I highlight, rephrasing it in my own words to ensure I understand what I'm writing. Then I make flash cards based off of the notes I've taken. I study those flash cards on a DAILY basis. I lab to review concepts and commands, I do this often. Then rinse and repeat for the next chapter/subject.

To add a little bit more to this and comment on your "options," taking a class sounds like a good idea to keep you motivated but do keep in mind that a) its expensive; b)having a bad teacher/bad class could sour your motivation; c) how were you in grade school/college? did class motivate you then? I would definitely consider these so that you dont end up wasting $700 and taking away very little. Self-study definitely has its positives. Yes, motivation can sometimes be hard to find, especially with so many distractions. On the other hand, self-study can afford you the opportunities to explore and learn the things that you really find interesting that you may not otherwise be able to do in a classroom environment. For example, I found routing protocols to be fascinating while learning the basics for the CCENT and ended up taking two more weeks to really explore more complex protocols that were outside the scope of the CCENT curriculum. Additionally, this served to help my motiviation even more with my studies of networking

Just some food for thought, I hope that helps!

That sounds good. Its a good way to approach it.

NewManSoon

Well said Nuggets.

MacGuffin

r00ty wrote: »

The two options I'm thinking of are these:

1: Build a home lab for approx $200 and study on my own. Then take the test.
2: Take a CCNA 5 week class for $700, then take the test.

Option 2 looks good because the classes will keep me motivated, but the CCNP class is $2,500, so already having some of the home lab would come in handy.

Personally I think working with real equipment is critical. I took a CCNA class but I didn't feel like I knew the stuff until I got to work with some real gear for a while. I spent somewhere around $300 on Cisco routers and switches. I considered that a deal since I could easily spend that much on a couple books, or on a failed exam. The real gear, at least for me, was much more helpful than any book in my opinion.

I've heard that people need to experience things three times, in three different ways, before they learn something. You'll need to hear it, read it, then do it before you can say you learned it.

Not only is the gear helpful in your studies it is also more durable. The class lasts for a week, the gear will last for years before it becomes too dated to be useful. You can brush up on your skills at any time by just playing around with the gear. You can't just go back to the class. If you are lucky you'll get some course books with the class that you can re-read but nothing replaces hands on experience.

I believe the question is not about whether to buy gear or not, but about what gear to buy. There's all kinds of advice around here on what gear to get. I can't really guide you there, I'm new to this myself. I'm just saying the investment in gear will pay back much more than any book or class.

That just the opinion of a Cisco certification newbie, salt to taste.

alxx

Lots of labs, reading , note taking and revising and more labs.
i.e Do a lab on the topic, read the chapter/s of the books, take notes. Lab it again.
Revise your notes and lab it again.

Then use a revision app (mental case, .mnemosyne, anki etc) to keep it in your head

Video's can help but aren't a primary source. You need to do reading.

You don't need to have your own equipment as there are a few free online labs
like Community Lab - Packet Life and Free CCNA Workbook » Free Cisco CCNA Lab Access via Online

But having your own equipment can help a lot.
If you can afford it good, if not packet tracer, gsn3 and online labs.

If you do decide to get equipment DO NOT, I repeat DO NOT buy a premade lab package !
unless you want to pay to much for older equipment.

With gsn3 to run the routers , you could just buy 2- 4 switches (gsn3 can't run switches , only certain routers ).
Plus may need some extra ram and a dual/quad network port for your pc.

For switches
A 2950 or two, and a couple of 3550's or better which would do for ccna up to most of the ccnp.

For routers a couple/few of 1721/1751/1760 and a 2600xm or better(2651xm, 3725/3745 , 1841 etc)

For gsn3 give this a watch
CBT Nuggets

Nate--IRL--

For me it was ...

1) Read the whole book (I had Todd Lammle's book), to grasp the concepts, but don't attempt to remember anything.
1.5) Go over it all again using CBT Nuggets - this cemented the concepts for me.
2) Start labbing (For CCNA you can do all of that with GNS3 and Cisco Packet Tracer) Scour the net for labs for both - you should find plenty.
3) Write out the whole book in my own words (This for me was the most effective step in securing the knowledge).
4) Continue labs until your fingers fall off
5) Attempt all the practice tests/questions you can find. Making notes on your weak areas as you go.
6) ????????
7) Pass Test

I am currently doing these steps for ROUTE too. I am at stage 1+2 right now and am aiming for the exam in May.

