Is it possible to prepare for the CCNA in a month?

I'm 3/4 through the Net Acad! Do you think its possible to spend only a month doing practice exams and so on?

Currently half way through LAN Switching and Wireless CCNA3 Exploration!

Many Thanks

Find more posts tagged with

Free for TechExams community: Cybersecurity salary guide

Compare cert salaries and plan your next career move

Button

Comments

WilliamK99

curtisdaley wrote: »

I'm 3/4 through the Net Acad! Do you think its possible to spend only a month doing practice exams and so on?

Currently half way through LAN Switching and Wireless CCNA3 Exploration!

Many Thanks

It really depends on how much experience and actual hands on experience with the equipment you have... I would recomend experience with the equipment over studying practice tests, even if you only use Packet Tracer, which is a fairly good quality program.

dynamik

I'd look at it as number of hours, not weeks or months. Do you have work, school, and/or a family, or are you just chilling in your parents basement where you can study 10 hours a day?

You might want to check out this thread: http://www.techexams.net/forums/ccna-ccent/45534-ccna-study-hours.html

Forsaken_GA

It's possible. I did much the same thing. I was a week into the 4th segment of the Networking Academy, and one day I said 'you know what, screw it' and scheduled the test for the same day. (I had always been ahead of my class, and was regarded as easily the best network nerd of the bunch).

I passed. But it wasn't pretty. I got cocky and arrogant, and didn't put in as much study time on Frame Relay and ISDN as I should have, and my scores reflected that. I was strong on everything else, and really, that's the only reason I passed, but I felt I should have done much better. I was able to guess well enough on the ISDN and Frame Relay sections, but that's not the point of the exam, I should have known the material thoroughly, because I can guarantee you no employer is going to be happy with you guessing the answers to a problem when you're working on their network.

The question of possibility always lies with the person, not with the amount of time. If you're comfortable with all aspects of the material the exam will cover, take a shot at it. If you think a month will put you where you want to be, take the month and then assess if that's the case. If not, take longer. If you feel ready after two weeks, shorten your time. It's really up to you.

mella060

It all depends on how much experiance you have with cisco/networking already. Someone who already works with Cisco products in a Telco/Enterprise networking environment with at least 12 months experience could knock the CCNA over in a month or less. Most other people could knock it over in a few months. I recently spent around 6 months doing it but had no real network knowledge beforehand.

wbosher

What's the hurry??

WilliamK99

wbosher wrote: »

What's the hurry??

I basically asked the same thing earlier, if you are trying to get a quick job, cramming for your CCNA may get you the initial job, but it will do you a disservice when you actually have to perform your job duties...

Take it slow, understand, don't just memorize the material, and then attempt the CCNA.

Megadeth4168

As has already been pointed out, it really depends on prior experience. With the Networking Academy, it's possible, I had a friend do this but that was 9 years ago. It was a different test back then.

curtisdaley

I have no commitments: work, kids or anything like that!
Just at home, go to the gym, clubbing and so on, have most of the day as disposable time, so i could sit down 10 hours a day excluding Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner of course to study!

I've used Packet Tracer extensively through the Net Acad, a little bit of hands on experience, a few labs in class here and there, the practical for CCNA1 Exploration was way to easy so i won't mention that, the one for two was more challenging but I still completed it pretty quickly! So i ought to get hold on a home setup and use it to the max then?

mikej412

curtisdaley wrote: »

Do you think its possible to spend only a month doing practice exams and so on?

No -- and I don't think there even exists enough legal practice exam questions to take a week..... and just doing practice exams doesn't really prepare you for the real exam.

A practice exam just tells you the area that you are weak in and need more study. I never understood the people who keep doing the same practice exams until they "pass" and think that it counts as preparing for the exam.

curtisdaley

The rush to get certified is because i'm going away to University in October and i would like to get my status by then although i will be doing it there, i just want to get it done and out the way!

As its a forum i understand illegal material can't be talked about netherless its not uncommon for an individual to use it in his/hers own personal space to prepare for things! Practice tests are worth it, if you don't learn where your going wrong, how can you put it right? Whats the point in checking a load of answers you believe to be right, when there far from it huh?

rwwest7

Not without cheating yourself.

networker050184

curtisdaley wrote: »

The rush to get certified is because i'm going away to University in October and i would like to get my status by then although i will be doing it there, i just want to get it done and out the way!

As its a forum i understand illegal material can't be talked about netherless its not uncommon for an individual to use it in his/hers own personal space to prepare for things! Practice tests are worth it, if you don't learn where your going wrong, how can you put it right? Whats the point in checking a load of answers you believe to be right, when there far from it huh?

