A 10 Steps Plan to Qualify Cisco Certifications

Question

The networking industry over the last few years has made exceptional development so has increased the demand of networking professionals. Cisco Corporation is heading the networking industry by offering networking data management and all other highly specialized solutions for networking such as voice, video, and wireless. IT industry and economy are unpredictable and -it’s very important for an IT professional to keep himself updated with the new inventions in IT field. Networking professionals who want to secure their career and want to move up to the next higher level of their career often opt to go for Cisco Certifications. However most of the time they get confused which course they should take and what plan they should follow to competently complete their Cisco Certifications.
The issue is not that you complete your
Cisco certification but you should try to achieve quality Cisco Certification. High professionals often choose not to go for “paper Certification; paper certification is just like paper with prints on it but with little practical knowledge about the related subject. When as a networking personal you decide to go for any Cisco Certifications then always go for quality certification and it demands both your quality efforts and time that turns into more technical knowledge and polished skills. This what paper certifications lack!
In order to help you to obtain a quality Cisco certification below are 10 steps that can help you to plan well your study and develop the right and in-depth knowledge of different networking aspects. Below are those 10 steps;
1 – You are your expert!
While working in your networking field you may come across many other professionals who believe in themselves as experts in networking.  These individuals are often seen as technology giants for new comer s in the networking field but this not true. The networking field has become so vast with everyday changing technology that it’s almost impracticable for someone to be an expert. What you can do yourself is to be an expert of yourself by mastering some of the networking technologies.
The rapid inventions in networking fields are making it irresistible for someone to ignore the developments in networking.  To be a competent networking professional it’s not necessary that you get hands on all the networking areas but you can choose a specific line and improve your skills in that particular area. Cisco systems offer a lot of courses in many areas of networking and you can choose any of your interest and go for its certification for example telephony, data security, or wireless. Once you are sure which certification you have to go for then put all your efforts into it. Don’t try to know each and every single thing related to technology the more delay you make in Cisco Certification the more delay is in your professional career development.
2 – Focus on your area of interest!
Cisco system proposes a variety of certifications in different areas of networking. The two most demanded and worldwide respected Cisco certifications are CCNA and CCNP. These two courses focus on the most dominant areas of the networking that is routing and switching. CCNA-Security and CCSP modules focus on the network security issues such as firewalls, intrusion detection and avoidance and more. While CCNA-Voice and CCVP tracks deal in the telephony technologies.  Cisco offers many other modules of your interest that worth for your success in networking.  However you main focus should be a single areas of your interest!
3- Make sensible investment in your future!
When you decide to go for any Cisco certification you have to invest a lot of your time, energy and money. Before going for the final exams you have to fully prepare yourself in all facets that help you in the victorious completion of your exam. Always try to make wise investment in proper study material; your investment in low profile study material would lead to less knowledge and low scores.
While starting preparations for Cisco exams never study any material that you find; spend some time to find the appropriate material. To assist you in preparation Cisco has introduced some books, videos and tutorials; these helping books are best for your study as they are designed exclusively for their certifications by keeping in mind the Cisco certifications formats. Your research to find any such material leads increases the chances that you get the perfect idea of what would be the format of your Cisco exams.  You can also seek guidance from your relatives, friends and other industry professionals who have successfully completed their Cisco exams. You can make good use of different discussion boards on different Cisco and other It related forums.  A good thing is to read authenticated book reviews some reputed sites such as eBay and don’t forget to make regular visit of many Cisco websites and blogs created by Cisco certifiers. These websites and blogs offer you good suggestions on which material is best for your CCNA or CCNP exams.
4 – Follow an Organized Study Plan
You should not settle down on the perfect discovery of your study material rather you should create a study plan and then strictly follow it. Establish an organized study schedule and stick to that pattern. Stay away from activities that cause diversion like TV, music or buzzing mobile.  Plan your study schedules close to your meal times to avoid any distraction due to hunger. Try to drink water and eat some cookies when you feel hungry during study.
It’s not important how long you study but what quality study you make; try to study even for a single hour in a peaceful environment rather then studying for several hours in a noisy room. So try to create your study plan according to the best hours of the day that has the minimum or no noise and disruption. Try to study daily for at least two best hours of the day and try to practice that routine. 
5 – Think of your Future, not about Exams
Once you make your mind which Cisco certification you have to take then you have to flow a steady study plan before getting yourself registered for the final exam. Study till you are fully assured that you can handle the tough and technical questions of your certification and get it passed. Remember ven if you are lucky enough to pass the exams don’t throw out your priceless material; it can helpful for you in other Cisco certifications. This why investment in Cisco certification is said to be a long term future investment that brings you many future benefits. So always try to keep this helping material for a long time period to get support in next higher level Cisco exams. Try to get as much knowledge as much you can absorb and remember also reserve some time to revive it.
