Cisco Certified Network Associate(CCNA) is a widely accepted certification from the house of Cisco, the company. the networking giant.
I am going to share my own experience for CCNA. This certification gives your computer networking career a major boost. But, you need to know basics of computer network before your start preparing for the examination.
In year 2003, the examination was of 1000 marks and pass mark was 840. Now, the total marks and question pattern has changed a bit, but the overview always remains the same.
I mainly followed the book of CCNA Guide written by Todd Lammle. The book covered extensive details that started from the very basic concept of OSI model, which is a known domain for any digital electronics students though. You will get to know about 7 layers(Physical, Data link, Network, Transport, Session, Presentation and Application) of OSI model, which is a standard norm of a tele-communication system.
Later, you come to know about in details about Swtich, Hub, Bridge concept and then comes the main networking device Router, which works on Network Layer. You will also get to know about Virtul Lan with switches network.
There are lots of protocols( system to rule) to be learnt while you prepare for CCNA. All these protocols works on different layers and have specific role in data communication and computer networking. TCP, IP, UDP, ICMP are some very popular protocols.
You need to understand the detailed functionality of a nework, with several Hotsts and routers are configured. I used Router Sim software for simulation practice. This software would guide you to build a network of your own.
Getting the concept of IP address and configuring them is very crucial . at the same time you have to remember lots of commands prompts to work with router.
This is the overall theory part. Now lets come to the examination part. All the questions come in multiple choice format. There are radio button for a single answer, and check button is given if the answers are more than one.
There will some simulation and mathematical questions mainly related to IP, you have to be clear about the fundamentals to solve them.
You can contact to any prometric center in your city when you are ready to appear in the exam. You have to make the payment to book your slot on a specific day. The exam will be infront of a computer with downloade question. Once you time is over, it will be closed. With in 10 minutes, you will get your score sheet.
CCNA has a great value if you want to persue a career in networking industry. But, you need to stay hard to crack this exam, and course fee is also high, so always be well prepared and take on the test.