IMO you are going about this whole certification thing the wrong way. What is the point of rushing the certification just to have it while in college? You should be trying to get a certification to prove your knowledge and understanding of a technology. Not just to prove you did enough practice tests to squeak by. Makes no sense....

curtisdaley

Even if you rush them, surely if do them properly, you can still retain the skills, knowledge and so on!

networker050184

I don't know, rush and proper just don't seem to go hand in hand to me in terms of study.

mikej412

curtisdaley wrote: »

As its a forum i understand illegal material can't be talked about netherless its not uncommon for an individual to use it in his/hers own personal space to prepare for things!

Right -- that explains the 50-60% of people who can't make it through a simple CCNA phone technical interview.

That's not preparation -- that's just CHEATING. Wouldn't it be easier just to photoshop a fake certificate? Or easier yet, buy a fake one on the internet. Oh heck -- might as well make it an MBA while your at it....

If you EARN a CCNA, it could be helpful to get an internship down the road in school. If you **** to get a CCNA, and a company tosses you back to your school because you actually don't know anything -- you probably won't get another recommendation for another internship.

If you're not going to do it right, why do it at all?

snadam

curtisdaley wrote: »

As its a forum i understand illegal material can't be talked about netherless its not uncommon for an individual to use it in his/hers own personal space to prepare for things!

Not only should Illegal material be refrained from being discussed, it should not be USED AT ALL. You are quickly becoming a prime example of an individual de-valuing a certification. My recommendation to you is to dispose of the illegal material, read books, set up labs, take legit practice exams until you fell you are ready. Don't just read and answer questions; UNDERSTAND what you are doing. Is that going to be in a month? Probably not judging by the experience and familiarity with the material. Its nice to set goals though. Don't take exams just for the sake of an acronym by your name...

PS: MEGADETH!!! Where have you been?!?!

curtisdaley

Lol ok, after seriously taken into account what you have said, i have realized its best to actually prepare for them, practice tests are worthless buy the sound of it and i'm going to lab up, read up and so on!

billscott92787

I would say that fully preparing and understanding the material, there is no way you can prepare in one month. Unless you are going to memorize ****, which are illegal. The only thing that you would be doing then is cheating yourself. Why take the exam, get the certification, then get into a position and not be able to do your job? I would highly recommend reading, re-reading, triple reading, quadruple reading, lol, you get the point. Labbing, practicing subnetting, ACL's, all that fun stuff. To be quite honest, I have been studying for approximately six to seven months so far. My exam is in November. That will make nine to ten months of preparation. With that being said, I have three fulls day a week, that I dedicate around three to four hours in the morning to studying (labs, videos, reading, etc..) In addition to that, I can study here at work on Saturday and Sunday (if I don't get any calls), for the entire day. There is way too much material in my opinion to fully cover and retain to be able to pass in one month. It also depends on how much hands on work experience you may have, as well as previous Cisco experience within recent months. Even if you have taken the Cisco academy courses, that doesn't mean you have "retained" the information. I would recommend studying up, doing sample labs, taking practice exams, watching videos. You want to be able to retain the information so if/when you get a position in the field, you can do your job and not get caught with your pants down, if you know what I mean

dynamik

curtisdaley wrote: »

Lol ok, after seriously taken into account what you have said, i have realized its best to actually prepare for them, practice tests are worthless buy the sound of it and i'm going to lab up, read up and so on!

I love practice exams; I used them for nearly all the exams I've taken. You just need to realize what their role is. You will not learn all the exam material from them, nor will you learn everything from a book, a CBT, or labwork. Each component is part of a process that leads to mastery of the material. You don't need to use every type of resource available to you, but increasing the number of resources and varying the type helps a great deal.

Forsaken_GA

curtisdaley wrote: »

Lol ok, after seriously taken into account what you have said, i have realized its best to actually prepare for them, practice tests are worthless buy the sound of it and i'm going to lab up, read up and so on!

Legit practice exams (Transcender is who I personally endorse) can be very valuable, as long as you understand what they're good for. They're to gauge readiness. You have to understand that the usefulness of a question on a practice exam has an expiration date. If you just keep retaking the same exams, you'll eventually start scoring high just because you remember the answer from when you missed it before.

When taking a practice exam, it's important to take notes. If you see a question you don't know the answer to, make your best guess and move on. When you're checking your answers at the end of the exam, note the correct answer and then try to understand *why* you missed it, why your answer was incorrect. Transcender is nice in this regard, as they will generally provide a thorough explanation as to what the correct answer is, with references to back it up. I also like Transcender because they have an Item Optimizer feature that removes a question you've answered correctly a defineable number of times before, ensuring that you're not always seeing a bunch of questions you've memorized the answers to.

