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CCNA Preperation
mikeyoung
Member Posts: 101
in CCNA & CCENT
After I passed my test, several people asked me privately to tell them what was on my test. For obvious reasons I did not tell them, but I did reply to one guy who said he had a firm grasp on router 'theory,' but no hands on experience. He asked me what I thought of his chances and here is what I told him, and I would tell any one else. Newbies, please heed this advise and old timers... back a brother up!
Thanks,
Mike
What I can tell you is this:
You must know how to configure the switches and routers, plaind and simple. I would say that knowing router theory will be helpful, but you don't have a chance if you can't config the boxes or know the command syntax. Pointless to say any specific commands are more important than others, because you need to know them all.
So you need to find some way to get some hands-on experience.
As for troubleshooting: being in the networking business is 10% install and config and 90% problem solving. Most study guides focus on install and config, so you need to find something more oriented toward troubleshooting. I used the Cisco press' exam guides for INTRO and ICND and found them to be outstanding. Also with regards to those books: my thoughts were that with all the training material out there, there my be some ambiguites or double meanings and I felt like any time that was the case, I want to have the "Cisco" definition because it is going to be a "Cisco" exam. I don't know if it worked or not, because I didn't study any other material.
So, to summerize, I would suggest that you, either take some cisco authorized classes if you can afford it, becuase they SHOULD provide you with some excellent hands-on OR study the books above and buy some cheap gear, or some good sims, OR both.
Thanks,
Mike
What I can tell you is this:
You must know how to configure the switches and routers, plaind and simple. I would say that knowing router theory will be helpful, but you don't have a chance if you can't config the boxes or know the command syntax. Pointless to say any specific commands are more important than others, because you need to know them all.
So you need to find some way to get some hands-on experience.
As for troubleshooting: being in the networking business is 10% install and config and 90% problem solving. Most study guides focus on install and config, so you need to find something more oriented toward troubleshooting. I used the Cisco press' exam guides for INTRO and ICND and found them to be outstanding. Also with regards to those books: my thoughts were that with all the training material out there, there my be some ambiguites or double meanings and I felt like any time that was the case, I want to have the "Cisco" definition because it is going to be a "Cisco" exam. I don't know if it worked or not, because I didn't study any other material.
So, to summerize, I would suggest that you, either take some cisco authorized classes if you can afford it, becuase they SHOULD provide you with some excellent hands-on OR study the books above and buy some cheap gear, or some good sims, OR both.
Lack of will power has caused more failure than lack of intelligence or ability.