CCNA Study Group SIG
This page subject to change frequently!

The HAL-PC CCNA Study Group SIG meets every first (1st) and fourth (4th) Monday from 7pm-9pm at HAL-PC headquarters. Call 713-993-3300 for directions. Or, you can direct all questions to the SIG leader, Kathleen McKenzie, at ccna@hal-pc.org.

A sub-FAQ follows:

1. Introduction
2. Forum
3. Goal
4. Format
5. Book
6. The Router
7. Topics & Calendar
8. Quizes
9. Testing Info
10. Links
11. Powerpoint Notes

1. Introduction:

A quicker than lightning introduction can be found here at Cisco.

2. Forum:

Click HERE to enter the HAL-PC CCNA SIG forum.

3. Goal:

The goal of this CCNA study group is, of course, to have each & every member PASS the Cisco Certified Network Associate Certification Exam (640-801) at some point in time. By talking to each other about the material, we can really drive home crucial information.

4. Format:

The format of the study group will hopefully be informal discussion. I plan to have prep questions prepared from chapters we've read that we can discuss. Talking about the different topics will really help to reinforce the details needed to pass the CCNA exam.

Since we don't all have books yet, for the first couple of sessions I'll present a little bit from the web over chapters I know are in the book. More on this as we go. Also, I'd like to cover at each sig meeting a little bit of something from subnetting, whether it be just the numbering systems or how to actually calculate a subnet. I think you'll find that this is a very tricky area of the CCNA exam. I think the added attention will pay off.

Although there is a schedule of chapters posted, some of us are going to move quicker/slower than the pace of the group. It doesn't matter what your pace. Come to the group meetings and get energized!

From time to time I expect that we will meet at HAL-PC for further informal discussion which the regular time slot does not allow. For instance, we could meet in the food area on off-sig Mondays to really hammer out details. More on this as we progress. I'll post all meetings to the web.

5. Book:

We will be using the "CCNA Self-Study CCNA Certification Library" (ISBN: 1587200953) to study from. This is a two book set that comes packaged as one. Cisco Press books like this set come highly recommended from those who have taken the CCNA exam before.

Where to get it? HAL-PC has kindly setup an account for us to pay into. HAL-PC will order the books for us but we have to pay HAL-PC in advance. Cost of the book set is $41.97 + $5.00 S/H for a total of $46.97.

Cash, check, or credit card will be accepted at any time but if you pay HAL-PC when the sig is not meeting, be sure to specify that you are paying for the CCNA books. Make checks payable to HAL-PC.

Or, you can order the books directly from Amazon.com. That link takes you directly to the book. Also available is a CCNA Flash Card and Exam Practice Book which is highly recommended. Look for it immediately below the display for the regular book. Both books are available for a discounted price of $69.94.

Hopefully everyone will have a book by March 15.

6. The Router

This info is still being worked on. Will be posted as soon as I know.

7. Topics & Calendar:

To start with, we'll cover the following topics. The order does not follow that of the books due to maintaining interest, relevance, & comnprehension. This list will take us over the next 6 months. Anyone joining the CCNA study group after we cover a topic is welcome to follow along with the group at the current topic as we will be going over the topics again, though maybe in a few weeks' time.

Here are the topics and a tentative calendar:

Coming soon: router & switch simulator software in Lab 1 !!

Date Topic Chapter
February 16 The TCP/IP and OSI Networking Models Web Resources
February 23 Layer-2 Switching Web Resources, Ch. 2 (ICND), Ch. 2 & 3 (INTRO)
March 1 DLL Review, VLANs & Trunking, IP Addressing Fundamentals, TCP/IP Model, (looks like a lot, but it will go quick) Ch. 5, 9, 10 (INTRO), Ch. 3 (ICND)
March 22 Subnetting Ch. 12 (INTRO), Ch. 4 (ICND)
April 5 Gear Demo (pending), Physical Layer, Ethernet Ch. 3, 11 (INTRO)
April 26 Basic Router Commands, Layer 4 (Transport), Intro to Routing/Routed Protocols Ch. 7, 8, 13, 14 (INTRO)
May 24 Routing/Routed Protocols (continued) Ch. 5, 6, 7, 8 (ICND)
June 7 WAN Concepts Ch. 4, 15 (INTRO), Ch. 9, 10, 11 (ICND)
June 28 Access Lists & Security Ch. 12 (ICND)
July 5 Key Point Review See Powerpoint notes, though, we will be recapping in greater detail.
July 26 We start again. TBA
Eternity Topics to be Announced Depends

8. Quizes:

Here are some questions we can play with. Look for more before each meeting.

Quiz 1 - answers posted after Feb. 16th meeting.
Quiz Something -- Routed/Routing Protocols - answers posted after May 24th meeting meeting.

9. Testing Info:

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