We've got several hurdles to overcome in getting better at passing exams. Our survey from a few weeks ago confirmed that the #1 hurdle is the time crunch. At the same time, another survey told us that about half of us think that you've been most successful on your exams when you've done more detailed planning of what you will do during your study time.
I'm convinced that the two are linked: a detailed plan makes you more productive when you do get to study, and that's especially true when you might need to set aside your studies for several days at a time.
It'd be really cool if there was a nice tool you could use that let you spend 15-20 minutes with an assessment test - and then it gives you a customized plan. The tool figures out where you were strong and where you were weak, tells you what tools to get, which parts to use and which to ignore. I imagine that's one way to help ease the time crunch. However, I think you can create a poor man's version of such a plan with maybe an hour or two effort - at least once you have your study resources in front of you. So, for today's post, I'm going to suggest a template for a study plan for a chunk of what's covered in the ICND1 exam.
For this sample plan, I'm making these assumptions:
Interestingly, the width on the http://www.nww.com/ blog isn't wide enough for the document, and to copy/paste the text in here makes the formatting crummy. So, I've added a link to a PDF. Click here to see the study plan:
In the plan, note that the boxes and circles are meant as places to check that you've completed a task.
The sample plan shows how you might go about attacking one major part of the books. What would you do differently? If you had a broad-based video product, would it be important that the videos match up with the content in one chapter, or is it ok if the videos just match up with the content in the larger 5-chapter part of the book? What would you include that I left out?
(For more on the products, go to www.ciscopress.com/wendellodom, a site that lists my current CP products.)
Odom, CCIE No, 1624, splits time between writing books for Cisco Press and teaching classes for Skyline ATS. In his 25-ish years in the networking industry, he has worked as as a pre-sale and post-sale SE for a few networking vendors, as well as a network engineer implementing network technology. Wendell has spent the majority of the last 15 years teaching, consulting, and writing about networking technologies, most of which in some way relate to Cisco products. His books include titles on QoS, CCIE R/S, as well as several titles related to CCNA certification, including the September 2007 book CCNA Official Exam Certification Library (CCNA Exam 640-802) (Read a sneak peek of chapter 7). Click for the list of current titles by Wendell.
The opinions expressed in this Weblog are those of the writer and may not represent the opinions of Network World.
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Hi Wendell, I sampled many
Hi Wendell,
I sampled many resources, some current and some for the old CCNA objectives. I took the ICND1 about 6 weeks ago, scored 948/1000. This is a summary of my study plan.
I read "The Book" (ICND1 ECG) once thru, answering the "Do I know this already" questions after I read the chapter. Printed off the errata and marked the pages for reference.
I kept re-reading chapters 'til my score on the chapter questions was -1 or better. I typed up notes (but I think its better to write them, it just chews up valuable time). I typed up a command reference identical to those supplied at the end of the chapters (Hopefully, future books will have a printable appendix of commands/description for the entire book).
After working my way through the book and feeling confident I went on to the Exam sim provided and setup a test akin to exam day--I bombed. This is where the real work and real study kicked in. I reviewed the sections I failed at, repeatedly, taking the exam sim for those sections, that needed work. One of the single most important ingredients of my study was this--using the exam sim in study mode, if I got a question wrong, I wouldn't look at the answer, I would just click the link where it takes you to the section in the book (pdf) to review. I would rinse and repeat this process, until my scores where high. I also practiced all the related math, and practiced the commands supported on my dinosaur equipment.
As I mentioned I sampled many resources in my prep from Sybex, Trainsignal, Learnkey, CBTNuggets, and a few 2500 routers and a couple 2924XLs and by far the single most complete learning and prep tool was the ICND1 book, thanks!
I'm currently working on my ICND2, I've modified my study plan as follows:
*Read the ICND2 book one "part" at a time once thru.
*Go back and read the key topics of a chapter, and type up a command reference.
*Take the chapter quiz. Note any items I need to review.
*Take the exam sim in study mode, all questions, only for that given chapter. Document my overall score and topics I need to re-read for that chapter (Importantly I do not view the answers to the questions I missed, as I don't want to memorize the correct answer).
*I will read the topics I missed, literally as many times as I missed a question on that topic (a lot of reading)
*I browse thru the examples in the chapter and type up my own reference to practice on my gear, which I save for final prep.
