Skip Links

Network World

Wendell Odom

The Best Study Styles: Prolonged Concentration or Lots of Short Sessions?

A Discussion of Study Styles in our Cisco Cert Zone Community

By wendell on Wed, 11/18/09 - 10:26am.

It seems like every place I turn here of late, I'm reminded at the number of distractions in life. These distractions might be useful - a newscast at the lunch place, twitter from your phone, and the entire universe of information just a few Google searches away. It doesn't have to be technology either - could be daydreaming, or an unexpected need to do something for a family member. This whole line of thinking can be applied to many parts of life, but in this case, it got me thinking about the role of these distractions during the time you have set aside to prep for a Cisco exam. I've included a few polls to see what the trend is with those who happen across this blog space.

First, let me ramble for a bit of background. Everyone has different study styles that they develop over time. Part of what got me started was some extra time I've spent lately with my daughter (8), watching her sometimes spend 2X the required time on her homework because of these distractions. Of course, I've got work tasks that are due by certain dates, and I spent part of my time yesterday daydreaming about how to help my daughter focus more when doing her homework - in effect, doing the same things at work that she does at homework time. (This is definitely a do-as-I-say kinda thing.)

I kept thinking that she needs to learn to concentrate - but then I stopped myself. Maybe that's the wrong goal? We current parents sometimes joke that the 21st century western culture almost teaches our kids to have Attention Deficit disorder (ADD), with 3 minutes a pop video games, TV, the ability to find/read something on the Internet in 5 minutes instead of the good old days when it used to take hours to find and learn the same thing in a real library. So, maybe the goal isn't to learn how to concentrate - well, ok, there has to be some concentration - but maybe it's how to quickly recover from the useful distractions and get back on track, and how to avoid the unproductive distractions.

Of course, figuring out the whole issue of how to develop good study habits may not be solvable from a discussion here in the blog, but it did drive me towards today's blog topic. The vast majority of folks studying for any Cisco cert exam spends a good chunk of their day with an Internet-connected phone, an Internet-connected PC, with skills to use them to study better. There are many useful study resources available at our fingertips. You might spend 100 total hours studying for some Cisco exam - so maybe some people work better with 600 different 10 minute study periods. Maybe it's 10 minutes searching for an reading an RFC, 10 minutes digging into a topic in a book, 10 minutes on a short e-learning video, or 10 minutes posting queries in a study forum (like Cisco's CLN). It would drive me crazy personally, but then again, my friends would claim I'm half way there already. ;-)

The temptation to use what's available to today is strong, mainly because it can be so useful. Just to give the younger of ya'll some perspective, back in 1990, I read my first RFC. To get it, I had to send a correctly-formatted email to an auto-responder system, which would then in turn email me an RFC. I couldn't use a browser to look at the RFCs, of course, because there was no such thing yet. I'd get the email back in a few hours to a few days later - and I was pleased. Before that, for good old SNA protocol stuff, you had to order the paper books from IBM, or better yet, see if your buddies down the hall happened to have the right book already. Now, if you really want to know how a protocol works, in that 10 minute window, you can search for the RFC, display it, and maybe read enough to get a specific question answered.

I know this is no revelation to anyone out there - but does the amount of information, in many different formats, with different levels of interactivity, cause all of us Cisco cert candidates to move away from the age old "concentrate on it for several hours at a time" study model to a "fit 10 minutes at a time" model? In particular, what tools and topics, if any, do you simply turn off when it's time to study?

 To stimulate the discussion a little further, imagine that you've set aside 2 hours tonight to study for some Cisco exam, and you don't know the next subject well at all. For instance, maybe you're studying for CCNA, and all you know about Spanning Tree is that it exists, and you think switches use it. Tell me things like: How many of the useful distractions do you purposefully disable or ignore, and which do you keep using? EG, do you keep your phone beside you? Answer calls? Read texts or emails? Check out the latest posts from buddies on Twitter? Allow yourself to Google to search for more info on the topic? Search around study sites? Search around other web sites for a mental break? Keep an eye on friends on social networking sites? Or do you take your primary study tool, be it an RFC, online (free) doc, book, video, whatever, and stay locked in?

Also, if you post, it'd be interesting to hear your general age range, e.g., I'm in my 40's. Plenty of you grew developed your study styles in school in an era with easy searchability for info in the Internet, and I'm sure that impacted what younger folks are more comfortable with. Thanks to you all...

Study time!

