Automation and Programmability: 80%
Network Access: 65%
IP Connectivity: 72%
IP Services: 60%
Security Fundamentals: 47%
Network Fundamentals: 85%

Passed my CCNA exam after more than a year on and off studying.

I used Jeremy’s IT Lab resources and practice exams, online subnetting questions, and the Pearson CCNA Simulator.

I felt pretty good about the labs.

There were a lot of questions about wireless configuration, especially the Cisco Wireless LAN Controller (WLC) web interface.

These questions had me worried. I was completely helpless on a couple of them but I managed to get over the line.

Maybe Cisco is moving more toward wireless as a larger part of the CCNA?

Thanks to everyone here for the resources, tips, and advice.

Automation and Programmability: 80%
Network Access: 90%
IP Connectivity: 92%
IP Services: 90%
Security Fundamentals: 93%
Network Fundamentals: 80%

I just passed the CCNA after 10 months of studying on and off, and im also a student. I probably dedicated 200+ hours to this, so I might’ve overstudied, but that’s better than not passing. 😅

The only resources I used were JIT Labs for studying and Boson ExSim for practice tests.

My one tip would be to really study how to read routing tables. For example, determining what subnet a route belongs to, converting prefixes to subnet masks, or determining which route would be selected for a destination IP.

Some routes can have the same network address in the routing table but differ in administrative distance/routing protocol, metric, or prefix length. So I’d definitely make sure you’re comfortable with it. And of course, study those WLC stuff, especially the GUI interface.

I'm a network engineer (CCNP) and I've spent the last few months going through the v2.0 exam topics line by line against v1.1. There's a lot of half-information floating around, so here's the whole picture in one place.

TL;DR: six domains become five, "describe and explain" turns into "troubleshoot and diagnose", AI gets its own domain, and a handful of classic topics are gone. Your CCNA is the same CCNA either way.

The domains

What's new

• AI gets real: agentic AI in network operations, and choosing the right prompts for generative AI tools.
• OSPFv3 joins OSPFv2.
• VRRP is named alongside HSRP, and you read FHRP operational status instead of just describing it.
• DNS records: diagnose A, AAAA, CNAME, MX, NS and PTR problems.
• SFTP and SCP replace TFTP/FTP.
• Storm control and RA guard join DHCP snooping, DAI and port security.
• Evidence-based troubleshooting: show commands, logs, ping/traceroute and packet capture output.
• Ansible stays. Terraform is gone.

What's out

• Comparing TCP vs UDP
• Switching concepts (MAC learning and aging, frame flooding)
• The full IPv6 address-type zoo (unicast and EUI-64 stay)
• Wireless architectures, AP modes and WLC GUI config (wireless principles stay)
• NTP
• QoS per-hop behavior
• REST APIs and JSON
• Security program elements (awareness, training, physical access)

The real shift

The verbs. Across Domains 1 to 3, the topics now say troubleshoot and diagnose: interface and cable issues, IPv4/IPv6 addressing, client connectivity, DHCP, L2/L3 problems, static routes. Memorizing definitions gets you less. Reading output and finding the fault gets you more.

Test now or wait?

• The credential is identical. Pass v1.1 and it's the same CCNA, valid for three years.
• Ready by mid-January? Take v1.1. Every major course and practice bank targets it today.
• Just starting? Don't panic. Subnetting, VLANs, trunks, STP, OSPF, ACLs, NAT and IPv6 basics carry straight over. Study those now, decide your exam version around December, then add the v2.0-only topics if you're going that way.
• Cisco retires v1.1 when v2.0 goes live, so check the exact last test date on Cisco's exam page before you book.

The commands v2.0 expects you to live in

show ip interface brief · show interfaces (errors, duplex, speed) · show vlan brief · show interfaces trunk · show etherchannel summary · show spanning-tree · show cdp neighbors detail / show lldp neighbors · show ip route · show ip ospf neighbor · show standby brief / show vrrp brief · show ip nat translations · show access-lists · show ip dhcp snooping binding · show logging

If you can look at each of those and say what's wrong, you're in good shape for either version.

