200-120 CCNA® Cisco certification

200-120 CCNA Cisco certification is one of the best certification one can lay his hands on in the field of networking. With each passing day, the popularity of this certification is increasing more and more. A huge number of professionals take this certification every year and this number is increasing. This certification is widely regarded to provide the highest quality of training in the field of networking to the professionals and preparing them for a very bright future in this industry. This certification trains the professionals for everything that they might face in their careers. This is the reason why this certification is so popular and coveted among the professionals.

The 200-120 CCNA Cisco certification is one of the Cisco Career Certifications. There are a number of Cisco career certifications available out there for the professionals to choose from. These certifications come in different categories. For anybody who is even thinking about getting the 200-120 CCNA Cisco certification, it is very important to know all about the Cisco organization that provides all these certifications and also about all these certifications.

Cisco Systems (simply known as Cisco) is an American multinational technology corporation. This conglomerate is headquartered in San Jose, California, right in the heart of Silicon Valley. Cisco is a very big and famous name in the field of networking hardware. This giant corporation manufactures and sell networking hardware, telecommunications equipment and many other high technology products and services. There is a number of subsidiaries that this corporation has acquired. Some of these subsidiaries are WebEx, Jasper and OpenDNs. Through these numerous subsidiaries, this huge corporation specializes in particular tech markets like domain security, energy management and Internet of Things. Cisco was founded by two Stanford University computer scientists named Leonard Bosack and Sandy Lerner. Leonard Bosack was in charge of the Stanford University computer science department’s computes and Sandy Lerners was his wife. She managed the Graduate School of Business’ Computers. It was founded in 1984. These two computer scientists had pioneered the concept of a LAN (Local Area Network) being used to connect disparate computers over a multiprotocol router system. By the time when this company was listed on the American Stock Exchange, NASDAQ, when the company went public in 1990, it had a market capitalization of a whopping $224 million. Ten years later, in 2000, the market capitalization of this company had grown to more than $500 million and by this time, it had already become the most valuable company in the world.

It was in 2006 that this corporation adopted the shortened name “Cisco” as a part of a massive rebranding campaign. Also, it was during this rebranding campaign that this company created “The Human Network” advertising campaign.

CCNA is a certification offered by Cisco in the field of Information Technology. Out of the many certifications offered by Cisco, the CCNA is an associate-level career certification. The exams of these certifications have changed several times. In 2013, the company announced an update to its certification program. The update was meant to align certification and training curricula with evolving job roles in the industry. As a result of this, today, there are several different types of CCNA certifications.

Coming back to the 200-120 CCNA Cisco certification, it is a composite exam that is associated with the Cisco Certified Network Associate Routing and Switching certification. The basic purpose of this exam is to test the candidate’s knowledge and skills to operate, troubleshoot and install a medium size enterprise branch network. The topics that constitute this exam are implementing network security, routing and switching fundamentals, connecting to a WAN, network media, network types, IP addressing, operating and configuring IOS devices, determining IP routes, how to establish point to point connections, how to establish frame relay connections, managing IP traffic with access lists, how to extend switched networks with VLANs and the TCP and OSI models.

In the simplest of words, the Cisco Certified Network Associate Routing and Switching is a program that has been developed for network engineers. This program develops and evaluates the networking knowledge of the professionals and helps the professionals in adding value to the organization and its network. 200-12- CCNA is one of the two ways to get this certification. The other option is passing two separate exams: the 100-101 ICND1 and the 200-101 ICND2. These tests are designed to evaluate the ability of the professionals to work with all core aspects of enterprise branch networks.

How is this certification beneficial or Reasons of getting this certification?

There are numerous benefits of getting CCNA certified. Getting this certification is one of the best ways for anyone to prepare for a successful career in networking. It is almost a guarantee of a successful future in the industry. There can be a long list easily made of the benefits that this certification provides the professionals. The certification is one of the best in the industry. It is widely regarded as the best and therefore, it is highly valuable for the professionals as well as the employers. There are many reasons for the professionals to get this certification. Some of these reasons are:

1. You get certified by the leader in Networking

Cisco has always been the leader in the networking industry. In fact, it pioneered the routing and switching technologies and it still continues to be the best and the leader in the industry. Cisco has the greatest market share in the entire industry. Also, it has got the largest installed base in the networking industry. A huge majority of today’s Internet traffic is travelling because of the network pathways that have been built with the infrastructure products developed by Cisco. Thus, the value of this certification is way too high to be ignored. When you get this certification, it is a proof that you are trained to work on the Cisco products and thus, it makes your skills more marketable. With this certification, you’ll be more in demand than all the others who are not certified.

