I’m proud to announce that I passed the Cisco Certified Network Associate exam back in April! Yes, I know, this post is long overdue, but life has been busy.
I spent many nights over the past year studying for the CCNA. Reading up on different protocols and watching training material on YouTube and Udemy. Initially, weekly study sessions with my co-worker after work helped with accountability and keeping the momentum moving forward. However, due to busy schedules and career moves, we fell out of our routine, which ended up setting us back.
A consistent study routine is essential for learning this material. In addition to having a study partner, I found it extremely helpful being able to apply the knowledge and skills I was learning to projects or support tickets I was actively managing at my day job, working for a managed service provider. Learning about spanning-tree protocol and then having a project to deploy new switches or troubleshoot an existing deployment helped me retain the information.
For those of you who may be interested, I have listed the resources I used while preparing for this exam and a few tips that may be helpful.
Study Resources
My two primary resources were Neil Anderson’s course on Udemy and Jeremy’s IT Lab videos on YouTube. Both include video resources, packet tracer labs, and flash cards. There were a few times I wanted additional information; a quick Google search would typically provide the answers I was looking for.
I often used the flash cards before bed, and would have my girlfriend, now fiancée, use them to quiz me during long road trips. At this point, she probably knows enough of the material to pass the exam herself!
I also took advantage of practice exams and quizzes. I primarily used AlphaPrep which was recommended by Neil Anderson in his course. I found the Exam Day Readiness score to be pretty inaccurate, the general knowledge score provided better feedback to which areas I needed to study and a better indicator of my readiness for exam day.
As my overall score on AlphaPrep surpassed the 82.5% mark, I decided to try out Boson Exim’s exams. I had seen this recommended on reddit and in Jeremy’s IT Lab videos. Initially, my score was much lower than on AlphaPrep. Additionally, I found these exams to be more like the real exam. Looking back, using both platforms was helpful but came at an added expense. If you’re going to use only one, I would stick to Boson Exim.
Testing Experience
My experience at the testing center was less than desirable. I had a pre-scheduled in-person exam for 12PM and I arrived 20 minutes early to fill out the required paperwork as recommended. During the check-in process, the individual working at the testing center said they were overbooked and that there would be a delay. This explained the large number of seemingly unhappy people in the waiting area. As I stood there waiting for 2 hours, I couldn’t help but notice the multiple signs stating that if you’re over 20 minutes late, you forfeit your exam fee. It was quite ironic.
When I finally got to take the exam, I found that it was comparable to the Boson Exim practice exams. I knew that time management would be important and before starting my exam I learned that I would have 3 labs and 82-90 questions (don’t recall the exact number). I decided at that point I would limit myself to 10 minutes per lab so that I would have roughly 1 minute to answer each question.
I ended up getting all 3 labs within the first 40 questions. Starting off with the labs so early meant that I really had to stick to my 10-minute rule, because I didn’t know how difficult the following questions would be. In the end, I didn’t finish a single lab but came close. Had they been later in the exam, I may have spent more time since I ended early with roughly 15 minutes left on the clock.
Final Thoughts
Ultimately, if you’re on the fence about whether to study and take the CCNA exam, I highly recommend it. The knowledge I’ve gained from this experience is invaluable. There are plenty of free resources online for learning the material. And if possible, find yourself a study partner to keep yourself accountable. The studying required is intensive, but in my opinion, well worth it!