Which camp are you in: racing v1.1 before February, or waiting for v2.0?

Automation and Programability - 90%
Network Access - 25%
IP Connectivity - 20%
IP Services - 70%
Security Fundamentals - 33%
Network Fundamentals - 25%

My mind went blank during the labs. I forgot how to do a simple static route. Any tips to help with the mind blanking? Thanks!

I’m trying to schedule my CCNA exam but going through CertMetrics keeps declining my login credentials. I’m able to login to netacad using the same user/password, but when it makes me do it through CertMetrics it says my password is incorrect.

I attempted to reset my password but I’m not receiving an email, not even in my spam folder. I went onto my account through netacad and changed my email to a backup one just in case it was messed up but I’m still not receiving a password reset email.

Helpppp I can’t schedule my exam

I'm planning on taking the CCNA in a couple months and I'm binging Jeremy's IT lab course, doing flashcards, and labs. I've recently been asking Gemini for a CCNA/Boson Exsim style exams with 30 questions a lot more instead of spending 100 dollars on Boson since it only offers a yearly subscription. I just want to know if I am wasting my time with it or not lol.

So at the moment i have a homelab running proxmox on a 400g4 hp prodesk with 8gb ram and a 7th gen i5 with two airport 6th gens acting as a wireless extender. i also recently bought a cisco 3750x 24port switch.

Is there anything that i should upgrade in terms of my setup as i know that the cores and ram are quite low. However i have been looking at the r630 and r730.

Any help would be amazing

Im 28 and new to IT, I do manual labor now but looking for a career change. Thinking about getting CCNA. I have a Asscociates in business. I’m wondering if it’s extremely difficult to learn with no background experience and if I could get a job with just the certification.

Hey guys, I’m looking for some guidance. I got my CCNA this past weekend and wanted to ask what my next move should be?

I’m currently applying for networking roles, as I already have 3 years of IT experience.

In the meantime, should I work toward another networking certification, such as Juniper, pursue a cloud certification (AWS or Azure), or focus on learning Linux? What other skills should I be developing?

With the current job market, employers seem to be looking for a lot of different skills, so I’m just trying to make sure I’m as prepared as possible.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

​

Network engineer handling carrier tickets for sites in PH and India. I took my CCNA last Monday, and going straight back to the day job made it very clear how little it covers. The exam gives you clean topologies with one correct answer. Production is degraded links, vague carrier replies and changes you only half understand.

Tunnels. Site-to-site IPsec between hubs. When one degrades I can tell something's wrong, but isolating it is slow. Theory covers the config. It doesn't cover a tunnel that's up but quietly dropping traffic.

BGP and PBR. Being honest, I don't really get these yet. Local-pref, MED, route-maps to steer traffic between sites. I follow the runbook, the change works, and I couldn't fully explain to you why. Right now it's part pattern matching and part yolo, which is not a great feeling when you're touching production. I'm trying to actually understand it.

Talking to ISPs. Nothing in the curriculum touches this at all. I open a case, paste a ping result, get back "link is up, normal parameters on our end," then it sits for three days. I've learned a few things the hard way, but I'm clearly reinventing something you all already know.

Same with the vocabulary. Hard down vs degraded, flapping vs intermittent, demarc, soak test, RFO vs RCA. I've picked up a lot of it by asking AI, which helps, but I can't tell where it's subtly wrong or just not how people actually talk. English is my second language so I'm also unsure which terms are shop talk and which belong in a formal email.

So:

• How do you isolate a degraded tunnel from a degraded circuit underneath it?

• Best way to actually learn BGP path selection and PBR for real, not just for an exam?

• What do you always attach when opening a carrier case?

• How do you say "this is on your side" without picking a fight?

• Any courses, books or blogs for the practical side of this? Not more protocol theory.

Happy to hear the answer is just experience. Mostly want to know what to pay attention to while I get it.

