The Green Girl’s Cisco #CCNACyberOps Certification Scholarship advice from her experience as a member of Cohort 2 from March 15 - June 15, 2017:
Once you log into the Scholarship program, carefully read the 'FAQ's: Support Options, Timelines, Course Rules, Exam Vouchers, SECFND/SECOPS Labs and Networking Academy' - guidelines and rules may change and this will answer most of your questions so use this as a reference throughout the course.
Direct any outstanding questions to your mentors via email or the 'Technical Discussion Forum'. Scholarship-related questions, including voucher requests, should be emailed to [email protected].
Report any issues with the course content, navigation, or technical issues via the green circle present on lower left corner of each page of the online material.
Completion of SECFND requirements (voucher qualification) are to complete the content, labs, and the end of course Challenge questions with a bronze badge or better for all 14 Sections.
Completion of SECOPS requirements (voucher qualification) are to complete the content, labs, and the end of course Challenge questions with a bronze badge or better for all 15 Sections.
You have unlimited opportunities to re-take the end of Section Challenges - some students mentioned they took this upfront to test their knowledge. I waited until I'd completed the Section material to do each Challenge. I also did all the Section Challenges repeatedly as a review prior to my exams.
Familiarize yourself with the left navigation once you start the SECFND section. You can view a summary of your labs (including time spent and attempts), a list of videos, and check on your Badge completion status.
I took advantage of the Autoplay feature and would play the videos (for the audio) as a review as I did chores.
The Scholarship will not provide you with the Cisco Press books but the course material (videos, text, and quizzes) combined with the weekly mentor sessions will cover everything you need to know to pass the exams. Purchasing the Cisco Press books is a personal thing - some students found it helpful to have the hardcopy as a reference, some students felt the course material was sufficient. I opted to rely on the course material.
Be prepared to do labs with multiple virtual machines - a larger monitor may be helpful for the lab portions.
I installed Kali Linux, Metasploitable 2, and Security Onion and as I did each lab, I duplicated the steps in my local VMware environment. It was time consuming but this helped me get a better understanding of the technologies.
I dedicated 2-3 hours a day to studying (including lab time) because I was determined to pass the SECFND exam before I moved onto the SECOPS material. I'm one of those people who needs to test quickly before I start forgetting the material.
Believe in the Scholarship program - especially the mentors. The exams are true to the blueprints - 210-250 SECFND and 210-255 SECOPS.
Everything you need to know to pass SECFND is in the course. The material alone is not enough to pass the SECOPS exam but the mentors will bridge the gaps.
A strong understanding of the SECFND concepts and topics will be an investment in your SECOPS studying - take your time and absorb the material.
The guidelines and rules regarding timelines, deadlines, and requesting vouchers are subject to change so I will not address that here but I want to assure you that the intent of the Scholarship program is to help all of us succeed.
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