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CCNA Certification Requirements – How to Become CCNA-Certified

Introduction

In this article, we look at what it takes to become CCNA Routing and Switching-certified, from the prerequisites of the exam to the study materials to use to prepare for the exam, and, finally, how long to study before taking the exam.

Note: From this point on, we will refer to the certification simply as CCNA.

What Are the Prerequisites for the CCNA?

The CCNA certification is actually at the foundational level of Cisco’s hierarchy of certifications, so there are no technical prerequisites for the CCNA exam. This means that you do not have to take any previous exams before you can qualify as CCNA-certified. However, there are age restrictions for any Cisco certification:

  • Under 13 years—Cannot sit for exam even with parental consent.
  • 13-17 years—Can sit for exam with parental consent.
  • 18 years and above—No age restrictions.

Even though there are no prerequisites from Cisco’s end, the CCNA exam (200-125) may be better suited for those with one to two years of networking experience. This should not discourage those who do not have any hands-on experience and still want to take the exam; you will only need to work harder and use the tools available to you, such as GNS3 and Packet Tracer.

Note: As we will discuss in a later section, there are two paths to achieving the CCNA certification. Candidates without networking experience may want to first take the ICND1 exam and then the ICND2 exam to become CCNA-certified.

What Study Materials Do I Need to Get Started?

As with any certification exam, there are various study materials to help candidates prepare for the CCNA certification exam and these materials are available in different formats. For example, there are study guides, videos (live and self-paced), workbooks, lab guides, practice tests, (Read more...)

*** This is a Security Bloggers Network syndicated blog from InfoSec Resources authored by Chris Sienko. Read the original post at: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/infosecResources/~3/AvbM8xd4a8k/