Just Begun Self Studying for CCENT, Any Suggestions?

Afternoon everyone. Landed my first IT position as a Desktop Support Tech and upon self examination I realized that I would like to focus on networking. I just begun self study for the CCENT exam last week. I'm currently reading CCENT Exam Cram and I also have the CCENT book by Odom as well. My goal is to actually learn the material and put it to use as oppose to study to simply pass the exam. Any other recommendations on how to study such as labs or anything of the sort? Thanks in advance.

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Comments

Eston21

You should try a training site like Pluralsight. They have a wealth of information on the site, as well as informative videos.

coreyb80

Thank you!

j.petrov

Check out the CBTNuggets Series and the Chris Bryant series on udemy. Also for labs packet tracer is great. I used it for CCENT/CCNA I don' t think I would have passed without doing some labs.

bbarrick

I'm getting ready to schedule the CCENT. If I was to give any advice to someone starting out I'd say with Odom's book, grab you a 2950 switch or something rather cheap, grab the cables you need to hook it up and start reading. Between the book, the switch(getting familiar with the CLI) and browsing forums/Youtube videos and by the time you get to Chapter 15 on routers you will have learned enough to do better research on building your own lab or buying something like Boson's network simulator. You don't have to have a lab for CCENT, but you will want one for CCNA. I jumped the gun and bought all my lab equipment. Not that I regret what I've got but I'd probably spread it out and spent a little more money on it.

coreyb80

Thank you very much!

10Linefigure

Thats awesome man, glad to hear you want to actually know and understand the material not just pass the test. Go slow, and retain as much as you can. Packet Tracer was good to lab with for CCENT. Get good at Subnetting and know all the chapters really well. Good luck!

stryder144

j.petrov mentioned the Chris Bryant Udemy course, which is a good suggestion. With a discount code, it is only about $44 or so. He also has three CCNA Success books (ICDN 1, 2, and Binary Math/Subnetting). If you are looking for a book and video combo that mirror each other, then his material is worth looking at. All told, you can get away with spending between $60 and $70 on the videos and books.

Here is a special, don't know how long it will last, where you can get his videos (streaming/downloadable) for $29.

dpsmooth15

I would say the Odom book is great, but the Exam Cram, is meant for a …..Exam Cram. I would not use it as the MAIN Study material or both at the same time, but thats just me. It is based on a prior foundational knowledge. It goes nose deep, you have to twinkle your toes in the water first. Stick with the Odom, you will be fine. Read the Exam Cram a week before your exam date

itangel

^{I am on the same boat OP. I am currently trying to decide if I should grab the Bryan books or Odom book plus I have packet tracer 6 and I might just decide to grab that Cisco Kit from ciscokits.com "}Advanced CCNA v2 RS 200-120 Starter CCNP Kit III" for $634.00. Now note this is a lot of money since I plan to go the CCNP route it gives me a head start plus I have 4 other cisco routers 2950 version with fiber for trunking.

coreyb80

dpsmooth15 wrote: »

I would say the Odom book is great, but the Exam Cram, is meant for a …..Exam Cram. I would not use it as the MAIN Study material or both at the same time, but thats just me. It is based on a prior foundational knowledge. It goes nose deep, you have to twinkle your toes in the water first. Stick with the Odom, you will be fine. Read the Exam Cram a week before your exam date

Very good point. Going to put down Exam Cram and go w/ Odom's book to start. Thank you all for the suggestions especially the Chris Bryant package.

DoubleNNs

Hey corey, I'd agree w/ using Odom's book over the exam cram. However, it's somewhat dated by now, but I used the CCENT for Dummies book prior to reading Odom's book back when i took the 640-822 CCENT. I thought it was an excellent read and using those 2 materials really helped solidify all the concepts.

Try to grab some materials to lab w/ and then you should be good to go!

coreyb80

DoubleNNs wrote: »

Hey corey, I'd agree w/ using Odom's book over the exam cram. However, it's somewhat dated by now, but I used the CCENT for Dummies book prior to reading Odom's book back when i took the 640-822 CCENT. I thought it was an excellent read and using those 2 materials really helped solidify all the concepts.

Try to grab some materials to lab w/ and then you should be good to go!

Clutch info!

bbarrick

New Year's Sale: Save on Books, eBooks, Video, Simulators, and Practice Tests

Click on that link, if you want, and buy the Cisco CCENT 100-101 simulator software. Use the code NY2014 on checkout and you get it for about 65 bucks. It may or may not be better than Boson but with an almost 50% discount I'd say it's worth it.

7255carl

Hi corey

i would also vote for the Odom book, whilst reading through it make sure you complete the mind maps and the practice examples, its a really good resource, if you can get your hands on some real equipment that would be great if not a program like packet tracer will help, also if there is anything you do quite understand, put a post up on site site, there is a huge amount of very knowledgable and approachable people here, someone will always come to your aid, best of luck with your studies

Carl

no!all!

I've got Odom's book, so far so good! Also pick up some old routers and switches for labbing. Good luck