Category: Certifications, Courses and Books

Despite having working knowledge of basic networking, I knew that I had some gaps that needed to be filled, and I identified Network+ as the right certification for that goal; vendor-agnostic, relatively cheap and up-to-date on networking concepts with just the right amout of breadth and depth. I set my sights on getting this certification as soon as possible.

Resources and Preparation

This section is about how I successfully prepared for Network+ and how you should go about your preparation if you’re considering this exam.

Syllabus

After you’ve decided to give the Network+ the first thing you should do in your preparation is head over to the official website and download the syllabus. This is your map. Whatever is not on the syllabus will NOT come. This goes for all CompTIA exams, and all versions of an exam. Now as you start your preparation, whenever you cover a concept, cross it off. This will show by the end If there are any concepts you’ve missed or not and whether you need to head over to Google to at least get a basic understanding of it.

Books

I always prefer books over videos. Personally, I find reading through books is faster than videos and the information sinks in better. The two books that I saw the most recommended were:
Todd Lammie N10-007
Mike Meyers Network+ certification

I read through ¾ of the Mike Meyer’s book but found it to be tedious so I switched over to Todd Lammie’s which was more succinct and to the point. Mike Meyer provides additional information on context of the concept and where it applies in real life, this can help people who are new to the concept overall. I had a good base in networking knowledge and had done networking courses in college (Bachelor in Computer Science), so I was familiar with most concepts in the syllabus. All I needed was good brush up of my knowledge, and Todd Lammie was perfect for it.

My notes

I made some notes of stuff that needs to be memorized, there is unfortunately no way around it. This is an excel sheet of all that information all in one place.

Professor Messer CompTIA Network+ n10-007 Course notes

These are very concise notes by the famous Professor Messer who is probably single handedly responsible for hundreds of people passing their CompTIA exams. Read these notes as a revision after the book and when your concepts are absolutely clear. The notes are supposed to be only looked at after you’ve finished your preparation as a whole, right at the end.

Professor Messer also offers free practice questions, videos and some other resources so you should definitely check out some of his other stuff on the website. Apart from these notes, practice questions are the one other thing I used from here.

Some tips

CompTIA exam questions are often worded in a way designed to trick you. Read the question two to three times slowly and challenge all assumptions before answering the questions. And then read the question again after answering it.

Conclusion

In my opinion, as long as you do all the resources I mentioned above properly you should be more than ready to pass this exam. Good luck! To those who are still considering on taking it, this is a solid exam. I highly recommend that everyone hoping to work in the field of computer science or just starting out should have it on their to-do list.