How Much Time is Required to Pass CCNA

As I was preparing for my CCNA certification, I use to surf the net and read all the articles that talked about "How to get CCNA certified in 3 months" , "How to get CCNA certified in 1 month" and similar stuff. Then, as I was preparing, I was not able to finish my studies on time that I had planned for. I had the feeling that I am not fast enough to catch up with other guys that do their studies at super-fast pace and clear the certification exam as and when they thought.

To tell you more, I had a friend of mine who cleared his MCSE and CCNA certification in six months. I was way back in catching him, so much so that I had not even finished my studies for CCNA in equal time. It took me close to about nine months to get certified, and the time I had put in had multiple benefits.

First I learned all the nitty-gritty properly which helped me tremendously on job. I prepared every concept like subnetting, OSI model, TCP/IP model and gave special importance to simulation based questions. CCNA preparation is like laying a foundation to your further aspirations in the networking industry. So give time to each and every word of the syllabus.

Give adequate time and effort should be put in to prepare every topic. Keeping a goal like, for instance "I want to get certified in 12 months" will help, but not at the cost of learning. I am stressing the word learning because just clearing the exam for namesake will make you just one another certified person in the crowd, with just a glossy paper describing that you are certified.

By The Way, I Was Looking for the Time Required to Pass CCNA, Is This Your Question?

The ideal time required for you to pass depends on what your daily schedule is, which could be from the below two situations?

• You are a full-time student
• You are working full time

I belonged to the second group when I prepared and successfully passed. It took me close to about 1 year. The first month was put in to getting adequate study material, lab preparation material and other required stuff. If you are a full-time employee, then giving about one year will be more than enough.

For students, I personally think that getting some real-life experience before getting certified will be great. But then, If you can practice most of the lab questions at your institute then giving about five hours of preparation time for the first five months and the last month dedicating about 7 hours will do it for you.

Giving enough time and effort for preparation will help you in getting a job quickly which is very good in these recession-prone times.