CCDA/CCDP - CCDA / Cisco Accademy Chapters Related

Author

CCDA / Cisco Accademy Chapters Related

sk8er02

2001-08-12, 10:47 pm

I'm working on my CCDA and would like to take the test in 2 weeks (been studying all summer). I'm also in Cisco Accademy in my High School and have completed semestors 1-2. I am not doing well on the KnowledeNet, Boson, and CCXX tests. I was wondering if I should read semestors 3-4, specificaly, LAN Desing, IGRP, IPX, Network Management, WAN Design, PPP, ISDN, Frame Relay, and Network Management.

meyerc13

2001-08-13, 11:30 pm

Just curious, but what's the rush? Why not wait until you take the actual courses?

If you have some pressing reason to take the exam, I would say that all of the subjects you mention are definitely covered on the CCDA, especially the Design chapters. Have you looked at the Cisco Press Designing Cisco Networks book? Definitely useful to learn the Cisco Design methodology and to expose you to the case studies.

Honestly though, this exam is one of those that is a mile wide, albeit only about 1/8 of an inch deep. I didn't need to study much for it, but that's because I had over 5 years of networking experience on which I could draw. I didn't need to study things like IPX too much since I've been working with it for years.

You'll do better on this exam if you wait a bit. Besides, there isn't much demand for Network Design Specialists in High School. You don't get into those types of jobs without years of experience and a solid college education. Network Design is as much about Business management and verbal/written communication skills as it is about networking.

sk8er02

2001-08-14, 9:57 am

Cisco accademy in high school prepairs you for the CCNA. I would like to get my CCDP while in college sometime (i'm a high school senior now) and being that you need both the NA and DA first, I'm getting them out of the way now. I realize that the demand for a design specialist who is in high school isn't very high (if any). The most I expect now is an internship (if that). I plan to major in Management Information Systems in college. (I've been told) that this will help me with business skills, being that I'm getting most of the technical skills in high school and outside certifications.

The reason I want to take the test next friday is that school starts the monday after that and I would LIKE to get it out of the way before then so that I don't have to study that and all my school classes. To prepair, I've taken a class from KnowledgeNet and read the Cisco Press Designing Cisco Networks book. I've also been using the CCXX and Boson tests, which i'm getting 70 ~ 80s on. I'm getting 88s on the knowledenet test (which they told me is all i need to take, but i beg to differ since you take the same 2 tests over and over, it's to the point i don't even read the questions now).

meyerc13

2001-08-15, 12:36 am

I would tend to agree, in the past when I used self-test software, I tried not to go through an exam more than once, since after the first pass my results were sure to be skewed. Of course, since I usually didn't use the software until the weekend before the exam, it really wasn't helping me anyway, since I wouldn't have had time to study had I been weak in any area of the material.

It sounds like you have a fairly good plan, but I still think you should wait on the CCDA. Hear me out, because there is a logical reason. Cisco requires you to recertify every 3 years. So, if you test now, before starting your last year of High School, you'll need to either a)finish your CCDP by your 2nd year of college; b)retake the CCDA exam by your 2nd year of college.

Even if you finish the CCDP in time, you might end up retaking the CCDP before you finish college if you take the average of 5 years to finish your degree (~5 years was the average last time I checked at least).

You are correct that the MIS degree will prepare you with the business skills you will need, but I think you might be surprised at the technical skills you can gain while in school. Sure, you might know that Ethernet uses CDMA/CD, but have you studied the math that makes that work? That is the type of stuff that they were teaching in MIS networking courses when I was in school (using Andrew Tanenbaum's "Computer Networks"), and I *know* that is deeper than the Cisco Academy material will get.

Overall, I think you have a great plan, and unlike many of the High Schoolers who pursue certification, at least you understand the value of a college education. Personally, I wish I had finished my BS, but hindsight is always 20/20. As it is, I am one of the very few people with 134 credits and only an AAS to show for it, but that's what I get for changing majors too often and leaving college to pursue work.

If you ever want to chat, feel free to drop me an email. Just be sure to reference that I suggested it in this thread on the ExamNotes forum so I know who you are. I post on several forums and I often have people email with vague details of the thread/forum and I have no clue what they are talking about.

Good luck if you decide to take the CCDA, but it definitely wouldn't hurt to review the chapters you mentioned. The CCDA wouldn't expect you to know as much about *how* Frame Relay or ISDN work, but it would expect you to know why and when you would use them.

meyerc13

2001-08-15, 12:42 am

I haven't used any self-test software for my two Cisco exams, but a friend has. Here is what he had to say on his Boson scores for CCDA:
http://www.2000tutor.com/ubb/Forum23/HTML/000142.html

Thought you might want to know that perhaps you are doing better than you thought.

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