How long did it take you to get CCNA ?

HLRS

I am wondering what is the normal study time people get CCNA. Weeks/Months?

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itgl72

This seems like a question that will vary greatly depending on people, and their situations!

I have not hit it yet, but I started net academy in September of last year and will finish ccna4, the last module during this summer semester. Lord help me to remember what I forgot on ccna1,2, and 3!

Brain_Power

This is a great question! I am just starting on my CCNA and planning to test in 60 days. Ofcourse, this could change, depending on difficulty.

Illumanati

To answer the question of how long it will take to pass the exam, I sincerely feel it is all about "environment".

By "environment", I'm talking mentally and not physically although some can't find a noise-free environment but rather, mentally.

You have to put yourself in a eat, sleep and dream the subject mindset with the key being to maintain that goal over time and not get distracted which goes back to the "environment". It is all about comprehension and retention and without that mindset, it will go in one ear and out the other.

Like I said, Eat, sleep and dream the subject which means continuous focus and concentration over time even when you sleep and wake up the next day! Then and only then, can you answer the question of how long it will take to pass the exam!!!!

jamesp1983

I think it took me about 6 months, but it was 5 years ago.

spd3432

12 years from the time my employer first sent me to a one-week Cisco course.

They were talking re-org and rolling some of the NOC duties into the group that managed the Windows servers. We did end up as the level 1 support after they out-sourced so it came in handy.

I only spent about 2 months of actual deep study for the exam but by that time, I had over 10 years exposure to Cisco routers and switches and was very familiar with the IOS (had full access to the show commands for troubleshooting but no exec rights to make changes).

Different people, different situations. You may "get it" right away or you might get stuck on spanning-tree or acl's and it may take you weeks to finally find explanations that makes sense to you. You may be able to spend 4-6 hours a day/night reading or labbing or you may be lucky to get 2-3 hours a week in.

r_durant

This question is asked many times, and i'm pretty sure you won't get a solid answer. Study time is really relative to that person who is studying. Each person will have different experience, and differences in understanding the material. It may take a month for some, and 2 years for some...

IMO 'you' have to know when you are ready, based on whether you understand the material.

Darthn3ss

65 minutes.

JeanM

Darthn3ss wrote: »

65 minutes.

Haha, nice!

Ramair2k

I went the 2 test path and it took me 28 days

onesaint

This question has a lot of variables to it. Have you done much networking previously? Ever touched an IOS promt or Unix shell? Ever worked with Subnetting, netowrk protocols, or TCP/IP? If you go the community college route it will take you a year. If you go the dedicated, 4 hours a day / 10 on the weekend self study route, you can bang it out in as little as a few months.

The exam is tough for people as it's usually their first expedition into networking concepts. Each of those can take a while to grasp. In that case a structured concept by concept approach can prove to be beneficial. If you do have some experience in networking concepts things can move much quicker.

Good luck!

QHalo

No Cisco experience but 8 years other experience, two test route took me 90 days.

bermovick

11 weeks total - 5 for ICND1, 6 for ICND2 (or vice-versa). Had a decent general understanding of networking, but nothing with cisco. I wasn't working at the time (SAHD) so could spend quite a bit of time on the studies.

NotHackingYou

4 months from start of study to pass for ICND2

elderkai

From when I started studying Cisco to passing the ICND2, it was about 10 months. However, I was enrolled into a physical class and just waited until I was out of it. That length of time gave me plenty of time to just strengthen my skills and become natural with most concepts to further help. I'd say 3-4 months self study, though, maybe less. Hard to say because it varies widely depending on the person and their situation.

YFZblu

I bought my ICND1 and ICND2 books in October of 2011 - So nine months so far. I'm hoping to take the ICND2 exam within the next week. The nine months wasn't hardcore studying - I work, go to school, and halfway through I relocated across the country and got married...I had plenty of distractions.

stlsmoore

Two test route took me 2 months exactly, but I was studying 6-8 hours a day. Chapter a day and a test once a month.

Qord

I went through the Networking Academy as part of a Net Admin degree program at a local community college, so if you count that it took me almost 2 years. After actually finishing that program, I studied for the test for about a month before taking and passing the CCNA test.

mguy

it'll be more helpful if we express study time in terms of hours.

How many hours of studying?

DarthVader

Depends on you experience level; Also, do you have any hands on experience on a live network?
I studied for CCNA for a few weeks then tested and passed but I had a bit of experience.

good luck