Many people have been pushing hard studying and preparing for the current CCNA and CCNP exams because the last day of testing is 23 February 2020. To those that have near the finishing line, great Keep Going! You still have about 2.5 weeks for serious study. You need a plan. So what should we be doing? Here’s 6 things to do with the deadline pressure on your shoulders.

  • If you haven’t registered for your exam, do so now. Remember everyone is under the deadline. Remember exam seat availability may be limited should not be the thing that keeps you from getting your CCNA or CCNP. Do it after reading this post!

  • Make sure you’re doing subnetting every day. Work on different scenarios that you believe you can be tested on subnetting, including binary, CIDR notation, subnet mask, wildcard masks, hosts per network, number of networks…etc.

  • Each study session should include 1 hard topic and 2 for review. If you do multiple sessions a day,fine. Use my pattern: Review topic, Hard Topic, Review topic. Start with a review topic to get your mind ready to work (10-20min); Dive hard into your hard topic(1hr+); then end your session with another review topic (10-20min). Let’s be real right now. With only 3 weeks left, there shouldn’t be many topics that are left outside of your comfort zone. Before the study session know what the hard topic you’re studying for that session.

  • Print out the exam topic blueprint from Cisco. This will help you identify the hard topics you have left to cover. Put a ‘+’ for a review topic and an ‘*’ for hard topic. Go ahead and write out all your hardest topics you have. If you have more hard topics than days left before the exam…You may need help–ask for it, review a class or add more sessions on weekends if you have a job.

  • Watch your diet. You’re going to stress about the upcoming exam. Believe me, junk food and bad eating habits will make it more difficult for you to focus during your study time. Hydrate during your study. Only, snack during your break times..snack sensibly. Make the snack something that will keep you satiated for 90 minutes before your next break. For example, I drink water or hot tea and I snack on cashews…as much as I want a bowl of candies and chips. If you do, you’ll be either too sleepy to study or too distracted to focus. Be sensible about your snacks!

  • Oh by the way, breaks should be no more than 15 minutes at a time. Not long enough for you to get distracted but enough time for a snack and bio breaks then back to it. Distractions are just small dragons! Leaving the study session to long before starting will definitely derail your progress.

  • Keep a strict study schedule. In these last few weeks, a schedule is a must. As much as you can, realistically. Study comes first if the exam is your goal. So you realized I can’t count.

Let me know what you think! email me: ronnie@itpro.tv

So, I’ll share more soon. ~ronnie

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