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so much material, where to start ?
anuragaks10
Member Posts: 60 ■■□□□□□□□□
in CCNA & CCENT
Hi I am about to begin my studies for CCNA. I have been reading and surfing and I have discovered tons of material on CCNA prep. And that is all very confusing, any advice from the fellow students or pass-outs of CCNA about the study material for CCNA, would be extremely helpful.
And just out of curiosity, how long will it take (say with a few hours a day) to prepare for CCNA ? coz some academies and training centres say that it might take a good 5-8 months. I want to get it done in 3 months as I do have some background of Networking.
And just out of curiosity, how long will it take (say with a few hours a day) to prepare for CCNA ? coz some academies and training centres say that it might take a good 5-8 months. I want to get it done in 3 months as I do have some background of Networking.
A smooth sea never made a skilled sailor
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mikej412
Member Posts: 10,086 ■■■■■■■■■■
How fast you can do it depends on how motivated you are and how interesting you find the material and how much relevent knowledge you already possess. 3 months is a good target. Anything less than that and you'll need the support of your friends and family (and maybe work) -- since you'd definitely have to cut into your social/family life and wouldn't be working late (or on weekends).
While there may be a ton of material, not all of it current and some of it is only useful for putting money in the author and publisher's pockets.
Check out the CCNA FAQ.
If you already work with Cisco Equipment and have lots of exposure to most of the topics (like someone already working at a Cisco Business Partner) then you may just need to read through Todd's Sybex CCNA book.
If you're new to Cisco and need to learn it all from scratch, you might start with Wendell Odom's CCNA Certification Library, but jump to Todd's book for subnetting and then use it to review for the exam. Some people might start with Todd's book because it's more of a "fun read" -- and then read Wendell's books.
If you're a "video person" you might want to also toss in some CBTs like CBT Nuggets or TrainSignal.
A lot of the exam topics are "hands on" -- so you'll want to practice on real equipment (or if you just want to "get by" then you can use a Simulator like Boson or the new Cisco Press one).:mike: Cisco Certifications -- Collect the Entire Set! -
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mamono
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Couldn't have been answered any better than what Mike said.
3 months is not bad, I believe average is 6 months to 1 year for anyone with no Cisco experience whatsoever.