Am I wasting my money and time???? CCNA

[stomper77]

I have just come back from my college and I am not happy I have passed every end of chapter tests so far with flying colours that’s because I study hard every night for about 4hrs..
Well any way back to the point tonight my college tutor gave as a cdr and he said it covers all the power points and over stuff on it.
So I checked it out and the cd r contains all the questions and answers which will be in the end of modules tests.
The reason I went to college is because I did not wont to be a paper ccna and I thought that my future employer would look at my ccna see that I went to college and I studied hard for it. not just bought it.

I am now thinking about not going to college and studying at home for the ccna is this possible. as at the moment I am paying £390 per semester over 2 years that’s £1560 for the certificate. Or should I stick with the college your advice would be helpful

 

[CiscoGuy33]

stomper77,
Don't you have lectures from an instructor, my students have 2-3 hours of lecture and configuration demos every week for the 16 week semester from me.

They also have about 6 hours a week of office hours where they come to me for help or email me with questions.

I would talk to the instructor, Head of the Dept. or the Dean, do they know the tutor is giving out the test answers?

There is lots of cheating in college, but that does not mean that you can not find a good education in there also.

If you are in a Cisco Network Academy I would let Cisco know what is going on if the instructor agrees with the tutor - but start with the instructor first.

Yes it is possible to self study but in many cases the interactions with your peers and a good instructor can be much better for learning some things.

E.A. Broda
CCNA, CCDA, CCAI, Network +

 

[rokitman1]

I agree, I did one weekend in a classroom which really helped, although I am slowly losing interest in doing it at home, I really want to motovaite myself...started with 2hrs per night, now do 1hr every few days, and I am dreading booking the test, its all self financed and it's to better my career, but I need motivation!!!!!!!!

 

[MTandSAV]

a career move seems to be good motivation i would think
however I do understand its difficult to study in the evening, its hard to start.
I would recommend to book your exam 2 months from now for example, then you have got some more pressure to study.
If you really feel bad about the exam, you can cancel it. (check the statements from cisco to be sure)

CCNA, CCNP..partly

 

[dogbert2]

I went through CCNA 1-4 and CCNP 1-4 at my local cisco network academy (Las Vegas, NV). The instructor is there to guide and help you, but over-reliance on the instructor is what winds up killing most students when it comes to the actual certification examination (i.e. - he or she won't be in the exam room with you, and it's you against the computer, you get ONE chance to answer each question (no marking and going back later)).

That being said, at the CCNA level, my instructor usually lectured for about an hour, and then we had a chapter exam (the rest of the class period was spend on doing router work, once the class reached that point). At the CCNP level, the instructor lectured for 30 minutes at most, turned on the chapter exams (you did them at your own pace), and the remaining 3 hours you spent doing labs (we averaged 4 labs per week, 3 case studies (done as a whole class), a practice practical exam, the real practical exam (PITA, IMO), and the final exam).

The point I am trying to make of all of this, is you will have to do some self-study on your own, if you really want to understand this material well (at the CCNP level, the instructors already assume you know how to subnet, etc).

I happen to favor the 'throw the student in and see if he or she can swim' due to the fact that it prepares the student for the real certification exams (and I can say that the CCNA and CCNP courses I took here did prepare me to take and pass the CCNA/NP exams (I did the CCDA/DP/SP on my own).

Bill

 

[rokitman1]

Thanks all for your comments, I may well book the exam for Early Feb and think of the interesting and finacial carreer move

Rokitman UK

 

[VinceWhirlwind]

I have just completed a CCNA course - just need to book the exam now.

I feel I could have done what plenty of people do - download the cheat-sheets from the 'net and pass the exam after a bit of "home study" without actually learning the material, but I wanted to learn and understand so I decided to pay the £1100 for a proper course ( 8 x 6hrs sessions) on routers & switches and I have learned loads (not too confident about booking the exam yet - 85% required for a pass??? Ouch!)

 

[ElijahBaley]

I did the CCNA at home, studying from a book. It was very hard work but I learned a lot and in the end when I passed the exam, very rewarding.

The problem with all these certs is that they are part of a very profitable business, so untill that changes and we get real certs, you should go ahead and get them any way you can.



..EB


"Smoke me a kipper, I'll be back for breakfast!"

"Captain A.J. Rimmer, Space Adventurer!"

 

[Nashon]

I'm planning to do ccna does study kits from testGod.com really works. has some one ever bought these kits from them, how help ful are they to passing exams.

Thank you

 

[vipergg]

Juts think the good part of it is , you get to take it over again in 3 years just to recertify or you have to pass at least one CCNP test in that time period. I think Cisco has everyone by the you know what's .

 

[silks101]

I passed my CCNA through the academy program and I can safely say that it is the best decision I ever made - I went through a career change picked up the cert and played on the fact that I could do a networking job purely because I had spent countless hours working in the labs on the equipment.

I have now got a total of 8 months networking experience and am on the CCNP track (through the academy).

I you want opinions then stick with it - it will certainly pay off in the end. Most interviewers can tell the difference between Academy students and home based "paper" CCNA's

Steve Lindley
CCNA

 

[jcain]

I'm a CNAP instructor and have worked as a networking engineer for many years. Taking the classes not only helps you to get the hands on experience with the routers and switches, but gives you an excellent theorical background. Many of the engineers I worked with could configure the equipment but they had very little background knowledge to help them design, configure, and troubleshoot the network efficiently. Studying for the certification exam on your own is hard and most people do not complete it satisfactorily. The aide of an instructor and class mates helps the study process.

Paper CCNAs don't make it very far in the field because they don't really have the knowledge and hands-on experience to configure the equipment, besides the knowledge to design and manage a network. The crime is the people that really study, know the material, have the practical experience from a classroom, and have passed the certification test have to compete with frauds that cheated to get certified. But as I tell my students, while you are in college taking the classes, where else can you get a part time job making good money so you can finish college. And when you finish college you will have more knowledge and exeprience than most networking engineers in the field today. When you walk in for that job interview the employer will know you are the best they are going to find and hire you.

If you can, stick with the classes, else stick with the studying, gets some hands-on experience and try to find an experienced network engineer to help you.