0
By Big Evil (not verified) on Wed, 11/18/2009 - 11:09am.

Interesting post WO. It always intrigues me to know how other people study.
I think that people find their own groove and when find one stick with it. I am 35 mine is like this:

1: I watch CBT/Train signal/Cisco videos making notes.
2: Read notes from above.
3: Read books, make notes.
4: Read notes.
5: Re-cover subject that i feel am weak on or misunderstood.
Gather more info on hard subject from, RFC, forums and friends.
6: Lab time, covering topics defined in exam syllabus.
7: Re-cover hard subjects again and do more labs if needed.
8: Read exam crams or shorter notes.
9: Take exam.
10: Pass exam, drink beer.

I have an hour and half drive to work and listen to audio (Scott Morris CCIE R&S stuff), for stuff that i feel i need to gather details (multicast address etc)
I normally study once i have help put our son to sleep (he is 13 months old) around 20:00 at night, and study for min two hours. If my work day is light (not offen LOL) i read some web blogs or play with spare work routers, switches and ASA's.
Weekends i try and get as much time in as i can, four hours min.

BE.

http://bigevilsciscoworld.wordpress.com/

I think today we have plenty

0
By Roland (not verified) on Wed, 11/18/2009 - 12:23pm.

I think today we have plenty of study sources so just "reading the f.. manual" is no more the only way. I begin studying in the morning, 1 hour in the car with podcasts, Scott Morris (he's great) and other audio sources. During lunch break I watch online Class on Demand, during the day I can read Cisco doc-cd and rfc. After dinner I complete with some more specific reading and some lab (almost dynamips). At the end of the day I've studied almost 4 hours!
No need for teacher, forums and ML are full of great network engineers helping students like me.
I work in noisy environments, with people talking on the phone and I've developed the ability to deeply focus in what I'm reading, it's a must.

Before having internet access and and on-demand study material I've used to study only on manuals.

Old way: 6 months to take CCNA.

New way: 6 months to take CCNP, 6 more to CCIP.

Roland

what to choose

0
By That1guy15 (not verified) on Wed, 11/18/2009 - 4:02pm.

Ive been working on my CCNP since march 09 and will site my ONT (last exam) on Nov-20th. My study habits from start of CCNA and through the CCNP have actually changed almost every exam. even though they follow the same routine I have evolved my habits over time.

At the end of my CCNA someone recommended to me to find one or two sources for material to concentrate on for each exam and stick with those. This made sense to me because I wasted a lot of time on my CCNA just trying to get as many different papers or blog post or books on the subject. For subject that dosemt make sense in these resources then branch out to the internet and other resources to find something that sinks in.

So for the most part my routine for the CCNP has been:
Cisco Press CCNP library for study materials
TrainSignal for video lecture
home lab and GNS3 for lab.
I also am involved in CLN and tech forums and try to follow and answer questions that align with the subjects im working on. this gives me real world practice along with problem based practice on the subject. These are my little distractions/breaks through-out the workday :)

As for time I spend about 2 hours a day, 3 days during the week at night studying or labing. I will try to get 6 - 8 hours in on the weekend. usually 4 hours each day. This time is dedicated to study. No TV, Internet, phone or background noise (mostly because i cant read with background noise).

oh you asked for age: 29

My basic study method: 1.

0
By Kale (not verified) on Wed, 11/18/2009 - 9:44pm.

My basic study method:

1. Either watch CBTs or read a book or two on the subject, depending on whether CBTs are available. This is a cursory overview of the subject.
2. Start labbing, prefer a lab guide but working through based on the exam objectives works too.
3. Read or re-read the books, RFCs, Cisco docs, etc until I have the theory down.
4. Lab again until I have the configuration down.
5. Review the exam objectives and if there is anything I don't feel comfortable with repeat 3 and 4 as necessary.

I am interrupted frequently with Twitter, email, random browsing, etc, but because they are short interruptions and I immerse myself in the subject, studying 5-8 hours on weekdays and even more on weekends the cumulative effect is negligible.

I'm 22.

My method: video/printed book/lab+google/book again

0
By maxxfi (not verified) on Thu, 11/19/2009 - 11:54am.

My method while studying technical courses like e.g. CCNA is:
1. If available, watch a video or read from the Net some good article about the subject, in a relaxed style.
2. Get a book or a *printed* electronic course and study the specific chapter. Unless I realize that I cannot follow where the explanation is leading to, I try to get through the whole chapter. I do answer phone calls, but the beauty of working with paper is that you don't need to be near any computer ;-) so no email, and no, I don't use twitter.
3. Usually after a good night sleep, I begin to work out the various points of the subject, with help of some lab, google for unclear parts or I read other textbooks.
4. Re-read the main text (I used in step 2) to verify that I now understand everything... and more.
5. Depending on the specific subject, do some exercises or practice lab.