2. More career options

This certification makes a huge positive impact on your career by giving you a huge number of career options to you. When you have the CCNA routing and switching certification, your career in IT and networking is bound to have a huge amount of possibilities. When you have this certification mentioned in your CV, it makes a huge impact on the employers and thus, you are in great demand. With this certification, it depends on you as to what direction you want to take your career in and what shape you want to give it. The certification prepares you in a unique way so that you can face everything that you encounter in your career and tackle every responsibility.

3. Your employer notices you

When a professional starts pursuing a Cisco certification, it gives a sign to the employer that you have a will to excel in your career and you want to stand out every one of your job profile. The managers of the organization notice this kind of initiative when an individual takes it. The employers value this certification more than any other certification. In fact, in 2015, 200 IT managers placed the Cisco certifications above than the certifications of six well-known bodies in an Illuminas survey. The reason given was that the managers who were a part of the survey felt that the professionals with the Cisco certification had greater technical knowledge as compared to those who did not have this certification and exhibited value for the money. Moreover, many employers use the Cisco certifications as a major term for hiring the professionals. So, when you get this certification, your employment prospects improve drastically.

Who should do this certification?

There are many reasons for a professional to try and get this certification. Many of them have already been mentioned above. As already mentioned quite a few times in the article, this certification is almost a guarantee of success in the IT and Networking industry. Thus, every professional who wants to make a successful career out of this industry should do this certification. Anybody who wants to enjoy great employment prospects in the career should do this certification. Cisco is the undisputed leader in this industry and if you want to attach the name of the leader in your CV and attract attention, you should do this certification.

How to score well in this exam?

Since this is such a coveted and popular certification, the exam for this is bound to be a bit difficult. The candidates must prepare really well and in the right way to score well in this exam. There is no particular way that can be termed as the best or the ideal method of preparation for the exam. In fact, there can be no method of preparation for any exam in the world. The reason for this is that every person has its own calibre and set of skills and the preparation proceeds in accordance with all this. However, every exam requires the candidates to do some specific things or be cautious about them to succeed in that particular exam. Some of these things for this exam are:

1. Choose the study material wisely

This is one thing that the candidates should be very cautious about for this examination. It is really important for the candidates to have the right study material to succeed in this exam. A lot of students tend to rely on just one resource that is available free on the on the internet. This is nothing but a very big mistake as these resources are loaded with misleading information. Also, these resources usually contain outdated material. Everything that has been published by the Cisco press is the most authentic resource for this exam. These resources should be the first choice of the candidates for the study material. These resources do not just help the candidates in scoring well in the exam but they also provide them the thorough and accurate knowledge that the other resources fail to provide.

2. Plan every bit of your preparation

This is something that goes without saying for any exam. It is really important for the candidates to plan the study to succeed in not just this exam but any other exam as well. The candidates tend to study whenever they feel like. This method of preparation might seem easy but it is absolutely inappropriate for the preparation of any professional certification. One should prepare a detailed schedule for the Assignment of preparation and follow it strictly. Also, when one prepares the schedule, he should remember that he needs to prepare a realistic schedule. There is no use in preparing a schedule with 16 hours a day of studying if you cannot follow it.

3. Take mock tests

Taking mock tests is something that can help a person in preparing for any exam in the world. One should take as many mock tests as he can before taking the final exam. These mock tests help the candidates in getting aware of all the rules and regulations of the exam. It gives the candidates a chance to experience everything that awaits him on the day of the final exam. Also, if a candidate gets a good result in the mock test, it boosts his confidence and if he gets a bad result, it helps him in realising how much has he come on the road of preparation and how much more he needs to go.

What is the exam format and what are the prerequisites?

The exam for this certification is conducted online and the duration of this exam is 90 minutes, i.e. one and a half hour. Usually, there are 50-60 questions in this exam. The exam is available in multiple languages like Japanese, English, Spanish, French, Portuguese and Russian. The Cisco certification exams include multiple test formats. The passing scores for the Cisco certification exams are set by using statistical analysis and re subject to change. This is the reason that Cisco does not publish any passing score. Once the exam is complete, candidates get a report of their score and a breakout of the score according to the sections in the exam. The passing score for the exam is also given in this report.