Please help plan my schedule!

Alright so here is the situation. My work is sending me to a CCNA bootcamp next week, I have no desire to take the test anytime soon and they don't expect me to, but I'm not going to pass up the opportunity to attend. Then Feb 11-15th they are sending me to the MCITP 70-680 bootcamp, again I'd love to take the test but know I will be setting myself up for failure, I do not think I'll be able to pass with this limited amount of time(I read about too many failures on this forum). Then Feb 25th-1st they are sending me to a N+ bootcamp, now this test I want to take within a month after the class. I also want to take at least 1 of the A+ exams before the N+ bootcamp.

So I'm not sure how to schedule my study time. I don't want to just ignore CCNA and MCITP, but I don't plan on taking those anytime soon. I want to take A+ ASAP, but not sure if I'll be able to retain the knowledge while sitting in CCNA and MCITP classes for 40 hours a week. Then N+ studying comes into play, do I start studying before the bootcamp or just attend it and add my own sources of studying afterwards? Oh and study time the last week of Jan and the first week of Feb will be limited. Hopefully all of this makes sense, what would you do in my situation? Every time I think I have a plan I run into "well this gets in the way of this, and that gets it the way of that." Blah.

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kurosaki00

why would you rather get A+ than 70-680 and CCNA?
Specially when you already have a job and this job is paying for it...

what is this... I'm confused

Codyy

kurosaki00 wrote: »

why would you rather get A+ than 70-680 and CCNA?
Specially when you already have a job and this job is paying for it...

what is this... I'm confused

I know it sounds crazy, but I'm just simply not ready to take the CCNA or 70-680 exams, one day I will be. With my upcoming schedule between classes I won't be able to properly prepare. I'm in the military and can go to these bootcamps almost whenever I want to(a couple of my bosses, 1 being extremely high ranking loves sending us to classes ..military is paying for it, a slot is open, so she figures why not if we have nothing else going on) we host classes like this all of the time so it's not like my only chance. My job doesn't expect me to take the CCNA or 70-680 unless I want to, they know that they are advanced, all of our roles only require A+, N+, and especially Sec+ so those are the only exams they really care about.

Trust me if I felt I had a good enough understanding to pass up A+ and N+ and jump to the real stuff, I'd definitely do it!

I also supposedly start at WGU in March so knocking these out will give me a decent amount of transfer credit, since these 2 exams are required for my major. I've read that MCITP will not transfer over in place of the MTA exams, which is weird.

Iristheangel

Since your work is willing to pay for the boot camps, are they willing to pay for the exams on the first try? If they are, then you might as well try to knock the exams out. I mean... what's the worst that can happen? You fail your FREE test and then just have to take it again for FREE during WGU? Either way, you're not directly paying for the exam fees.

kurosaki00

if you really want A+, then I guess you should go ahead and take it.
If you already work with computers, printers n stuff
I usually say skip it because you will learn most of it (more probably) on the job.
But if you really want the A+, then go for it man.

N+ is another story, In no circumstances I could recommend you to go for N+ when your employer is paying for CCNA and you have A+ (assuming you take it after).
A+ overlaps a lot with N+ and the rest you could say CCENT will cover it and even more.
So I would recommend A+ and CCNA

What experience do you have with pc/desktops/printers/networks ?

101010

Codyy wrote: »

My work is sending me to a CCNA bootcamp next week,

Codyy wrote: »

Then Feb 11-15th they are sending me to the MCITP 70-680 bootcamp,

Codyy wrote: »

Then Feb 25th-1st they are sending me to a N+ bootcamp,

Soo, they are sending you to CCNA before the N+, then throwing the 70-680 in the middle to really confuse the hell out of you?

Any way you can change the order in which you take these? (i.e. A+ >> N+ >> CCNA >> 70-680) Or depending on your background/preferences you can throw the 70-680 after the A+. That way you at least have some sort of logical progression.

Codyy

kurosaki00 wrote: »

if you really want A+, then I guess you should go ahead and take it.
If you already work with computers, printers n stuff
I usually say skip it because you will learn most of it (more probably) on the job.
But if you really want the A+, then go for it man.

N+ is another story, In no circumstances I could recommend you to go for N+ when your employer is paying for CCNA and you have A+ (assuming you take it after).
A+ overlaps a lot with N+ and the rest you could say CCENT will cover it and even more.
So I would recommend A+ and CCNA

What experience do you have with pc/desktops/printers/networks ?

Thanks. I work with most of those listed daily, networks not so much though.

Codyy

101010 wrote: »

Soo, they are sending you to CCNA before the N+, then throwing the 70-680 in the middle to really confuse the hell out of you?

Any way you can change the order in which you take these? (i.e. A+ >> N+ >> CCNA >> 70-680) Or depending on your background/preferences you can throw the 70-680 after the A+. That way you at least have some sort of logical progression.

Yeah I know it's screwed up. I'm stationed in Germany and basically these classes plus many more are offered all over Germany, so if there is a seat open and we don't have a ton going they are usually willing to send me. Ideally it would be N+ then CCNA ..but unfortunately the class schedule falls the way it does. I can always go to these same classes at a later date. Basically sitting in class and learning is much better than sitting at work all day(I don't get to do my real job and they give us limited rights, our network is ran by DoD civilians) and getting handed down the crap work, so I choose to go to class no matter how unorganized the schedule is.

I spent the entire weekend watching professormessers A+ 701 videos, over halfway finished. So I guess I'll trying to squeeze the 701 exam in during all of this boot camp madness, take Network+ at the end of March when it's fresh on my mind, then 702 in mid-late April. Not ideal but it should work.