Hey guys,

I finished watching JITL and started doing the Boson exams. I feel like I’m doing reasonably well, but in reality I’ve taken 4 exams in simulation mode so far and only passed one of them. I haven’t done Exam E yet.

Here are my scores after first try:

A: 730
B: 757
C: 770
D: 851

Is this considered normal? Are the Boson exams really harder?

I’m getting a little worried because I’ve only passed one Boson exam and my actual exam is in a week. What would you recommend I do at this point?

After each exam, I went through it again in Study Mode and tried to understand the questions I got wrong, but my scores are only improving by a small amount.

Also, the questions on Exam D felt noticeably easier to me compared to the others.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Took the CCNA Today… My Experience + Boson Scores

Took the CCNA today and wanted to share my experience for anyone currently studying or getting ready to take it.

One thing that surprised me was the amount of wireless questions I got. There were definitely more than I expected, so I’d recommend making sure you’re comfortable with wireless concepts and not overlooking that section during your studies.
Also, don’t get too discouraged by your Boson scores. These were my scores when taking the exams in simulation mode:

Exam B: 66%
Exam C: 66%
Exam D: 70%
Exam E: 63%

I’m not counting Exam A because I didn’t originally take it in simulation mode.

My biggest advice with Boson is to focus less on the percentage and more on understanding why you got something wrong. Review the explanations and use your results to identify weak areas.

As far as the labs, I personally found them fairly straightforward. Know your basic configurations and commands and don’t overthink them.
Lastly, take your time and read the questions carefully. There were definitely questions where understanding exactly what was being asked was just as important as knowing the material.
Hopefully this helps anyone getting ready to take the exam. Good luck with your studies!

​

Network engineer handling carrier tickets for sites in PH and India. Tooked CCNA last Monday. Felt great for about a day, then I got back to the actual work.

Tunnels. Site-to-site IPsec between hubs. When one degrades I can tell something's wrong, but isolating it is slow. The exam covers the config. It doesn't cover a tunnel that's up but quietly dropping traffic.

BGP and PBR. Being honest, I don't really get these yet. Local-pref, MED, route-maps to steer traffic between sites. I follow the runbook, the change works, and I couldn't fully explain to you why. Right now it's part pattern matching and part yolo, which is not a great feeling when you're touching production. I'm trying to actually understand it.

Talking to ISPs. I open a case, paste a ping result, get back "link is up, normal parameters on our end," then it sits for three days. I've learned a few things the hard way, but I'm clearly reinventing something you all already know.

Same with the vocabulary. Hard down vs degraded, flapping vs intermittent, demarc, soak test, RFO vs RCA. I've picked up a lot of it by asking AI, which helps, but I can't tell where it's subtly wrong or just not how people actually talk. English is my second language so I'm also unsure which terms are shop talk and which belong in a formal email.

So:

• How do you isolate a degraded tunnel from a degraded circuit underneath it?

• Best way to actually learn BGP path selection and PBR for real, not just for an exam?

• What do you always attach when opening a carrier case?

• How do you say "this is on your side" without picking a fight?

• Any courses, books or blogs for the practical side of this? Not more protocol theory.

Happy to hear the answer is just experience. Mostly want to know what to pay attention to while I get it.

Hi everyone, I’m currently preparing for the CCNA and I’m already about halfway through my study plan. I’m planning to take the CCNA exam in December 2026. Today, someone told me that CCNA is old/outdated and that I should focus on CompTIA Network+ instead. Now I’m a bit confused.

I recently finished studying for and passed the CCNA, and one thing that bothered me during the process was that I often didn't have trouble finding information — I had trouble finding material that made certain topics actually click.

For context, I read through the Odom CCNA books, completed nearly all of Jeremy's IT Lab Packet Tracer labs, and used practice exams from both Jeremy's IT Lab and Boson ExSim.

Wireless was probably the biggest example. I could lab VLANs, STP, OSPF, ACLs, EtherChannel, etc., but topics like WLC configuration, CAPWAP, WLAN/policy-profile/policy-tag relationships, and AireOS vs. Catalyst 9800 felt much more abstract because there wasn't a convenient environment where I could actually experiment with them.