Doing it this way will help you retain it. I routinely do poorly on my first few runs through Transcender, but by doing this method, I'm able to correct myself before I go sit for the real exam, and I routinely score very highly. I cannot count the number of times that I have encountered a similar question, and because I did the research on why I was wrong on the practice exam, I was able to properly extrapolate the correct answer on the real exam.

skwira001

curtisdaley wrote: »

I'm 3/4 through the Net Acad! Do you think its possible to spend only a month doing practice exams and so on?

Currently half way through LAN Switching and Wireless CCNA3 Exploration!

Many Thanks

I would spend at least 3 months. But if you're like me and need this CCNA before taking CCNP this fall, I took the CCNA after about 2 1/2 months. It is a difficult test!

Kaminsky

curtisdaley wrote: »

The rush to get certified is because i'm going away to University in October and i would like to get my status by then although i will be doing it there, i just want to get it done and out the way!

Even with the long and lonely study, if you are 3/4 of the way through your academy and with all that spare time, you should be able to push through to an exam just before you go off to uni. Would be nice to have some kit to help lab out the final material but you don't want to be carting a load of lab kit off to uni with you.

However, when you get to uni, you are going to be studying hard and for a long time so burning youself out on intensive study right now might make your brain grow weary and end up detrimental to your course. First year is designed to weed out those that either don't have it or don't commit. You need to take it easy now and rest and prepare yourself for October.

The first term will be fairly easy going before ramping right up in the new year so you could take the ccna more easy and do it in the spare time at uni to give you a break from the course material. It would be more enjoyable that way.

Good luck with the course. Uni days .. ahh I remember them fondly... a hella lot of fun. Enjoy.

curtisdaley

Thanks too:
billscott92787
dynamik
Forsake GA
skwira001
Kaminsky

for setting me straight lol, i think i'm going to chill and go through it the right place and take several months to prepare for it, to ensure that i will do well at the test!

Kaminsky which Uni did you go to mate?

Kaminsky

curtisdaley wrote: »

Kaminsky which Uni did you go to mate?

Kent. About 18 years ago. They only had CS or electronics as they didn't have all the nice courses they have these days.

Your going to have a lot of fun but remember not to have too much fun and get your work done and you'll be fine. 40% pass mark does not necessarily mean 60% pi$$ up.

curtisdaley

Haha ok man lol! Yeah courses are extensive now, lol 1st year is always about smashing it hard in the clubs and pubs, it won't affect my studies, i partied hard this year and still did very well on my college diploma, im off to do BSc Computer Science (Computer Networks) at Colchester Essex man!

curtisdaley

Don't worry my studies will come first, just like with my BTEC National Diploma, being 18 and all this year, balanced nightlife with College lif lol!

itdaddy

I think you can do it since you have no commitments..

and for those of you saying he is cheating himself, this is all an individual thing....there are things I have done for years I have brain farted on!

He said he was in his 4th semester of net acad??...I think you can do it.
and yeah exam practice won't get a pass, you have to really understand. And I think layer 2 for sure inside and out...and have subnetting and vlsm down pat as well..but it can be done. and the guy who mentioned (dynamik?) about doing it in regards to hours not days or weeks. I agree 100 percent on that. Hours is key..thank God ISDN is not on your exam 802 anymore but it has other nice stuff hee hee..it can be done and I don’t think you are cheating yourself just because you put hours in vs. months of experience...experience is always a plus but since you are going to college saying you have achieved the CCNA says a lot...it says you understand what is going on...and then you can get your hands wet with experience later...go for it!

tech-airman

curtisdaley wrote: »

I'm 3/4 through the Net Acad! Do you think its possible to spend only a month doing practice exams and so on?

Currently half way through LAN Switching and Wireless CCNA3 Exploration!

Many Thanks

curtisdaley,

The whole CCNA Exploration or CCNA Discovery curriculums are designed to prepare you for the 640-802 CCNA generation of certification exams. What does DLCI stand for?

mella060

Is it Data Link Connection Identifier ?

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=What+does+DLCI+stand+for%3F

seraphus

tech-airman wrote: »

curtisdaley,

The whole CCNA Exploration or CCNA Discovery curriculums are designed to prepare you for the 640-802 CCNA generation of certification exams. What does DLCI stand for?

LOL LOL

Hilarious.

To chime in:

I agree with itdaddy.

It really depends on you.
You don't need experience to pass the CCNA, and you can pass it in a month without ****.
Preparation is key, obviously.