It’s not simple to just study your paper notes and pass the exams; the successful completion of Cisco certification demands that you are flu familiar with the exam content.  Cisco certification deals in multiple areas of networking and it require your full commitment and dedication as a part of your exam preparation. As said above you have to think about your future not about your exams. This will help you to focus on your study and chive the target of Cisco certification.
6 - Avoid the Short cut
This is the most valuable advice that you have to learn by heart when going for a technical certification. An easy road to your certification such as cliff handouts, brain dump exams, boot camps, or other means of short cut won’t provide you the required benefits in terms of knowledge and skills. Some of these useless s exams are strictly prohibited by Cisco and can also disqualify you for any Cisco certification. You can memorize that material but it won’t give you the demanded understanding of the technology that you have to apply in your practical networking career.  Such understanding comes only from the real time and efforts that you put in the preparation of your Cisco exams.
The above warning particularly applies to networking professionals who want to obtain their higher level Cisco certifications within short time and little study. Most of the networking professionals already have enough knowledge of practical word networking that makes them ideal candidates for passing Cisco certification with the help of just refreshing study material. Boot camps play a significant role for these professionals by training them for any Cisco certification in short time.  But joining of these boot camps is not recommended to new comers with little or no experience in networking field. Boot camps are best for people already having enough networking experience.
7- Focus on one Exam at a Time!
May individuals in networking field often find it enticing to go for more than one Cisco certification at a time and number of such individuals is considerable? There are many reasons behind this; more often you get bored with one topic and try to find some other path of your interest.  As Cisco certification puts a lot of load on your nerves itself and that pressure does not allow you to spend adequate time on each exam. Regardless of your motto to take multiple Cisco certifications at a time it’s generally not a good thought. It effects your ability to properly focus on one any area and preparing yourself even for a single exam. So it’s always a wise choice to get you Cisco certification step by step!
8 – Try to Balance out Life and Study!
Passing any Cisco certification requires a lot of your time, energy and efforts and if you put too much of all these factors in your exam preparation you may exhaust very soon. As a matter of fact you have to dedicate most of your time for your study but always remember to dedicate some time to your life as well. There are many other things in your life that demand your attentions. Try to stay away from books for a couple of hours daily. It’s important because it will keep you not to get bored with the dry preparation of your exams preparations and to effectively absorb the information related to your exams.
9 – Make a Study Guide Yourself!
Once make a thorough study of your material then the best thing you could do is to create a study guide for yourself. A study guide will contain all the basic and important terms, details, descriptions and explanations related toy your exams. The information is often the most technical and difficult contents of your study that you find really hard to memorize. This guide can help you in getting good scores because it’s easy for you to refresh your knowledge in really short time. Create a simple but comprehensive study guide!
The best use of study guide is made on the day of your Cisco exams. Be at your exam centre at least one hour before and make some good reviews of your study guide. This will help you in refreshing your knowledge about the most difficult terms and retain them for a plenty of time. This study guide help you answer some most technical question in your exams as Cisco software offers you some additional questions on your weak areas of networking. so once you make a good review of study guide them go into your exam room. However don’t spend too much time on the compilation and review of your study guide as it won’t help much in getting good grades. A study guide created at for one Cisco certification also helps in the preparation of other advanced level certification and you would find it really valuable.
10 – Be Confident While Testing
Don’t panic and try to calm down when you enter in your exam room; it’s very important that you keep yourself confident while you start answering your exam questions. Have confidence in your study and try to recall the information from your study guide you review before your exam. If you have make good preparation for your test then there is no point that you get confused. Also observe the time allowed for the completion of our test and don’t spend too much time on a single question or on one section. Try to limit your guesses about possible answers and then make a sophisticated answer.
If there are no negative markings for any wrong answer, never leave it blank. Don’t try to answer all questions but try to make educated answers to get high score!
Try to keep in mind the maximum number of questions you don’t know the answers and if you fail to pass the test then immediately make a list of those questions with your answers.  Use this list to match against your study guide to see what went wrong. These questions may likely to appear in exams if you retake them and this time you would have the current answers.
The above steps through seem common but they can definitely increase the probability of passing your CCDA Certification Training. Always try to fallow all or most of these steps and you will pass your exam with higher possible score. This plan will also help you in practical networking career because you have a prepared collection of all the information related to your networking field. It’s not just a dream to pass your Cisco certification the only thing it requires is your commitment and dedication. If you are a technology lover you would be more than willing to invest your time energy and money in the predation of your exams n order to become a successful Cisco certified expert.

Answer 1

I have got the needed explain plan using hints in my query. I need to capture it using stored outlines.Do you mean creating outline?
Can someone provide me the steps to capture this plan using an Stored Outline?I dont want to use any other method?[http://www.oracle-base.com/articles/misc/Outlines.php]
[http://download.oracle.com/docs/cd/B19306_01/server.102/b14200/statements_6005.htm]
Edited by: Anantha on Apr 2, 2009 9:07 AM