New guys here, Network +/ career questions

ITdude84

Hello all, I have browsed these forums before a lot of good info and people. Unfortunately with the way the economy has been, I have been out of work for 3 months, so I figured I would take this time to work on my long over due certifications. I currently hold a A+ (which I just received) I am currently working on my Network + (I am using Mike Myers book along with professor messors video as my study guides.)

When using mike meyers book, what is the most optimal way to note take with his materials? I find sometimes he over explains things or vears off in another direction to where I get confused. Do you guys take notes on every single section? or just study the exam tips? eventually after my network+ I will go for my security+ then from there I would like to see what would be most beneficial (career wise.)


Second part of question:

Eventually I want to get into a systems admin/security field. Would the CCNA-CSSP route be the best way to go, or the MCSE stuff?

thanks for looking, I look forward to your responses.

tycar86

I just passed N+. I used the resources from WGU but also read Mike Meyer's book. I'm not a note taker so I can't help you there. I will tell you that his practice exams (I'm assuming you got them with the book) help a TON.

ITdude84

How long did you study for and granted we cant predict what will be on the test, was there a subject you seen more of than others?

DoubleNNs

Personally, I just made a list of the terms (just the terms, not even the definition) and read thru the book carefully. I highlighted a little. When i was finished for the day I'd just review the list of terms and made sure I knew them all to some extent.

Then when I was finished reading, I used Prof Messer to review.

Out of the 3 certs I have the net+ was actually the only one I didn't take extensive notes for.

ITdude84

I think thats my problem, I end up with more notes than needed. I know some people say thats not a bad deal, the more notes the better! but when you have 60+ pages of notes to study before a test, thats a little much.

linuxlover

It is if you're rushing through the studying.

What I like to do is first set a time frame and try not to rush ti through no matter how quick I want to get it over with. I like to consider studying for certification as a voyage and try to make it a pleasant and exciting learning experience. If I begin to rush it through it usually means I'm studying only for the sake of it and that I lost my focus from the main goal, so it's time to take a break. I will spend the rest of the day and the next day doing something else.

When I study I like to do it differently each time. Sometimes, I would first watch a complete video series then read a book. I would read each chapter twice, second time I would be taking notes. Others, I would read the whole book at once and then read it again, this time taking notes. If I'm studyin the whole day, I would take 30min brakes every few hours. Every day before studying I would read through the notes quickly before continuing to refresh my brain. After I'm done with the book I would watch the video tutorials again making sure I understand everything.

Phase three includes preparing for the exam which means taking tests online every day. I would read through the notes in the morning, take tests throughout the day and read the notes again in the evening. After I'm confident enough I would register for the exam. I would repeat my daily routine each day until the day or two before the exam. That's when I wouldn't do anything related to the certification.

The secret is not rushing, because when you rush your brain is under stress and you usually forget things or mix them up and most of the time you don't understand why things work the way they work, you just learn them by heart. You learn the hows but not the whys and after the test you forget everything you learned. The best approach I found for myself is backing up the theory with practice. That means when I learned about ethernet cabling I went online and studied pictures of all different cables and their use. I would watch pictures of different cables in everyday use, I would watch videos on youtube about network topologies in use and so forth. Sometimes I would read through the RFCs along to get to the bottom of it. That has much better effect than staring at the text all day long.

When you take this approach you don't need to 'study' the topic, it's enough to just read through it twice and it will burn into your memory and when you see 100BASE-T on your exam you immediately picture the cable and associate that to the video you've seen online - you understand it. Sometimes if the subject is hard to understand I would just go through it anyways for a period of time studying hard for few months and then take few months off. After I come back, I would start studying like it's my first time and things become much clearer. I would do it again if necessary. The pause allows information to sink in. Most of the time when you study, you overload the brain and the effect is contra-productive.

Science fact: 75% of what you learn will fade out within three days if you don't refresh your memory every day.

I don't like studying, I'm all about hand-on experience and learning by trial and error. Even though I sucked at math my whole life, I still prefer the 'you either get it or you don't' approach rather than 'study everything by heart until you're done with the exam, then you can forget about it'.

ITdude84

Excellent post, I agree I am a very hands on guy myself and prefer to have it in front of me so I can learn all the ends and outs. I am not good at math either. I guess you can say I am kind of psyching myself out but I think thats the norm when taking these certs. Im taking the N+ because I want to make sure I have a solid understanding of networking concepts to help me when I got for my Security +, CCNA, then eventually into the security field.

