Hello everyone! While it’s still fresh in my mind, I’d like to share how I went from knowing nothing to passing the CCNA exam through self-study in July 2024. Following my method will significantly increase your chances of passing!
Study Materials:
- Jeremy’s IT Lab Videos
- Jeremy’s IT Lab Anki cards + Labs
- Boson ExSim
- ExamTopics
- Cisco Packet Tracer
I used only the above materials and passed the CCNA in one month. Here’s how I arranged my study schedule:
Weeks 1 & 2: Jeremy’s IT Lab
Jeremy’s videos are split into 63 days. I watched the equivalent of 3–5 days’ worth of videos each day:
- Watch the day’s videos
- Do the Labs
- Review Anki cards
- Take personal notes
Weeks 3 & 4: Boson ExSim and ExamTopics
Boson ExSim:
- Practice Random questions → Practice Test A → Practice Test B → Practice Test C
- Repeat each practice test 2–3 times until scoring above 820 (I mostly scored above 900)
- Truly understand the information related to each question → Take notes for each round → Add these notes to Anki cards
As a non-native English speaker, I found some content challenging, so I added my own notes in Chinese to ensure I could draw relationship diagrams without any hints.
ExamTopics:
- The practice questions on this site contain many misleading options, so I read through the comments and made sure to understand them fully before adding notes.
- There are about 1132 questions. They are arranged by content rather than date, so similar questions are grouped together. I recommend reviewing all of them; skip only those you’re very confident with if time is short.
- There are 9 Lab questions. I set up and practiced each one in Packet Tracer until I could do them perfectly.
This was my entire study plan. I spent about 6–9 hours daily on CCNA prep. One month of this routine is definitely enough to pass the exam. If you have any questions about the exam, feel free to ask me.
I wish everyone the best of luck with their exams! :)