*When my scores are around 80% on the exam sim, I move on to the next chapter, rinse and repeat.
*Final Prep summary:
Make sure I fully understand and remember (as best I can) all the commands used in the book.
Practice the command sequence for various technologies.
Practice my math, to keep my speed up.
Get my chapter questions score to 100%.
Get my exam sim scores around 90%+ per section.
Take a exam sim, setup like its the real test, and hope my hard work has paid off!
Recommendations:
A printable appendix of commands would be awesome.
A printable version of the book would be great.
The Boson Exam sim is incredibly useful, especially in the manner which I prepare for the test--however it suffers significantly from the following:
Diagrams missing IP info
Questions in the wrong category
Wrong answers
After all said, your writing excels at articulating technical information in the most detailed and organized method, period.
Thanks!
Rinse and repeat - love it!
Celticfc,
Great post, and info - a proven method for you. Love the "rinse/repeat" comment - that nails it on the head, so to speak!
Thanks for the recommendations on the books - good ideas. I'll be in touch on the errors.
Glad you like the books!
Wendell
BOSON / Sims / Labs / etc
warning Im about to ramble a bit. but I need some help
POINT 1
==========
Does anyone else have any comments on the BOSON Exam sim...
It messed with my head trying to answer some of the questions that just didnt seem to have all the details required like IP addresses..
problem is I dont know if "i dont know the answer" or if the product has errors...
For a $150.00 product this is a real hinderence to study...
Can anyone recommend a better/different (Excellent quality controlled) product or is this the best Exam Sim on the market?
I feel as though Im gambling with Game theory with my CCNA... The more time and money I invest the more I realise I need to invest more time and money and I wish I had followed a different path like the MSCE.
sorry for my complaining...
POINT 2
=========
So far I have
a)Read Wendell's CCNA Official Exam certification library 640-801 (Excellent, but LONG and difficult to get through, perhaps too much detail??)
b)Watched 640-802 Video Mentor by Wendell (Excellent)
c)Read sybex CCNA FastPass by Todd Lammle (toooooo condensed, not real useful for me)
d)Read Que CCNA 640-802 ExamPrep (Excellent, good level of content, easy read)
e)Practiced 640-801 Cisco Press CCNA Network Simulator labs
But I still cant get more than 55% in the BOSON and ExamPrep practice test!!
actually I got upto 75 in the examprep.. but I think I was learning the answers and thats useless for the real exam.
I feel like a TOTAL Idiot.
POINT 3
=========
TODAY I spent some time reading about study plans and tools..
I think I need the updated lab for 640-802..
So I read Wendell's lab posts with some interest but it seems that I would have to spend around $1,500 for a lab (includes switches and routers) with some future proofing) that can do the same as the BOSON CCNP NetSim.. which is around $499.. so from a pragmatic point of view it looks like NetSim Wins.
I looked into the Dynamips Emulator thing... but the problem is I dont have access to any IOS software downloads. or at least I dont know where to get them.
I prefer to do things properly and I am not interested in illegal copy's etc. As a former programmer I believe in copyright and karma.. so I like to act within the copyright rules... so I guess that eliminates dynamips unless someone can tell me how to do this in a legit fashion.
Then I read that Wendel is working on Cisco Press Network sim Labs for 640-802 as I write.. which I would guess will be based on the BOSON engine.
Given I am fast running out of Cash, TIME and need my CCNA like 3 months ago... but would like to future proof my investment.
Do I
a)buy the BOSN CCNP Lab for $499 (not CCNA Lab)
b)buy the Lab Hardware as described in Wendels earlier posts
c)wait for the cisco Press Network Sim (Waiting is not really an option)if more than a few days.
I need to crack this CCNA on the head like yesterday.. but I dont want to cheat and I dont want to go near brain dumps.
POINT 4
=======
Does anyone have any comments affirmative or negative on CBTNuggets videos?
any help and advice appreciated.
Sincerely AnonABC,
You know it probably IS just me
UPDATE: to be fare to BOSON.
one of the questions I was grumbling about that I thought the test was wrong....
yep it was just my lack of knowledge, and the test was correct.
I dont how Im ever going to pass this test.
Appologies
AnonABC
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