7 CCNA CCNP Study Tips for the New Year - 2017!!

About this video

In this 2017 video NetworkChuck gives seven steps for setting CCNA/CCNP study goals for the new year. Step 1: pick the right certification for your career — he recommends routing and switching as the foundation that is always needed, with voice and security as other hot tracks. Step 2: set specific, realistic time goals and schedule the exam so the date does not move, accounting for job, family and experience; at two to three hours of study a day he estimates, for example, about four months for ICND1/CCENT from scratch (about two months with experience) and two to three months for ICND2 or for a specialization after CCNA, with two to three months per CCNP test. Step 3: use diverse, quality study material — books, videos, charts and flashcards from sources he names such as CBT Nuggets, Cisco Press, INE and Pluralsight — but do not trust material alone; use the official Cisco exam blueprint as the guide and fill gaps from Cisco documentation. Step 4: set incentives, both the long-term career/family reason and short-term rewards after daily study and a larger reward after passing. Step 5: learn how to study — Pomodoro sessions of about 20 minutes with five-minute breaks, handwritten notes, spaced-repetition flashcards (he uses Anki and mentions Quizlet), and an organizer such as Evernote, OneNote or Todoist. Step 6: stay positive with like-minded people and accountability partners, expecting burnout. Step 7: lab constantly — Packet Tracer or GNS3 for much of CCNA/CCNP, physical gear where emulation falls short such as switching and collaboration endpoints — to avoid becoming a ‘paper cert’ who used brain dumps and cannot configure anything at work or in the exam.

Key takeaways

• Pick a track that fits your career, starting from the routing and switching foundation before specializing in areas such as voice or security
• Schedule a fixed, realistic exam date and plan backwards from it, budgeting roughly 2-3 hours of study a day plus rest days
• Combine multiple quality materials but study to the official Cisco blueprint, because no single book or video course covers every tested topic
• Use incentives and efficient study methods together: daily and post-cert rewards, Pomodoro timing, handwritten notes and spaced-repetition flashcards
• Lab hands-on with Packet Tracer/GNS3 and physical gear where needed — labbing is what separates real skill from a paper certification earned by brain dumps

Episode details: published January 2, 2017 · 26:41 long. Summary written by Self Growth Videos from the episode itself. Business results and any income figures mentioned are NetworkChuck’s own claims, shared for education — they are not typical or guaranteed.

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