| Author |
How long did it take you to be CCNP?
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| HOOLIGAN 2003-06-02, 8:28 pm |
| I know this is Subjective, dependent on time spent and individual skill.
But my company is asking for a commited deadline to complete the BCSI, and eventual CCNP ?
It took me a year for CCNA ( studied on and off ) , It seems there does not seem to be as much content covered in the four individual exams as there was in CCNA, ( and also a lower pass score ).
Whats yer thoughts? | |
| darthfeces 2003-06-02, 11:44 pm |
| i studied for summer 2000 for ccna and passed in september.
completed ccnp by march 01
so 3 months for ccna and 6 months for ccnp | |
| forbdnlovr 2003-06-03, 1:41 am |
| i took an intensive cisco networking class for 3 months and studied for ccna in a couple of weeks and passed last december. read through sybex and cisco press switching books in 2-3 weeks and passed beginning of may. Read sybex and cisco bsci in 1 1/2 and passed. now just galncing through cisco press remote access and taking it thursday. | |
| peterd 2003-06-03, 2:39 am |
| Hello,
I had a one week course for the CCNA, re-read my notes a few times and played with a spare router then passed the exam a montha later.
Did nothing for about 18 months then started on CCNP from the Cisco books. Six months study for routing followed by three months each for Switching and Remote Access. I only needed two months for the CIT.
My job was very quiet at the time so I could read/play for at least two hours a day at work (sometimes 4 - 5 hours!) and another two hours at home.
Regards
Peter | |
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| About 8 months for the NP in total. Most time was spent on the switching and routing, then I got impatient and was happy with just passing (anything above pass is wasted effort <joke> ) so rushed the last two - In hindsight I wish I had studied everything more thoroughly, especially the routing as it held me up in my IE studying. | |
| anchor40 2003-06-03, 1:06 pm |
| Hey, Hooligan,
I definitely qualify as the "subjective" part because I only needed 2 months to get both NP and DP.
My secret- I've been a network engineer for many years, and read the Sybex books as a refresher/fill-in-the-gaps approach. Could I have studied harder and longer? Definitely, but I really needed the "paper" to back up my knowledge for my job (and it worked, because I still have it in this downsizing world).
I've been studying/preparing for the SECUR exam of the CCSP track for a month now, so I hope you understand I don't encourage rushing through to get an exam. Rather use your time wisely - focus on your weaknesses and refresh your strengths.
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| darthfeces 2003-06-03, 2:56 pm |
| i fall in line with matp on this one
although I passed in the time frame i have given you, my ccie written will expire in june with no lab attempt. mostly due to the fill in the gaps i'm doing now.
that's simply not acceptable to pass the lab
so i'll re-take the written
buy ipexpert's labs
and go to cyscoexpert before my lab attempt
maybe next spring. | |
| forbdnlovr 2003-06-03, 5:07 pm |
| ccie lab shouldnt be all too bad... using 3500 switch 2600 and 3600 routers... they really simplified the R/S switching.. no IPX, no DLSW, IRB/CRB... | |
| ZacDogg 2003-06-03, 9:18 pm |
| Well I feel like a moron for studying my XXX off for the last year and putting in 300+ hours lab time in the last few months if it is so simple. When I take mine at the end of the month, should be a walk in the park. Come on dude, get a clue. That's why approx 90% fail there first attempt, cause it is so simple. DLSw, CRB/IRB are both still valid. | |
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| quote:
Originally posted by forbdnlovr
ccie lab shouldnt be all too bad... using 3500 switch 2600 and 3600 routers... they really simplified the R/S switching.. no IPX, no DLSW, IRB/CRB...
You should be on stage with lines like that.....I don't think we should go this way. | |
| shahandiza 2003-06-04, 3:20 am |
| hmm ... i took a class for my ccnp and ccdp.
i started my first class (BCRAN) end of May 2002 and got my CCNP by 2nd July 2002. During that time, total of 6 weeks, I attended 5 full class (one week each) for CCNP track + DCN. No class for CID because i was the only student registered. I pass 5 papers (CCNP and CCDA) and took a break for one month before took my CID for CCDP.
but I believe work experience was the main reason for that.
ps: still remember took exam every monday morning before start of new subject.
--ditto | |
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| I was forced into this same tactic myself by my employer middle of last year for my IPT. I was on a course 1 week, studying all weekend then sitting the exam on the monday. For the rest of that week I would have to prep for a web based sales exam on the friday, before starting another course on the monday.
I was fortunate I passed them all first time but can honestly say I can remember very little - it was too much too quick.
Hopefully I shall be back at work soon, but they will be throwing me straight in at the deep end, expecting me to be able pull on all this knowledge. I have a lot of work to do!!
My advice is take it as slow as you can, learn it properly - it's worth the extra effort in the long run - unless you just want the bit of paper. | |
| shahandiza 2003-06-04, 4:04 am |
| Mat P,
absolutely rite .. my company want to continue their Cisco partner status. have no choice. all other engineers did not want to go because we will be bond by the company. i was the junior among others.
my aim was to pass the exam and not to score. but trust me, there's no way we can pass the exam just by attending the class. should be proud of ourselves managed to pass because we deserve and we also work hard + experience during day-to-day operations.
now, i'm leading our mpls ipvpn team. i used knowledge in BSCI, BCRAN, CID,DCN and CIT when designing and provisioning new vpn customer 
do keep in touch.
ps: i don't get salary increment for what I did. thinking to leave the company in near time.
--ditto | |
| akio63 2003-06-05, 3:11 am |
| Working with Cisco routers for about 3 months the boss gave me 3 months to get my CCNA. So it took me about 3 weeks to read the CiscoPress ICRC. Then I passed the test, that was Oct of 1999.
I thought I was da bomb, and I relied on my experience to get me through. I failed the Foundation exam and decided to do what everyone else told me and I read the CiscoPress ACRC next. It took about a month or so and I passed the Routing 2.0 in Jan of 2001.
I wasted my time after that until I lost my job April of 2002. After six months of not landing a job I decided to get my certifications. It took me almost six months to pass the final 3 exams using CiscoPress books and my past experience. Switching only took about 3 weeks.
So CCNA was 3 months. CCNP took me about 3 years. Like I've always been told, there's the real world and there's Cisco. You can't always rely on your experience to pass the test. Maybe I only learned enough to get the job done, but I've found that the CiscoPress books have helped me fill in the gaps needed to pass the tests. That's my two cents. | |
| HOOLIGAN 2003-06-05, 3:25 am |
| Thanks for the input, it seems ( to me anyway ) that the individual CCNP exams are quite a bit easier then CCNA, as there are no concepts like SN Masking to grasp, less information covered and a lower passing score.
I will take it easy and aim for a year.
That will keep my company ( and their Cisco gold status ) happy. They will want me to take anouther exam after this one is done anyway. One Cert after anouther, when will it ever end??
Cheers. | |
| anchor40 2003-06-05, 9:45 am |
| Never said anything about "no subnetting" for CCNP - I had some wicked summarization questions, which also require that you can subnet in your sleep!
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| HOOLIGAN 2003-06-05, 2:21 pm |
| quote:
Originally posted by anchor40
Never said anything about "no subnetting" for CCNP - I had some wicked summarization questions, which also require that you can subnet in your sleep!
Thanks for the warning, I got subnetting down . VLSM, CIDR and Summarization are not too difficult to grasp when you have the whole Binary Most/least sig bits understood.
Cheers again |
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