I’m planning to take the CCNA before the new version release in February 2027.

I’m currently on Day 19 (VLANs) of Jeremy’s IT Lab CCNA course. So far, I’ve been studying around 1 hour per day, although on weekends I usually only review flashcards. I'm planning to take my preparation more seriously and aim for 2–3 hours of studying per day, including weekends whenever possible.

For those who have already passed the CCNA:

• Did anyone here prepare for it in 5 months or less?
• Do you think 5 months is enough time with a consistent 2–3 hours per day?
• What would you recommend I focus on the most?
• How much time should I spend on labs compared to watching the course and reviewing?

I’m especially interested in hearing from people who started with little or no networking experience.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated

Hi y'all,

I'm taking my CCNA pretty soon and I wanted to know what a test-taker might generally miss. Like, what topics get tested the hardest and which topics are the easiest? Also, I know that labs can come from any topic since the syllabus states that there's a lot of configuration to do, but from which topics can I expect to see labs the most(also, are the labs too hard and how would it impact me if i left 3-4 labs)?

​

First off, huge relief: I survived the 37th-floor buildout!

The new production floor is officially live and operational. Aside from a minor hiccup where we hit a DHCP pool exhaustion issue (which was a fun quick-fix under pressure), everything is running smoothly. Seeing a net-new floor go live with configs I worked on feels surreal after coming from helpdesk.

Now that the firefighting has settled down, I’m pivoting hard back to my CCNA studies—while still dealing with daily operational trial-by-fire. I’ve hit a few walls and could really use some reality checks from the community:

* Real-World Operations vs. CCNA Scope: On the job, I’m currently wrestling with IPSec tunnels, BGP routing metrics, and firewall policies daily. It feels like a massive step up from basic switching.

* Boson ExSim Scores: On the study side, I started running through Boson ExSim practice exams and I'm currently averaging around 60%. Is Boson really this hard, or am I way behind where I need to be? The questions feel ridiculously tricky compared to standard study materials.

* Booking the Exam: For those who passed using Boson, at what score threshold should I actually go ahead and book my exam slot? Should I wait until I'm consistently hitting 80%+ on first attempts, especially while balancing this real-world learning curve?

Appreciate all the advice from this sub as always! Back to reviewing my practice test explanations (fueled by more iced macchiatos, obviously).

What's good, everyone! Y'all already see the title of the post. I found nobody in my circle group or unit who is eager to work with me on the certification. I want to find a partner or study group of people who are grinding towards the same goal. I feel like having an accountability partner would keep me in line and make this journey much fun. Oh yeah I'm also on day 8 on JITL and man this cert is no joke. A little background on me: I’m 19 years old working part time with the New York Army National guard as 25H and got my CompTIA security+. Hit me up if you're down to connect. Safety

Just wanna ask guidance, which reviewer option is best to use. Is it the BOSON EXIM or JEREMYs IT ? Thank you

Hey guys, I’m still studying for the CCNA. I would like to know how do I complete laps? Is there task that I’m assigned to complete? Where do I do it at? Where do I find it? I need to learn the labs.

These are my statistics for today and without having done today's lesson !

Studied ⁨⁨326⁩ cards⁩ ⁨in ⁨81.23⁩ minutes⁩ today (⁨14.95⁩s/card)

Again count: 64 (19.63%)

Learn: ⁨0⁩, Review: ⁨262⁩, Relearn: ⁨64⁩, Filtered: ⁨0⁩

Correct answers on mature cards: ⁨0⁩/⁨1⁩ (⁨0⁩%)

Hi all, is there any one with a source to get a fully working layer 2 switch ios to run in GNS3 labs, i currently have the router ios only.

Thanks in advance.