I'm 41, and I should have still somewhere the dot-matrix hardcopies of a few basic RFCs that I printed at my University, when Internet was not yet a commodity ;-)

My Study Approach

0
By Rich (not verified) on Fri, 11/20/2009 - 4:18pm.

In my case, I had been laid off, and it was time to do some skill building. I essentially took on studying for the CCNA as a full time job. After breakfast, I picked up my books, laptop, headed out and came home at around dinner time. The entire time was spent studying. The only distraction was the phone, but my wife is typically the only caller, and she understood the goal, so interruptions were minimal. As far as a study method, I used a read-practice-reinforce approach. I would start out reading the text. Next, I would practice on the lab or sim, do exercises, etc. Finally, I would use notes I took during reading, flashcards, and practice tests to reinforce. The result was passing both ICND1 and ICND2 in the mid 900s with only 4 and 3 weeks study respectively.

Had I been in a position that required study for the exams during employment (hence having to grab a moment here or there), I don't know that I could have internalized the material in anything resembling a reasonable time frame.

Oh yes, I'm 42.

0
By Rich (not verified) on Fri, 11/20/2009 - 11:08am.

Oh yes, I'm 42.

Study Approach For CCNA

0
By Eric S (not verified) on Fri, 11/20/2009 - 7:33pm.

I am a 47 year old mainframe systems guy learning new tricks. Learning technical stuff is fun...

My study approach was mainly the Cisco Press CCNA books... I can't recall the author?? :>

I read each front to back and kept retesting with the chapter lead in questions. I printed out the appendices from the back of the books and used those as memorization guides... Some stuff you just need to read over and over and over and just memorize it..

I was lucky enough to catch up with a copy of packet tracer and this was a great help with the CLI ..

I also used the videos from the Cisco CCNA pre center and also you-tube videos by Chris Bryant and Chris's daily emails etc.

It was actually Chris that got me motivated to finally set the date for the CCNA exam and then to push and study hard. I passed with a 933..

I was able to study at work as part of my job along with studying at night and on weekends.

I needed longer periods of time - 30 to 60 minutes locked away with the book and no distractions (TV, cell, dog) to learn...

Subnetting was difficult at first but I just need to memorize the tables and then run subnet questions over and over and over... I filled many pages of blank paper with subnet practice questions...

The Boson exam engine was great for studying and testing. I did not take the CCNA test until I was running a 95% or higher on the Boson exams

I actually fell asleep one night with my face in the ICND2 book...

Eric

Changed with age

0
By pompeychimes on Tue, 11/24/2009 - 11:34pm.

As I've got older (Mid thirtys now) I've simplified my study methods. Gone are the days of reading books cover to cover. I don't even take traditional notes anymore.

Video, audio, RFC's, and labs make up my study routine. I still use books but only as reference material. I do all my book reading online at Safaribooksonline.com. I haven't bought a physical book in 5 years.

James

Too much distraction

0
By MCL_Nicolas (not verified) on Wed, 11/25/2009 - 4:13am.

hey there.

I'm a 29 years old network engineer .
Started my CCNA in May 2008
Finished the exam in January 2009
Started CCNP in February 2009
BSCI+BCMSN passed .ISCW + ONT Courses are done, just need to schedule the exam

I spent a lot of time working on the CCNP and CCNA exam and as Wendell's daughter, I feel that I am too much distracted ....
Twitter, CLN, General stuff on the internet ... etc etc are too much distracting for me ...

I could spent twice less time on every topic I know today

I really need to learn how to focus on certain subject for long time (more than 1 hour ?)

twitter is useful because I can ask a question and get an answer very quickly.

Using : CBT Nuggets, Cisco Press Book, Cisco Student guide, and Home lab (Need to lab more)

Nicolas

Ps : here is a very good link provided by greg and his study habits

http://etherealmind.com/cisco-study-planning-tips/

12next ›last »

Comment viewing options

Select your preferred way to display the comments and click "Save settings" to activate your changes.

Post new comment

The content of this field is kept private and will not be shown publicly.
  • You can use BBCode tags in the text.
  • Lines and paragraphs break automatically.
  • Allowed HTML tags: <p> <strong> <i> <br /> <br> <ul> <ol> <li> <dl> <dt> <dd> <blockquote>

More information about formatting options

CAPTCHA
This question is for testing whether you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.
Welcome, visitor. Register Log in
About Cisco Cert Zone

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.