How to Study for CCNA

CCNA Study Calendar CCNA Study Calendar

It took me a whopping 2 years to finish my CCNA! I kept giving up and quitting my studies for months at a time. Why? Because I couldn’t remember the massive amount of content covered in the CCNA. It felt hopeless. I could have done it in 6 month (or faster) if I knew how to study.

I hadn’t taken a test in 10 years before this. So I had completely forgotten how to learn. This post is about the mistakes I made studying for the CCNA and how to avoid them.

You will also learn, as I did, about spaced repetition. I’ve also included a 6 month CCNA spaced repetition calendar.

My Mistakes, So You Don’t Make Them

Mistake #1 Didn’t start flashcards until the final 30 days

I wish I would have started flashcards from day 1. This would have helped a crap ton. Remembering all of the little details is not only useful for taking the test. It embeds the concepts in your brain and keeps you processing how things work .

If there is anything you take from this list. You should definitely be doing some flashcards every day.

Mistake #2 Not enough labs as I went.

While studying the OCG and video courses. I did some labs. But I also skipped a ton of labs because it wasn’t convenient at the time. Then I was forced to lab every single topic in the final 30 days. A lot of cramming was done..

Make sure to do all of the labs as you go. Make up your own labs as well. This is very important to building job worthy skills.

Mistake #3 Didn’t have a plan or stick with it.

When your plan consists of, “just read everything and watch the videos and take the test when you feel ready”, you tend to procrastinate and put things off. Make a study schedule and a solid plan. (See below)

Having a set date for when you will take the test was pretty motivating. I did not find this out until about 30 days until my test.

Spaced Repetition

If you are using Anki flashcards for your studies, you may already be using spaced repetition. Spaced repetition is repeatedly reviewing with the time in between reviews getting longer each time you review it.

Here is an excellent article about our learning curves and why spaced repetition helps us remember things https://fs.blog/spacing-effect/

How to set up a spaced repetition calendar for CCNA.

Step 1. Plan how long your studies will take

Figure out how long you need. It usually takes around 240 hours of studying for CCNA. (Depending on experience). Then figure out how many hours per day that you can spend on studying. This example is based on a 6 month study calendar.

You can use this 6 month excel calendar to plan and track your progress. You. can still use this method If you have already been studying CCNA. Just edit your calendar for how much time you have left.

The calendar is also based on Wendel Odom’s Official Cert Guide. You will also want to mix your other resources into your reviews.

Decide what your review sessions will be

Plan to review each chapter 3-4 times. here is what I did for review sessions to pass the exam.

Review 1 Read and highlight (and flashcards)

  • Read the chapter. Highlight key information that you want to remember.
  • Do a lab for the material you studied (if applicable)
  • Answer DIKTA questions
  • Start Chapter 1 Anki Flascards

Review 2 Copy highlights over to OneNote (keep doing flashcards)

  • Copy your highlights over to OneNote. (using copy and paste if you have the digital book)
  • Read your highlights and make sure you understand everything.
  • lab and continue doing flashcards. (just go through Anki suggested flashcards, not just ones for the specific chapter.)

Review 3 Labs and Highlight your notes (and flashcards)

  • More labs!

  • Go over your notes. Color coding everything. (You can find my jumbled note mess here)

  • Green: Read again

  • Teal: Very important Learn this/ lab it.

  • Red/ purple: make extra flashcards out of this.

Review 4 Practice questions and review

  • Go through and answer the DIKTA questions again. Review any missed answers.
  • Lab anything you aren’t quite sure of.

The final 30 days

I HIGHLY recommend Boson ExSim for your final 30 days of studying. ExSim comes with 3 exams (A,B, and C). Start with exam A in test simulation mode. Leave about a week in between each practice exam so you can go over your answers and Boson’s explanations for each answer.

One week before your test, (after you’ve completed exams A,B, and C). Do a random exam. Make sure you do the timed version that don’t show your score as you go.

You should be scoring above 900 by your 3rd and 4th exam if you have been reviewing Boson’s answer explanations.

Schedule your exam

Pearson view didn’t let me schedule the exam past 30 days out from when I wanted to take it. I’m not sure if this is the case all the time. But by the time you are 30 days out you should have your test scheduled. This will light the fire under you. Great motivation for the home stretch.

If your exam is around June during Cisco Live, Cisco usually offers a 50% discount for an exam voucher. You probably won’t find any other discounts unless you pay for Cisco’s specific CCNA training.

Final word on labs

You can technically pass the CCNA without doing many labs. But this will leave you at a HUGE disadvantage in the job market. Labs are crucial for really understanding networking. Knowing your way around the CLI and being able to troubleshoot networking issues will make you stand out from those who crammed for the exam.

If you’ve made it this far I really appreciate you taking the time to read this post. I really hope it helps at least one person.