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Passed CCNA Yesterday 200-120: Study methods
JaneDoe
Member Posts: 171
in CCNA & CCENT
I passed the CCNA yesterday morning while it was -9 with a windchill of -30. Big thanks to my mom for giving me a ride so I didn't have to wait for the bus in -30 windchill. The exam wasn't too bad, or at least it didn't seem too bad because I studied my butt off.
It's a good exam. A lot of the trivia memorization I did was unnecessary because the exam is so content heavy. If you fully comprehend the concepts you should do well. My advice to people earlier in their studies is this. Go through the certification guide and/or Lamble's book once and make flash cards for all of the acronyms and vocabulary you don't know as well as the powers of 2 up to 2^16, the multiples of 16, and the subnets (ie. 255.255.255.252 = /30, block size 4, valid hosts 2), practice counting to 256 by 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, and 64. Memorize these flashcards. Once you have this vocabulary down watch the CBNuggets videos and re-read the books. You will understand a lot that you missed the first time around after you've learned the vocabulary. At this point start doing practice labs. Use practice labs that are much more complex than anything you'd expect to see on the exam. I'd suggested working your way through CCNP level labs untill you fully understand them, this way when you take the exam the labs you get will seem really easy and you'll be able to do them quickly.
It's a good exam. A lot of the trivia memorization I did was unnecessary because the exam is so content heavy. If you fully comprehend the concepts you should do well. My advice to people earlier in their studies is this. Go through the certification guide and/or Lamble's book once and make flash cards for all of the acronyms and vocabulary you don't know as well as the powers of 2 up to 2^16, the multiples of 16, and the subnets (ie. 255.255.255.252 = /30, block size 4, valid hosts 2), practice counting to 256 by 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, and 64. Memorize these flashcards. Once you have this vocabulary down watch the CBNuggets videos and re-read the books. You will understand a lot that you missed the first time around after you've learned the vocabulary. At this point start doing practice labs. Use practice labs that are much more complex than anything you'd expect to see on the exam. I'd suggested working your way through CCNP level labs untill you fully understand them, this way when you take the exam the labs you get will seem really easy and you'll be able to do them quickly.
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networker050184
Mod Posts: 11,962 Mod
Congrats!An expert is a man who has made all the mistakes which can be made. -
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Jon_Cisco
Member Posts: 1,772 ■■■■■■■■□□
Nice job!
I just reverted to good old fashion flash cards for my note taking. Forces me to keep it simple and makes for easy 5 minute refreshers.
I still use a scratch pad to write random notes about topics but I don't usually keep the notes after. I just use to to make sure I know what the author is saying. -
OptionsJaneDoe
Member Posts: 171
Security+, but that'll be a walk in the park compared to the CCNA. After that I'll focus on finishing school and maybe RHCSA.
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OptionsLifik
Member Posts: 10 ■■■□□□□□□□
Bravo!!! I'm looking to start my CCNA route in March or April. Take a night off and celebrate!
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aftereffector
Member Posts: 525 ■■■■□□□□□□
Congratulations!
I agree - once you have the subnetting down, the rest is just concepts and a little command syntax. Sec+ will be an easy takedown for you next!CCIE Security - this one might take a while... -
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zxbane
Member Posts: 740 ■■■■□□□□□□
Congrats, had you passed the new CCENT exam prior or did you just do the composite exam? -
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DoubleNNs
Member Posts: 2,015 ■■■■■□□□□□
Congrats on the pass!!Goals for 2018:
Certs: RHCSA, LFCS: Ubuntu, CNCF CKA, CNCF CKAD | AWS Certified DevOps Engineer, AWS Solutions Architect Pro, AWS Certified Security Specialist, GCP Professional Cloud Architect
Learn: Terraform, Kubernetes, Prometheus & Golang | Improve: Docker, Python Programming
To-do | In Progress | Completed -
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bull313
Member Posts: 138
Way to go! I will certainly take your advice when I finally attempt that one. Working on the CompTIA gauntlet first."Follow your dreams. You CAN reach your goals. I'm living proof. Beefcake! BeefCAAAAAAAKKKKE!!!"-Eric Cartman -
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bub9001
Member Posts: 229 ■■■□□□□□□□
Wow, thanks for the post on the studying you did. Very helpful.
Oh, and Congrads!!!“You were born to win, but to be a winner you must plan to win, prepare to win, and expect to win.” - Zig Ziglar
Goals for 2019: CEH, and CND
Goals for 2019: CCNA or ECSA -
OptionsJaneDoe
Member Posts: 171
Yup, I took the composite exam. I thought about doing the two exam route, but I had a lot of time on my hands over winter break.
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Dakinggamer87
Member Posts: 4,016 ■■■■■■■■□□
Congrats on pass!!
*Associate's of Applied Sciences degree in Information Technology-Network Systems Administration
*Bachelor's of Science: Information Technology - Security, Master's of Science: Information Technology - Management
Matthew 6:33 - "Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need."
Certs/Business Licenses In Progress: AWS Solutions Architect, Series 6, Series 63
