Three schedules
Weekly hours are our suggestion, not a Cisco figure. The longer plans assume less to build on, so they carry more total time: about 8 to 10 hours a week on the twelve-week plan (96 to 120 hours), 10 to 12 on the eight-week plan (80 to 96) and 15 to 20 on the four-week plan (60 to 80). Every row pairs reading with a lab and a practice set on the same study area.
Starting from zero · 12 weeks
For a first contact with networking. Subnetting and routing get their own weeks.
- Week 1
Components, cabling and TCP/UDP
Read components and cabling. Lab: cable two switches and read
show interfaces statusfor speed and duplex. - Week 2
IPv4 addressing and subnetting
Read IPv4 and subnetting, then subnet by hand daily until a /27 takes under a minute. Drill on the IPv4 practice filter.
- Week 3
IPv6 addressing, subnetting review
Read IPv6 addressing. Keep one IPv4 subnetting drill a day so the week 2 skill holds.
- Week 4
Switching, VLANs and trunks
Read switching and VLANs and native vs access VLAN. Lab: two VLANs, one 802.1Q trunk, checked with
show interfaces trunk. - Week 5
Rapid PVST+ and EtherChannel
Read spanning tree and EtherChannel. Lab: predict the root bridge, then confirm with
show spanning-tree. - Week 6
Wireless LANs
Read wireless LANs and WPA2 vs WPA3. Map each AP mode to the job it does before you open the practice set.
- Week 7
Routing table and static routes
Read routing tables and static routes and longest prefix match. Lab: a default route and a floating static backup.
- Week 8
OSPF and first-hop redundancy
Read OSPF and first-hop redundancy and the DR/BDR election. Lab: bring up single-area OSPF and read
show ip ospf neighbor. - Week 9
IP services
Read NAT, DHCP and DNS and management services and QoS. Lab: PAT on an edge router, verified with
show ip nat translations. - Week 10
Security fundamentals
Read security concepts and VPNs and ACLs and Layer 2 security. Write three extended ACLs on paper before you type any.
- Week 11
Automation and the weakest study area
Read automation and APIs, then spend half the week on whichever study area the mixed practice test shows weakest.
- Week 12
Timed session and repair
Sit the timed mock exam early in the week, then reread the notes on every miss before exam day.
Some IT time · 8 weeks
For someone with help desk or lab time behind them. Two study areas share most weeks.
- Week 1
Components and IPv4 subnetting
Read components and cabling and IPv4 and subnetting. Subnet by hand every day this week.
- Week 2
IPv6, switching and VLANs
Read IPv6 addressing and switching and VLANs. Lab: VLANs and a trunk between two switches.
- Week 3
Spanning tree, EtherChannel and wireless
Read spanning tree and EtherChannel and wireless LANs. Lab: an LACP bundle, checked with
show etherchannel summary. - Week 4
Routing table and static routes
Read routing tables and static routes and administrative distance vs metric. IP Connectivity, the heaviest Cisco domain, takes this week and the next.
- Week 5
OSPF and FHRP
Read OSPF and first-hop redundancy. Lab: single-area OSPF across three routers, then change a cost and watch the path move.
- Week 6
NAT, DHCP, DNS and management
Read NAT, DHCP and DNS and management services and QoS, with static NAT, dynamic NAT and PAT as the anchor.
- Week 7
Security and automation
Read security concepts and VPNs, ACLs and Layer 2 security and automation and APIs. Pair ACLs with wildcard vs subnet masks.
- Week 8
Timed session and review
Sit the timed mock exam, then repair the two weakest study areas its score breakdown shows.
Daily network work · 4 weeks
For working administrators who configure switches and routers already. One Cisco domain group per week.
- Week 1
Network Fundamentals
Read components and cabling, IPv4 and subnetting and IPv6 addressing. Subnetting speed is the target.
- Week 2
Network Access
Read switching and VLANs, spanning tree and EtherChannel and wireless LANs. Lab the trunk and STP checks you skip at work.
- Week 3
IP Connectivity and IP Services
Read routing tables and static routes, OSPF and first-hop redundancy, NAT, DHCP and DNS and management services and QoS. IP Connectivity alone is a quarter of v1.1.
- Week 4
Security, automation and the timed session
Read security concepts and VPNs, ACLs and Layer 2 security and automation and APIs, then sit the timed mock exam by midweek.
Where the weight sits
- L11A Network components, cabling and TCP/UDP≈9%
- IPv41B IPv4 addressing and subnetting≈5%
- IPv61C IPv6 addressing≈3%
- L22A Switching, VLANs and trunking≈8%
- STP2B Rapid PVST+ and EtherChannel≈4%
- WLAN2C Wireless LANs≈11%
- L33A Routing table and static routes≈15%
- OSPF3B Single-area OSPF and first-hop redundancy≈10%
- SVC4A NAT, DHCP and DNS≈3%
- MGMT4B Device management, NTP, SNMP, syslog and QoS≈9%
- SEC5A Security concepts, passwords and VPNs≈9%
- ACL5B ACLs and Layer 2 security≈3%
- API6A Automation, APIs and AI≈10%
Our estimate per study area, derived by splitting each Cisco v1.1 domain weight evenly across its topics. Cisco publishes weights per domain only.
Picking a length
Plan length follows what you bring to the first week. Cisco says the CCNA assumes little to no networking knowledge (Cisco CCNA FAQ), so the twelve-week plan starts from zero; someone who builds VLANs at work can compress to four. For where newcomers tend to lose time, see how hard the CCNA is.
Cisco also advises planning by the topic weights and practicing in a lab, and says reading a book alone will not get you through. The rows above follow both pieces of advice. For what to read and lab with, see CCNA study materials compared.
When a week slips
Schedules break: an on-call week, an illness, a subnetting block that refuses to click. A lost week is annoying and recoverable. Slide the whole plan one week later and keep the order; squeezing two study areas into the space of one is the move that tends to cost a sitting.
Slipped twice already? Switch to the next longer plan at the row you reached. The weekly hours drop, and the remaining study areas keep their full share of time.
The final week
- Timed mock done early in the week, with its score breakdown saved
- Notes reread on every miss, sorted by study area
- One last pass through the CCNA flashcards for ports, distances and timers
- Exam appointment, IDs and travel or online check-in settled
- No new topics in the last two days
Study time questions
How long should I study for the CCNA?
It depends on your starting point. These plans run 4, 8 or 12 weeks, roughly 60 to 120 hours in total at our suggested pace; Cisco’s exam page gives the 120-minute exam length, not a study time (Cisco exam page).
Can I prepare for the CCNA in 30 days?
The four-week plan is built for that, and it assumes you already configure switches and routers. From zero, start with the twelve-week plan.
Is two weeks enough?
Two weeks works as a final review for someone who has covered the whole blueprint. As a first pass over Cisco’s six domains it leaves no lab time.
Where do practice sets fit in each week?
After the reading and the lab. The mixed practice test filters by study area; the timed session belongs at the end of the plan.
References
- [1]Cisco Learning Network: CCNA v1.1 exam topicsdomain weights. Checked October 29, 2026.
- [2]Cisco Learning Network: CCNA v2.0 exam topicsthe next blueprint. Checked October 29, 2026.
- [3]Cisco: CCNA certification page and FAQaudience, study advice. Checked October 29, 2026.
- [4]Cisco: CCNA exam pageexam length. Checked October 29, 2026.