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Three Ways to Prepare for the Cisco Certified Network Associate Certification Program

By September 17, 2019No Comments6 min read
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Cisco Certified Network Associate exam is one of the most coveted exams taken by many IT professionals due to the growing demand of the CISCO Network Associate Certification Program. The certificate for CCNA exam is provided by CISCO itself and therefore the name of the examination is as such. A CCNA Certificate helps to accelerate the career of an IT professional tremendously when it comes to adopting new knowledge, skills, better job offers and of course, increased salaries.

With the help of a CCNA Certificate, a candidate is by then eligible to work and solve various problems that could be related to routers or cisco switch configuration of a network system.

However, there are certain tips and strategies you must follow before giving the Cisco Certified Network Associate Exam in order to excel the same.

Let us study the following points mentioned below for further details:

  1. Study Tips:

The first and foremost thing before sitting for any examination is that you have a thorough knowledge of the system assigned to you. Here for CCNA exam, you need to have the knowledge about

  • Infrastructure Services,
  • LAN Switching Technologies,
  • WAN Technologies,
  • Network Fundamentals,
  • Routing Technologies,
  • Infrastructure Management,
  • Infrastructure Security.

All of these topics cover up the wide aspect of the requirements for a CCNA training and to qualify the same exam, you need to buckle up and prepare yourself with these.

Next up you need to gather all the details about the procedure and working formats of a CCNA examination. To achieve the same, you have got two options in hand:

  • One exam (CCNA 200-120)
  • Two exams (ICND1 100-101 and ICND2 200-101)

This certification exam is conducted in two languages and they are –

  • English
  • Japanese

The exam pattern is of objective type and includes questions such as

  • Simlet,
  • drag and drop,
  • Sim and Testlet.

It is to basically check the IQ of an IT professional and decide if he is eligible to own a CCNA Certificate. The CCNA exam has 60 to 70 questions at an average, which is to be solved within one and a half hours.

The fee for a CCNA exam is little heavy on the pocket. Almost all the CISCO exams cost around $300 and if you take into consideration the CCNA Routing and Switching exam(200-125), it may cost you around $325.

On the other hand, the other exams such as ICND1 and ICND2 cost $139 respectively. Since the amounts are so high, it should be your duty to prepare well before sitting for a CCNA exam. After all, nothing great comes easy right?

  1. Collecting the right material and indulging into smart studying:

It is extremely important to gather the right study material if you wish to sit for an exam as such. If you wish to sit for the CCNA Routing and Switching exam, it is best advised for you to invest in the CCNA online version of both the products. These study materials available online are of great help in order to qualify for the exam.

The two books that you will namely receive are –

  • CISCO CCENT/CCNA ICND1 100-101 Official CERT Guide
  • CISCO CCNA ICND2 200-101 Official CERT Guide.

These two books thoroughly cover all the topics required for your knowledge and syllabus in order to pass the exam.

On the contrary, if you wish to follow the questionnaire pattern, you can also gather the data from the CERT Library. They also offer study plans with schemes in order to provide you with maximum benefits. Another alternative that you can prepare from is the “31 days..” book from CISCO press that as well contains all the information and serves as a quick guide to crack the exam in the first attempt.

Talking about the first attempt, if you really wish to crack the CCNA test, you need to be extremely smooth and thorough with the past year questions that are available on the internet. We all know practice makes a man perfect and therefore, the more you practice, the more you can be fluent with the topics and the pattern of examination.

Also, always try reaching out for materials that have summarized the entire topic in a language that is understandable and comfortable for you to understand. Mock tests are another important thing to do on the list. Many websites provide great mock tests for practice and taking them can be of great help. Although the syllabus is quite vast and one may confuse himself while preparing, it is advised that you find out what the important topics are in the syllabus and stress on them more. 

  1. Set up a strategy, a routine and work towards it:

If you’re opting for the examination for the first time, you should go for the two exam pattern but otherwise, going for one will do the work. You will need very little knowledge of networking models. However, you need to have in-depth information about the entire syllabus. Try practicing CLI and Subletting thoroughly as this exam is for testing your skills and talent and just not knowing.

Lastly, try going through the CISCO Learning Network where you can be a part of an interesting interactive class online. Here you can post questions and receive responses within minutes or a few hours. Samples questions and past year questions are also at times provided for further practice and brushing up of skills.

To conclude, CCNA Exam is one of the toughest exams to date if compared to others in the field. However, to get into a good IT Industry, it will be extremely beneficial for you if you win a CCNA certificate. You can be a recognized face in the world of IT Sector with advanced skills and knowledge that will make you as master amidst all. If you’re a young aspirant looking forward to sitting for a CCNA exam, we wish you all the very best and we know you would definitely come out with flying results.

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