sundance-communications.com/forum Forums VOIP Phones & IP PBX Networking CCNA, where to start?

I want to earn my CCNA. Where do I start? can anyone give me some good direction? courses, books, etc...

Try the Train Signal courses. Ive been a fan of theirs for a long time and their training has always been top notch.

https://www.trainsignal.com/Cisco-CCNA-Training.aspx?tt=5

For printed material I would use the Cisco CCNA Command Quick Reference and Todd Lammle's CCNA Study Guide. Both can be found on Amazon pretty cheap.

I would definitely try to get practice on actual routers instead of simulators. You can buy a couple of 2950s and some 2600 routers on Ebay pretty cheap. You can get 2 of each for under 300 dollars on Ebay.

Depending on your level of knowledge you might entertain taking Comptia's Network+ certification first to give you an all around solid networking foundation.

Most of the community colleges have the Cisco Networking Academy, at least around here. My own (four year) college does not have it, and I really wish they did.
I had two of the four CCNA courses in high school, but we used pretty outdated equipment...

they where teaching Cisco Networking Academy when my son was in high school I found out they where doing a adult class in the evening so I took it .

half the class where Comdial/Key voice guys .
it was a excellent curriculum and we had routers set up to work with
Cicso Networking academy

I'm in CCNA Boot Camp in Tampa at this very moment. This isht is NOT easy, but it pays off.

Seriously, spend the money and go to a boot camp. I've learned more here in two days than I did in two months of studying like it was my job.

I am 100% against boot camps for solid learning. If your trying to pass a test and you have a background in the subject matter then boot camps may be worth it. In my opinion their made just to help people pass a test and there's NO way you can cover the CCNA material in a thorough manner in a week or two. Just does not work that way. If you learned more there in two days than in two months then I have to question your study habits or methods.

STAY AWAY FROM THE COMMUNITY COLLEGE COURSES!!!! ..... and yes i meant to capitalize.

I took the 1st part of their CCNA course... they never even covered CDP - Cisco Discovery Protocol ..... when i was studying i came across it and then on the test there was a large number of questions on it.

After taking the cisco test i had decided not to take part 2 at the college since i wasn't happy with part 1... so i skipped the final exam.... and still passed!

I would agree with Tito in my instance, the boot camp approach did not serve me well; I did a boot camp for CCNP. For me, the boot camp is too much info too fast. Obviously if you have a good base understanding prior to the boot camp, that issue goes away somewhat but on the flip side if you have a good base knowledge, it does not make much sense to spend that kind of money on a BC. I was best served for CCNA by purchasing the official current Cisco Press courseware and reading, reading, reading and more reading. Make certain that you have the courseware for the specific rev of exam you are preparing for.