As with any Cisco exam (along with other vendors), the sheer amount of content that needs to be understood to pass the exam can be staggering. Let’s say you are learning topics from a book which is broken up into chapters. You read and understand the first chapter, but all you do is read it. Over the next month, you cover five more chapters the same way as the first. Great, but now, how much do you really remember and are able to comprehend from way back in chapter one? This is an issue that I have run into with my ENCOR studies.
I have been studying for the ENCOR exam longer than I care to admit. There are chapters/topics that I hit months ago that I’m sure I am completely rusty with now. I’ve been covering this content, leveraging multiple sources, but let’s face it, I’ve done an incredibly poor job when it comes to note-taking. A little while back I started mind maps at the end of chapters, but I started it late and feel that while helpful, it isn’t enough for me. I’m not sure where I went wrong. I did mind maps (and potentially flash cards) when preparing for the CCNA, but I really dropped the ball with ENCOR. That is all starting to change. I had gotten some advice from the AONE podcast to try out digital flashcards, specifically the Anki platform. I just started this within the last few days and it has already proven beneficial. For me, repetition is key when it comes to learning and this platforms allows for just that. It has also given me a new energy for studying which is huge. I have the application installed on a computer along with my phone and I can sync the flashcards created between both platforms. When it’s been a while since I studied a topic, I have the flashcards that I can review. So far, my flashcards mainly consist of questions from both CBT Nuggets and the OCG, and key topics and terms from the OCG. I wish I would have done this from the beginning, but at least I’ doing it now, and that’s good enough for me. Happy studying, everyone!
Netication 