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Home > Archive > CCNP > May 2002 > Study Time?
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| jtaubman 2002-05-01, 9:30 am |
| A question for all Cisconians:
How long did it take you to get your CCNA, CCNP? What books, schools, websites, etc... helped you get certified? | |
| peterd 2002-05-02, 3:06 am |
| Hi,
got a job working with Cisco routers and switches for the first time, knew nothing about them at all. My boss sent me on a CCNA course and a month later (after re-reading course notes and poking around with a spare router) I passed the CCNA exam.
Maintained the gear at work as and when required for 18 months or so before I considered I had sufficient experience to continue studying. Started on the CCNP track and passed the last exam 14 months later.
Started on CCDA, got to page 150 or so, too much going on in my life and 'stalled'...for now...
there doesn't seem to be the same 'urgency' to study at the moment.
Regards
Peter | |
| kbani 2002-05-02, 10:03 pm |
| Got the CCNA and CCDA in 1 month and ccnp in 4 months. The cisco press books and boson should be just fine. | |
| jtaubman 2002-05-03, 9:07 am |
| The only networking experience I have is what I crammed in for my A+ cert, and what I am currently studying to pass my SCSA. Without ever touching a Cisco product before, is it possible to achieve CCNA and CCNP in 6 months?
I am currently enrolled at Techskills, and after I have completed the SCSA, I will have approx. 6 months left in my contract. Each certifiction is priced differently, some are $1495.00 with the heavier cert.s like MCSE and CCNP falling around $5995.00. To make it worth my while, and to equal the chunk of change I spent on a year contract with Techskills I'll need to achieve CCNP, MCSA, or MCSE before my time expires.
Techskills is an attempt at a carrer change. And yes, There has been a price to pay for signing up blind. I could have easily got certified with books alone, and saved my self thousands! School does do one thing well though, motivates me to keep studying since I know the contract will end. Another thing school does well is keep people out of the job market, but I'll save that soap box for another time.
So, what d'ya think? CCNA + CCNP in 6 months, or wishfull thinking? | |
| peterd 2002-05-03, 10:47 am |
| Hi,
you're setting yourself a task along the lines of one exam per month. Now a couple of these are quite easy but the rest are anything but...
it could be possible, but you'll be learning just enough to pass the exam and not really enough to do the work even if you do find a job afterwards.
So for each exam you have two weeks to read and learn the topics followed by two weeks on revision, practice exams, etc.
If you can remember stuff the first time you read it, and you get plenty on practice on some hardware plus Bosons, etc, then you may well do it.
I'd recommend that you aim for CCNA and CCNP Routing at around two months each, then Switching and, if you can in the time left, Remote Access (about a month each on the last two). Depends how you feel about the latter two, you may want to do what you think is the harder subject first so you have time to finish it during your contract.
You'll find the Troubleshooting quite easy after the first three CCNP topics and you'll learn enough by reading the CiscoPress book for that one, so you could do it after your contract ends..
Take a couple of months for the CIT and you're looking at eight months rather than six. Slightly less pressure, and achievable!
Regards
Peter | |
| freak 2002-05-03, 11:21 am |
| For the CCNA, I took a 5 day course (ICND). I read that ICND book 3 times, and used the study guides on my website that were contributed by site members.
I have not started the CCNP studies yet, so I cannot comment on those exams... | |
|
| quote:
I have not started the CCNP studies yet, so I cannot comment on those exams...
I've said this before Dave, you'll fly these exams mate... | |
|
| Bought a couple CCNA books a year ago. Read a couple hundered pages the first day and put them down for like 7 or 8 months. THen picked up the Exam Prep book which I had started earlier read up to the point on subnetting (a couple days...) got frutstrated and put it down for a couple more months. Then picked it up again..and this time got subnetting down - don't know why it seemed so hard at first..finshed the book.
Was still a bit scared of the exam so spent a week studying for Linux +, and took that - knew that would be easy for me since I had been running Linux at home for 4 years. That gave me my confidence back..
Picked up the Exam Cram book and Boson Practice Tests. Worked with those for a month and a half and then took the CCNA and passed with a 916.
I have some exposure to Cisco equipment at work and some access for testing out stuff I learn which helped a lot.
