Just a little history of where I started and where I’m hoping to go…
I was never the type that had to study when I was in school. So when I started to “study” for the CCNA back in late 2006, I thought I knew what I was doing. I didn’t have a ton of experience in Cisco networking, but enough that I was confident with a few weeks of prepping for the CCNA, I should be fine, right?
Big mistake. The CCNA was unlike any other test I’ve taken before and I paid the price for it. Attempt 1 – fail, attempt 2 – Hey! you still suck…fail! What the heck? I was ready to give up after that, but read some posts about people who were in the same boat. So, after some more rigorous studying, finally…3rd time was a charm. This was the first test that I had taken that you couldn’t really BS your way through! Blasphemy I say. Subnetting was the easy part for me…STP and NAT kicked my butt though. Once I had passed, I felt like I finally understood the Cisco tests and how to better prepare for them (aside from knowing the material inside and out).
So, here I am now…working on my CCNP. I passed the BCMSN exam on the first shot and am working on the BSCI currently. As twisted as it may be, it’s almost fun at this point. I fee like I understand the material in much more detail for some reason. I’m sure that a big part of it was the TrainSignal.com training material. Clear, simple, and to the point. Chris Bryant doesn’t neccessarily teach “to the test” but you come out understanding the material which will help you more in the long run.
So, that’s the short story…eventually I hope to move on to the CCIE of course, but let’s take it one step at a time.