MrXpert

I learnt without going to any classes or even having any background in networking. Just goes to show you can pass the exam without spending loads and loads of dosh on equipment or going to fancy college courses. What worked for me was packet tracer, cbt and trainsignal. I do like to learn things on my own as it is at my own pace so perhaps a college course wouldn't have helped me. Too regimented imo. Of course anything I didn't understand I always asked about here and was kindly helped.
I'm doing my CCNP now but haven't set any targets other than learning the material.Am using GNS3 which is really good for routing.

I'd highly recommend both the CBT nuggets and Trainsignal vids. Chris Bryant from Trainsignal also does a very good pdf guide which complements his vids well. Also check out the router alley guide. I would avoid buying any of Odom's books not unless you want an early night. It makes a good door stop though.

Oh and one last thing Packetlabs and that Dutch chap by the name of Rene Molle(can't spell the rest) have good websites which are aimed at CCNA and CCNP. Rene has several labs on his site complete with vids. He even has a few books out available on his site. Seems quite helpful.Worth a look.

Zartanasaurus

You're going to have to read something. You need a minimum theoretical foundation to understand what it is you're trying to accomplish in your lab. Of course, you can watch CBTs, but those never seem to dive fully into the material and leave you with lots of gaps in your understanding, while you think you understand it. You don't need to read all night long, but you need to read about a topic, probably from multiple sources so you really get a firm grasp of what it's all about.

My study method was something like... Read about a topic or series of topics. Use other sources for clarification. Try to do what I just read about in the lab. Mess around with some options. Verify configs with show commands. Compare what was in a show command x vs show command y. Turn on debugs to see what was happening when I made changes. Take notes on what I read and what I figured out in the lab.

Then when you get to a point when you know enough topics to design some type of small functioning network, build it from scratch and make notes with the idea that you'd be building it and using it as reference material for someone else for how to build it and what the various configs do and why. Like a deployment document. The act of writing something is very useful for the learning process.

I don't know if going from 0 to CCNP in 9 months with no experience (I'm assuming from your post) is realistic, but I wish you luck. The foundation learning guides will be great for the CCNP stuff.

JockVSJock

I got some good guidelines here.

http://www.techexams.net/forums/ccna-ccent/72376-maybe-im-putting-cart-before-horse-need-improrve-my-ccna-study-habits.html

Todd Burrell

If you want to go on with your CCNP then I would definitely say get some equipment - say something like a couple of 2620XM routers and 2950 or 3550/3650 switches. I'd also get the Wendell Odom books (dry but they really cover the material). Before you take the test I would then use the cbtnuggets web site and use their exam cram deal for $24 a day to cram through the videos.

The "31 days before your CCNA" book was also excellent - it's a great way to essentially cram before the exam (although I used it for one week and not 31 days).

The Boson practice exams are also a must - they mimic the real test and are probably a little harder.

I will say that this is a very aggressive schedule to complete all this by year end. I got my CCNA in January and I am getting through the ROUTE info now and it is a VERY slow process to digest all the material.

Good luck.

MrXpert

Todd Burrell wrote: »

I will say that this is a very aggressive schedule to complete all this by year end. I got my CCNA in January and I am getting through the ROUTE info now and it is a VERY slow process to digest all the material.

Good luck.

Hi Todd you sound like me. I got mine in January also and am slowly working my way through the routing material. I haven't set any targets such as "I must complete it by x amount of time". I'm just making sure I understand all thats needed and not trying to put too much pressure on myself to get things done in a hurry.This method works with me.

Roguetadhg

Agreed.

CCNA I rushed through. Im taking my time through CCNP, mostly because I want to really fully understand the one section of material before adding a larger load onto my head.

Im looking for retention, understanding, knowledge.
I'm not looking for a certification, and go into a interview - or worse, needing to do it at work, and not knowing what I need to.

Not to mention ROUTE and SWITCH is a foundation for other certifications. Understanding will make a large difference when I go into another track.