Seeking Guidance: What is the best way to prepare for the CCDA

[dianapang]

Hi,

I understand that everyone on this forum has been preparing for the tests for a while and is discussing specific questions.

I have a software development background and need to pass CCDA pretty quickly. I just started to prepare for my CCDA. I got a copy of the Cisco CCDA official exam certification guide and started reading it, hoping that by end of the reading, I will be able to pass pretty easily.

I found the test guide gives a lot of conclusions without the background or explanation behind the conclusion. For example, for access LAN network design, it says "limit VLANs to a single wiring closet if possible", without explanation of why or why not.

I tried to do some background research and found out additional info on the statement. The search for this background info itself took me an hour, and we are talking about one single line in the thick book.

My question is, what is the most effective way of preparing for the CCDA? It seems that average prep time for CCDA is one month.

Should I just simply memorize the statements in the CCDA book without knowing the reasons behind, or should I spend the time and do the background research to understand the content first? Or alternatively, is there a quicker way to undertanding the content while preparing for the test? For example, is there any training class, or any accompanying reading materials for each of the chapters in the CCDA test prep book?

Thank you very much for the guidance!

DP

[Istvan_Rabai]

Hi Diana,

As for me, I always prefer understanding to braindump. In real life only those succeed, who understand the subject.

I suggest you turning to this professional community with specific questions in case you get into doubt.

There will always be someone who isn't sleeping and intends to help you :)

As to the question on why to limit VLANs to a single wiring closet: mainly for troubleshooting and manageability purposes. If your network becomes large, you can have a lot of headache if you don't organize your network by bringing order into the topology and configurations.

Just one example: if you have a broadcast storm blocking users from working, it is very useful to limit this to a small area rather than having it in different distant parts of the campus.

Cheers:

Istvan