I have just started studying for the Routing exam... so I don't know how long that will take me. | |
| darthfeces 2002-05-04, 1:33 pm |
| Certification Agreement
Sep 13 2000
P
Exam #640-507
sep 13 2000
P
Cisco Career Certification Agreement v7
Sep 18 2000
P
Exam #640-503
Nov 29 2000
P
Exam #640-504
Jan 3 2001
P
Exam #640-505
Jan 31 2001
P
Exam #640-506
Mar 7 2001
P
Cisco Career Certification Agreement v7
Mar 8 2001
P
MCNS #640-442
Apr 18 2001
P
DCN #640-441
May 30 2001
P
Cisco Career Certification Agreement v7
Jun 10 2001
P
CID 3.0 #640-025
Aug 15 2001
P
Cisco Secure PIX Firewall Advanced
Feb 18 2002
P
Cisco Secure Virtual Private Network
Mar 20 2002
P
Intrusion Detection System with Policy
Manager (9E0-572)
Apr 10 2002 P
oh i forgot ccie written
12/12/01
The VUE Testing System recorded the following information for this score report:
Exam Date:
Wednesday December 12, 2001 at 10:00 AM
Candidate:
xxxx
Candidate ID:
CSCOxxxx
Registration #:
xxxxxx
Exam Series:
350-001
Exam:
CCIE Routing and Switching Qualification Exam
Validation #:
xxxxx
Grade:
PASS | |
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| haseeb_eng 2002-05-05, 7:59 am |
| Ya i guess so soray . Guys i had done my course full CCNP course in 7 weeks . And after that 10-14 full days for each ccnp exam excluding 7 weeks of traning(Oh ya for that i was booked with my books from morning 7 to night 12 and sometimes more .
And one of my friend he took CCNA , CCNP & CCIE traning in fast track and all this traning he got with in 2& half months and after that he gave CCIE written directly it took less then 3 months but he did not give ccna & ccnp exams . He was MCSE,MCDBA & i think so MCSD also .
And one of my friend's younger brother who is 17 years of age he passed ccie written last year :P (he was applying for university and he was free those days so he had done this just for some time pass)
And ........ well this is enough for the time being
Cheers  | |
| darthfeces 2002-05-05, 9:45 am |
| this was with 0 training ... ever
only books.
my company paid for all books and tests.
i saved the money so they couldn't say no to a ccie lab prep course.
the only training i will take is netmasterclass.net
nmc1 | |
| Widgewaam 2002-05-06, 3:46 am |
| Darthfeces, congrats on all of your passes. How would you rank the css1 tests in terms of difficulty compared to the ccnp? I'm about to take mcns in a few weeks and your input is appreciated.
Jeff | |
| darthfeces 2002-05-06, 1:14 pm |
| i used all 4 css1 texts
i used the mcns text and nothing else
i thought that was the hardest of the 4 because of the wide range of subject matter.
i took it a year ago ?
search the archive's for madchef's post about mcns
from over a year ago. it should help
vpn and pix were straight forward just study the
texts and supplimant with a boson if your not confortable with the material
ids was the most bizzare
they are more concerned with knowing the software
then intrusion detection. | |
| Widgewaam 2002-05-06, 3:36 pm |
| Thanks for the response, it's good to know that mcns is the toughest, as this one has me uneasy. Thanks again.
Jeff | |
| Detour 2002-05-07, 4:21 pm |
| quote:
Originally posted by jtaubman
A question for all Cisconians:
How long did it take you to get your CCNA, CCNP? What books, schools, websites, etc... helped you get certified?
The time it takes to get certified is based on three factors: A) how well you learn things. B) how much time you actually have available for study C) How much of that "free" time you're willing to sacrifice for studying.
However, I'll warn anyone that when you study for a test/cert you are simply learning the information needed to pass tests. Retaining this information, plus learning things "not required" for that test but related to the objectives, is up to you and will usually take more time.
Generally, I find people that have taken tests as fast as they can and get as many certs as they can, are usually not very reliable when it comes to actual field work, unless of course they are born with a near-perfect photographic memory. Most of us weren't, so we learn things by repetition. | |
| CoffeeFreak 2002-05-07, 4:54 pm |
| darthfeces,
if you don't mind me asking, with all those Cisco cert's, What is your present Job and a around about salary number? |
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