The new CCNA exam: CCNA 200-301 received a notable upgrade in the syllabus. To keep pace with the ever-changing IT advancement, Cisco has now incorporated topics corresponding to wireless networking, security, and network automation in the syllabus. This new syllabus prepares professionals more efficient to carry out complex job profiles in this incredibly advanced IT industry. Having a CCNA certification also serves as evidence to the hiring manager that you have robust networking concepts needed for the job and have demonstrated the same by earning the certifications.

How long it took for me to get the CCNA:
The whole process of studying and taking the CCNA exam took me 1 1/2 months. Took advantage of the free time during this quarantine and studied 5-7 hours per day.

Resources used:
Wendell Odom's OCG vol 1 and 2, Neil Anderson's Udemy course, Packet Tracer, Pearson test prep that came with Odom's books, Boson ExSims. Moreover, CCNA certification is worldwide accepted and acknowledged. CCNA certifications are valid for three years from the date you gain it, and you can renew it by either passing the CCNA exam again or by earning any of the higher-level professional certifications (CCNP). If you want to get your CCNA certification online then choose EnsurePass, their CCNA 200-301 dumps are excellent which helps a lot in exams.

My studying strategy:
I consider myself to be a more visual learner over reading. However, I would also like to point out how reading Odom's books have helped me fill in the gaps. I first watched a section on the video lectures and took concise notes. After, I opened Odom's book, went to the corresponding chapter of the video lectures, read carefully and took more notes to fill in any potential gaps/missing material. Once the notes for that section were done, I opened up PT and then labbed it to solidify my knowledge for the chapter. Repeated this until the very end.

200-301 Practice Tests:
Used both Pearson test prep and Boson ExSim to help gain knowledge on the types of questions to be expected on the exam. I have to say that Boson ExSim was crucial to my success as the explanations for the answers that I got wrong have further filled in my knowledge gaps. Before the real exam, I scored 725, 736, and then 892 for exams 1, 2, and 3 respectively on ExSim. For Pearson I scored around 850-880 for the practice exams.

Tips on the real exam:
I can't go into details due to NDA, but the most important tip I can give is to make sure you read the 200-301 real questions. The wording can be very tricky as I feel like part of the exam is figuring out what the question was asking for exactly.