CCNA in 84 days?

About this video

Chuck asks whether you can earn the old CCNA in the 84 days remaining before Cisco’s certpocalypse: February 23rd, 2020 is the last day to take any current CCNA or CCNP exam. He says yes, with the right tools, methods, and grit, and notes he is in the same position needing his CCNP ROUTE and SWITCH exams. Using CBT Nuggets study plans as a guide — roughly 9 weeks for ICND1 and about 12 weeks for ICND2 — he advises doubling up weeks to fit into 12 weeks. He recommends Boson ExSim to gauge readiness, saying many consider it harder than the real exam, and Boson NetSim for graded, pre-built labs, both tied to a giveaway of five copies of each for his 200,000 subscriber milestone plus a Synology DS418 NAS giveaway. If you are not ready by mid-February, he says refund and take the new exam since most topics carry over. His two study methods are the Pomodoro method — 25 minutes focused, 5 minutes break — and spaced repetition with Anki flashcards.

Key takeaways

• The deadline framing is 84 days until the old exams retire on February 23rd, 2020; Chuck applies it to both beginners and those halfway through ICND2 or CCNP
• Compress the CBT Nuggets plan — about 9 weeks for ICND1 and about 12 weeks for ICND2 — by doing two planned weeks in one calendar week
• Use Boson ExSim score breakdowns by technology as regular readiness check-ins, and Boson NetSim graded labs to make theory practical
• Pomodoro study — 25 minutes of uninterrupted work followed by a 5-minute break — is offered as a way to start and sustain daily sessions
• Spaced repetition with Anki saves time by resurfacing flashcards at expanding intervals (he cites EIGRP administrative distance 90 as an example fact); if unready, topics still carry over to the new CCNA

Episode details: published November 28, 2019 · 16:45 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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