Unfortunately, I went a college when I was younger and later found out they were not accredited so I wasn't able to get my bachelors and at major university without starting over .Fast forward a little also had a job that held me back on promotion and learning opportunities that held me back quite a bit and I was stuck in a stagnant Network Admin/Desktop support role. So here I am unemployed, and working on my Certs and looking to go back to school sometime here soon on top of looking for another job. Fun huh?

**sorry, didnt mean to get off topic, guess I had to get that out** lol

tycar86

ITdude84 wrote: »

How long did you study for and granted we cant predict what will be on the test, was there a subject you seen more of than others?

I took the MTA Network Fundamentals exam before this one. I spent about 1.5 weeks on that. Then, I spent about 2 additional weeks on the N+. This was at about 25-30 hrs per week studying. Make sure you know the OSI model, including which devices, protocols, etc work at each layer. Know the speeds, maximum lengths and connectors used for each type of cabling. Understand how routers, switches, hubs etc work. Know how to troubleshoot, including the steps of troubleshooting and using the different commands (ping, tracert, netstat, nslookup, etc). There's tons more to know but the book covers everything.

My advice would be to get as much hands-on experience as you can. I thought this test was actually a little easier than A+, maybe because it was only half the questions, haha.

ITdude84

I have the mike myers all in one book (800+ pages) anybody have thoughts on his passport series? (400+ pages) literally cuts it in half anybody vouch for those series of books?

hosein2000mr

Hi guys. I am new to this wonderful website.
Just ITdude84 I am taking the exam at the end of May. I got my CCNA in 2007 but because I was working in another field ( App Developing) I was quite far from Networking. I just had couple of questions and would be grateful if you guys could help me?

1- I am reading Kevin Wallace book "CompTIA Network+ N10-005 Authorized Cert Guide". Is it enough or shall I study Mike Meyers book as well?Because when I checked the exam objectives , some of them are not covered in detailed in Wallace's book. Although there are impressive reviews for this book. ?

2- I had some years experience in Networking mostly as Administrator in couple of small companies. I am a bit stressful for the Performance- base section of the exam. Is it really hard and how I can practice it?? Is there any good simulator for this or playing around with Command Prompt is enough?

3- There is any free sample exams and questions out there in the internet for N+? Because all I found were to purchase and my budget is limited.

Looking forward to hearing from you .
Hossein

Clevernamehere

Let me take a stab at your questions Hossein.

1. I just passed the Network+ a couple of days ago. It's a terribly easy exam. The Kevin Wallace book was the only one I read and then I used the Learnzapp app to cement it all. If you know wireless you'll pass easy. If you know wireless AND know your cabling by heart you'll ace it. So yea, I think the Wallace book is plenty.

2. I was stressed about the performance based questions as well. I had 4 of them myself. 2 on cabling, one on switch ports and one on wifi. They are very easy if you know your stuff (except the wifi question, it made no sense whatsoever.) All the CLI questions I had were multiple choice. Don't worry about these. They are more interactive questions then performance based if that makes any sense.

3. I only took the practice exams that came with the Wallace book and the learnzapp app (8 dollars). If you can pass the practice tests that came with the Wallace book then you will crush the actual exam. The practice tests are much harder.

Hope that helped.

ITdude84

anybody have thoughts Mike Myers passport series Network plus book? (400+ pages) literally cuts it in half anybody vouch for those series of books?

hosein2000mr

Thank you very much Clevernamehere

I really enjoyed your comment and it gives me a rush . I am really studying hard day and night and all the concepts are coming back to my mind from old days. Though I still did not get the point about Performance-based questions? Do we have to work in command prompt and perform some commands ?? or at the end there are multiple choices for each given scenario???
On the other hand I am looking for a simulator for practicing? I remember when I was studying for CCNA in 2007 there was a software (Packet Tracer) which you could practice with. I was wondering if there is any particular simulator for Net+?


@ ITdude84 : I have no idea about that book buddy but I guess you can buy the Kindle version very easily.

Lookinf forward to hearing from you.
Hossein

IT69

The exam will probably be much easier than you think, I definitely thought it was..... I bought Mike Myers AIO book and while I did like his A+ book I cannot say the same for his Network+. I recommend you check out the n1005 exam cram book and professor messers video series, imo these are the best study material for the N+, also check out examcompass for some good free practice tests.