Yeah, mostly ditto. I recently completed the CCNA (May 19th), BUT I missed it on my first try. I started studying in late January and gave myself 3 months. After I missed it the first time, I went on the web and asked for guidance. I succeeded on the second try.
Beware! CCNA is updated VERY regularly. Recently they started adding a LOT more questions on VLSM (which some CCNA texts barely gloss over). Subnetting/supernetting and VLSM (and their applications in routing protocol configs) are a way of life and you should know your way around. You will hate them at first, then when you become comfortable with them your confidence will increase. The BEST way to prepare yourself for subnetting/supernetting and VLSM types of questions is to get a program like IPCalc (comes free as a port in freebsd). You can download it for Windows, I believe. In the last two weeks before I took the test the second time I would make up IP addressess and give them a random subnet mask, then work out their subnet, host range, broadcast address, and the corresponding wildcard mask. Do that until you start to dream about supernetting and subnetting at night. Then do it some more until everything you look at looks like it needs a subnet mask. Then keep going some more. THEN you should be okay with subnetting/supernetting.
The sims on the test can be an issue for some test takers. There are MANY posts from people saying that they almost passed the exam except for the sim (the sims are apparently weighed heavily.) FIRST, know which sims are in season. Cisco doesn't seem to have a problem being predictable here because they have so many variations for each sim that memorizing a particular solution is worthless. And you wouldn't want to anyhow. The presence of sims on the exam will force you to develop a practical knowledge of router configuration (there are different types of NAT, you'll need to know which one is appropriate of each situation. No lie, I was so concerned that I was going to get tripped on a NAT lab that I started dreaming about different scenarios. I DID learn how to do NAT, though. In the end I ended up getting one OSPF lab. Again. Never got to see a NAT lab in either try at the test.) Other people insist that they get two labs.
The length of time you study is important, although it is less important than how you study. Personally, I start out by researching which books are the best for the certification (Amazon is a GREAT resource, people post tons of reviews on the technical books.) If I buy a good Cisco Press book for an exam, I like to read through it twice in a month. I'm studying for the CCDA now, so if I want to read it twice in a month, I pretty much have to do fifty pages/night. Maybe there's some leeway because I like to read 100 pages/day on the weekends, so I can make up for lost time if I need a break during the week. Then, be prepared to adjust your schedule based on how your studying is going. After I finished my CCNA Intro book (Cisco Press divides the CCNA certification library into two parts, one for each individual test), I realized that I would understand VERY little from the ICND book if I didn't work on something more hands-on. So I ordered the Boson CCNA Simulation package. It helped A LOT, but it was lacking in VLSM situations, so I made up my own labs. I don't think I could have gotten by without it. The software can be buggy, but it's ultimately indispensible.
The CCNA Flash Cards and Exam Cram Practice Questions (500) book are "okay" resources in that they help solidify salient information in your memory, but don't be fooled into believing that they reflect the question format of the exam. They do not (a mistake a I made the first time. Never again.) I would buy them again, but I would go through them less than I did on my first test. Also, because the exam is always being updated, many study tools become slightly outdated and you will need to go to the publisher's web site for the newest erata. The CCNA may be one of Cisco's lowest exams, but Cisco learned a lesson from Microsoft's MCSE certification track; if anybody CAN do it, anybody WILL do it. Then it will do everyone no good. You can go to a Microsoft Boot Camp at a $4,000 cost and recieve a ton of questions that are basically right off the test. I know people who pass seven tests to earn the MCSE quite easily this way then can't make it through the interview or screening requirements for serious positions (I know one person I used to work for who did that, recruiters don't want to talk to him.)
If you are dead-set on passing this test;
1- Make a good study-plan and commit to it
2- Post question on the forums regulary (this can be a reality-check for when you have questions or become confused)
3- Put your pesonal life on a bus and wave it goodbye until you pass the test.
-SnowNinja