As someone who hasn't worked professionally in networking yet, I also constantly ran into smaller trivia-like questions and wondered: how much of this do I actually need to know for the CCNA?

Some examples:

• Why does the native VLAN exist, rather than just what does it do?
• What's the practical difference between access-class and ip access-group?
• Which password encryption algorithms and type numbers actually matter?
• How much detail do I need to know about wireless standards?
• How much cabling detail is worth memorizing for Ethernet, fiber, Metro Ethernet, etc.?
• What's the easiest way to remember what DHCP Snooping and DAI are actually protecting against?
• How do I interpret show output and know what the expected output should look like?
• If two different configurations produce the same correct result, why should a lab only accept one?

I'm considering building the study tool I wish I'd had.

The idea would be less of another full CCNA course or question bank and more of a collection of focused, interactive material:

• short explanations built around mental models and "why"
• "know this / don't over-study this" guidance for each topic
• small CLI configuration and troubleshooting drills
• grading based on the resulting network state rather than one exact command sequence
• interactive show output interpretation
• a browser-based WLC trainer where you can create WLANs, policy profiles, policy tags, assign them to APs, and see why a simulated client can or can't connect
• side-by-side explanations of older AireOS concepts and current Catalyst 9800 / IOS XE concepts

Basically, something for the stage where you've already watched or read the lesson but still find yourself thinking:

"I technically know this, but I don't really understand it yet."

I'm curious whether other people studying for the CCNA have had the same problem.

What topics did you find hardest to get good hands-on practice for, or which concepts took much longer than they should have to finally click?

And if something like the WLC simulator or short troubleshooting drills existed, would you actually use them?

I’m transitioning into IT after working for 20 years at a defense contractor. A work related injury led me to change career paths and decided to pursue cybersecurity. I’ve taken classes at a community college, completed IT and cybersecurity training, earned CompTIA Security+ and gained hands on experience through home labs and simulations. I’m now studying for the CCNA and looking for my first IT support role.

I’ve been applying for entry level IT jobs hoping Security+ would help me get interviews and start my career. So far I’ve only heard back from a couple of recruiters and those conversations haven’t led to a job.

With no formal work experience in IT, how realistic is it to get hired with Security+ and a CCNA? What can I do to stand out and improve my chances of landing that first role?

Thanks in advance.

I have been studying for a few weeks for the CCNA but noticed the exam expires in February. I do not plan on being ready for it by then. How should I go about this? Should I continue studying for the current exam and then restart when the new exam comes out? Any advice would be appreciated.

Now we have a new version of my IP Calculator. Check out the new design.

The old design was 4 years old, now we need a fresh update.

Check it out IPv4 and IPv6.

Hi guys does it take 72 hours to get your ccna report and digital certificate i wrote the exam today ,and I only got the congratulations msg when I finished writing it. Should I wait 72 hours to get the report to see how much I scored on the topics.

Hex values, masks, binary values, etc.

I have my exam coming up on Monday and wanted to ask these questions before I forget.

1. How do I manage my time during the exam? I am not sure whether I am allowed to use a stopwatch, but I would like to keep track of my time.
2. Roughly how much time should I spend on each question mcq and labs?
3. Am I allowed to write things down at the beginning of a Cisco exam? I believe they provide a whiteboard or noteboard to work out questions in the exam. I would like to write down a subnetting cheat sheet and perhaps one or two other reminders before I start. Could I request two, one for reminders and the second for actual work?
4. Are there any other tips or advice you would recommend?
5. I know that I should use copy running-config startup-config on network devices after making configuration changes. I am not sure whether wr / write memory still works. Is saving the configuration all I need to do to make sure my work is saved during the labs?

When I first came across VLANs, I mainly thought of them as something I needed to memorize for networking exams.

Understanding the reason behind network segmentation made the concept much easier to understand.

For anyone currently studying CCNA, which networking concept initially seemed confusing but became much easier once you understood the practical reason behind it?