Frequently Asked Questions

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) about the CCNA

Information about questions regarding:

CCNA Overview
Course Format
Undertaking the Course
Assessment

Cisco Certified Network Associate(CCNA) Course Overview

The four courses of the Cisco Systems Networking Academy Program (CNAP) CCNA course are designed to give participants practical skills in designing, configuring and installing computer internetworks using equipment such as hubs, bridges, routers, switched hubs, hosts, etc.

Each evening course lasts for 12 weeks(1 class per week) and uses interactive online learning, short lectures and hands-on laboratory exercises to enable students to develop practical skills necessary for networking careers. Further information about the Academy Program can be found at http://www.cisco.com/edu/academies/index.html.

Participants who have satisfactorily completed all four courses of the CNAP should be able to sit and pass the Cisco Certified Networking Associate (CCNA) exam.

The first semester of the CNAP is designed to take students who have essentially no knowledge of networking, and to train them in the fundamentals of network technologies, networking devices, networking media, topology and structured cabling, network design and management. Semester Two covers routing and introductory router configuration. Semester Three covers switches and Local Area Networks, and Semester Four covers Wide Area Networking.

Please also see our policy document on course fees, withdrawal from courses and other exceptional events.

Course Format

Following the Cisco teaching philosophy, the courses will be presented in the following fashion:

10% will be normal teaching, i.e ``chalk & talk'',
50% will be done using on-line materials, and
40% will be done by practical or group work.

You will be expected to work together in groups to do much of the practical work, and your groups will give presentations of some of the course material.

Undertaking the Course

When the course begins, you will be given access to the on-line curriculum material for the course on our web site. You will have access to this material at all times throughout the course. You are encouraged to make use of this material as part of your preparation.

During the course, you will need a pen, a calculator, and a bound A4-size notebook which will be your course journal. You will use the journal to take notes from presentations, the on-line curriculum, to answer questions, to prepare your group work, and to do any homework. Think of your journal as your diary of the course, and use it to record any useful information or ideas you pick up over the duration of the course. At the end of the course, your journal will form part of your assessment.

In later courses, you will also be doing some non-trivial hands-on lab exercises during which you learn aspects of the configuration and management of Cisco routers. Some of these will also be team configuration exercises. Since these are group activities, your attendence and participation are essential for the successful completion of the course.

Assessment

Each night of a 12 week course covers one or more of the on-line lessons. There will also be other activities such as cabling practicals, router & switch configuration, and group kinesthetic exercises.

In the last week of the course, you will do a final course examination. This will be a closed-book exam, and you will only be allowed to bring a pen and some blank paper into the exam. As all Cisco Networking Academy courses are competency-based, you must achieve a mark of 80% or more in this exam. You must also have satisfactorily completed all the other assessment items, as detailed to you at the start of the course.

Well before you sit the final exam, a set of practice exams will be available which have the same format as the final exam. You are encouraged to attempt these exams before the final course examination. These practice exams have no effect on your final course result.

Throughout the course, you will also be assessed on a number of practical and group-work tasks, and your course journal will also be assessed.