How to prepare for the CCNA in a way that matches the weights
Short answer
Weight your study like the exam — 45% of the score is Network Fundamentals plus IP Connectivity, both of which lean on subnetting — and use the free diagnostic to find which of the six domains you are actually weak in before you buy anything. Practice subnetting until a /27 or /21 takes under 30 seconds, then spend most of your time on routing (OSPF, static routes, longest-prefix match) and Layer 2 (VLANs, STP, EtherChannel).
A plan that follows the blueprint
- Subnetting first (Network Fundamentals + IP Connectivity, 45%). Use the subnet calculator to check your hand work, not to replace it. Target: any IPv4 address + mask → network, broadcast, host range in under 30 seconds.
- Routing (25%): routing table fields, administrative distance, longest prefix match, static and default routes, single-area OSPFv2 neighbor states and DR/BDR, FHRP basics.
- Layer 2 (20%): VLANs, 802.1Q trunks, native VLAN, Rapid PVST+ port roles, EtherChannel (LACP/PAgP), wireless controller architecture.
- Security (15%): standard vs extended ACL logic, port security, DHCP snooping, DAI, AAA, WPA2/WPA3.
- Services + Automation (20%): NAT types, DHCP relay, NTP, SNMP, syslog levels; controller-based networking, REST, JSON, Ansible/Terraform, generative-AI terms in v1.1.
Use the diagnostic, then the planner
Take the 20-question diagnostic, enter your exam date and weekly hours, and let the planner allocate time by weight × weakness. Re-run it weekly.
Turn this into a study plan
Enter your exam date and weekly hours; we allocate time by blueprint weight × your weak spots.
Primary references
- CCNA Exam v1.1 (200-301) Exam Topics — Cisco Systems · primary · retrieved 2026-09-21, verified 2026-09-21
Last reviewed: 2026-09-21Next review by: 2026-11-20Draft — pending editorial reviewHow we verify facts