I have spent the last couple months deciding how I want to approach my starting this study blog. I have debated on how I want to approach my studies for the CCENT AKA Cisco Certified Entry Network Technician exam. The exam # is 100-105 and it is one half of the CCNA AKA Cisco Certified Network Associate exam. I have chosen to take the two-path route instead of the single path route. This is because it will cost me the same amount of money to do two exams, versus a single exam while providing me an additional certification along the way to obtaining my CCNA. I have also got a date in mind where I would like to be able to take the exam on a specified date. I have set the date for myself for the exam on the first half to be taken on April 6th, 2019. I will be engaged for the next few weeks in test prepping for the exam, reading books and taking practice exams. I have been through this before with the Cisco exams. They are not easy exams to take or to pass on the first attempt, yet that is just what I’m trying to do with my studying and prepping. I want to pass on the first try.
Here is my plan of attack to prepare for this exam and how I’m going to try and tackle each of the parts of the book that I am using to study for this exam. The book I have selected is the official certified guide for the CCENT 100-105 exam by Wendell Odom. The book I purchased also comes with the Pearson Vue practice exams that I will be using to prepare for the exam as the exam date gets closer. I will be scheduling the exam through the Pearson Vue website. The cost of the exam is $165 per attempt, so it isn’t a cheap exam to take and certainly an expensive one to fail, so that is not an option for me.
The book (CCENT 100-105) is split up into parts. I estimate the 10 parts should take me 2 weeks to cover in depth. I will be blogging about the progress I am making on each part as I do them and will also try to post daily if I can, based on how I’m doing. Each day I will try to cover 1 part of the book. Some parts cover 5 chapters, while other parts of the book are only 3 or 4 chapters. The book is divided so each chapter of the book is roughly between 20 to 30 pages. This makes it easier to read and digest the material. Each chapter also has a “do I know this already” quiz that should help to determine which parts of the chapter I need to pay more attention to and which ones I can skim over. Each part of the book has a part review that I will go over in detail on my first post after finishing the first part of the book.
I plan to split the blog posts up into 3 sections each day I post. The first part of my post will cover the “do list”. This quizzes what I need to do or know at the beginning of the chapters. The next part of my post will cover what I learned from the chapters I read that night, and key terms and their definitions as well as key points from the chapters I have read. The last part will be about the chapters I have read, which will cover what I think of the material and how complex I feel the material is for me. What is difficult to me may not be difficult to someone else, but what comes easy to me may not be easy for someone else, so on these I will break down what I find easy and what I found most difficult to digest and understand. This way I can keep track of my learning and be able to track my progress as I go through this book and on to the exam.
So here is my attack plan on this book. The book is about 1000 pages of reading material. Day 1 which is March 11, 2019, I planned on writing this post to explain my attack plan for this exam. Day 2, I plan on knocking out part 1 of the book. I may split this into days 2 and 3, but hopefully I can get it done in a single day. Plans for the rest of the days are pretty much similar knocking out one section or part of the book until I finish all 10 parts. Splitting out parts of the book as I feel I need to into 2 days, and writing what I covered for the blog the night I get the studying done and where I stand on the studying for this exam. The week prior to the exam which will be March 25 to April 5 so 2 weeks out of the exam will be nothing but practice exams to prepare for the real one. I find that if I start these exams too early, I memorize the questions and am not well prepared for the exam. So, I start my exam testing 2 weeks before or a week before I take it in order to keep the material fresh in my head.
I will see you guys tomorrow night with my first studying update.
Jason
