How Long Did It Take
I started to really study CWNA in May of 2020 which corresponds with my first blog post on May 4th. At that time I assumed in 3-4 months I would have completed my exam, especially with Covid-19 slowing down the amount of projects I was working on at the time. I made myself a commitment to post every chapter I read, which meant taking hundreds of pages of notes over the 19 chapters (we skipped chapter 19 as it isn’t on the CWNA) and then transforming them into a blog post. Each blog post took a minimum of 2.5-3 hours to complete, some much longer. Fast forward to the day I passed, Oct 16th, essentially 5 months. If you were to ask me what a reasonable amount of time to complete the studies and pass the exam would be, I would say 3-4 months with 2 hours of study per day, 5 days a week. That is roughly 80 hours of study max. My 5 months were not consistent and my focus waned at many points during that time. There was even a time where my blog posts had an almost month span between them. If you are motivated and very strict on your study schedule, 3 months is possible.
What Did I Use To Pass
Sybex CWNA Book
In the beginning I started with some simple things, the Sybex Book, a notepad, and a blog. The Sybex book was well written and more than adequate to cover all of the CWNA-107 blueprint. In my notepad I would take notes on anything I thought relevant to the exam. One of the things I would have done different with the note taking is to have a printed copy of the blueprint in front of me and only take notes on items that were required to pass the exam. The book is roughly 1000 pages long and you are going to be answering 60 questions in a 90 minute exam. You are not going to need to know all 1000 pages worth of content. When you have the Sybex book you will have review questions at the end of each chapter. DO THESE QUESTIONS! You can even go the their website and take them there. This also give you the ability to make custom practice tests on any or all chapters. You can also take a couple of the chapter reviews and create a custom test with just the ones you got wrong. This was critical to ensure what I did and did not know.
Blog
The blog was created as a place to type out the notes I took and expound upon them, helping ingrain them in my brain. This also didn’t have quite the impact I had hoped for as I would up really just typing out my notes and not focusing on the content itself. I acted more like a transcriber than a student. I am sure I absorbed some of the content to an extent, but there are better items that we will discuss shortly.
Videos
As I moved in a couple chapters I started watching a series Jerome Henry did for CCNA Wireless and CWNA on O’Reilly Learning. If you don’t have access to O’Reilly, I found it at Cisco Press as well. I love the way Jerome Henry teaches and found it super helpful to visualize some of the topics. Additionally I used a CWNA video series from Ruckus, but I believe you will need to be a partner to view it. The Ruckus series basically was an overview of the chapter and was just another source for getting the information between my ears. I don’t believe it had a huge impact, but was worth watching regardless.
Below is one of the Jerome Henry videos that can be found on YouTube:
Practice Tests
As I already mentioned, taking the review questions at the end of each chapter of the Sybex book was critical to ensuring understanding. In addition to that I purchased the CWNP CWNA-107 practice questions to ensure I knew what type of questions would be asked on the actual exam. At this point you will likely be studying for the CWNA-108 exam so the link will take you to the current practice exam. The CWNP exam questions you get consist of two 60 question tests which was kind of disappointing overall. What it was good for was my confidence as they were way easier than the Sybex books questions. I scored 90% on each test out of the gate and honestly it made me nervous, as I was no where close to that on the Sybex questions.
Flash Cards
Here is where my confidence went from, maybe I am ready, to I am ready. I don’t remember who recommended it to me, but AnkiApp Flash Cards made a world of difference. Once you download the app, you can search for pre-made flashcard decks of which I found a CWNA deck someone had made. That particular deck had 443 cards in it covering just about everything you could think of. Of course you could make your own if you chose, but I found the pre-made ones excellent. Once you select your deck, you are then brought to a screen that has a grade on it from A-F. As you go through the cards you say how you felt about your answer to the card. A meaning you got it down perfect and F meaning you had no clue. Based on your rating, it will determine how often to show you each card. If you consistently give a card an A, it will show them much less often, give it an F and you will see it more frequently. I had never really looked into flashcards before, but I can tell you that they will be critical in all studies going forward. They were possibly the single best way for me to remember a lot of details I was having a hard time with.
Summary
I thought the CWNA provided excellent content and was extremely thorough. I went into my studies thinking I knew a good bit about wireless, only to learn that my knowledge was only skin deep. I am very happy to have completed this certification and can genuinely say it will help me in my day to day work. So what is next. Initially I was going to continue down the CWNP path, and at some point I will, but for now I will be moving into CCNP ENCOR. I made a promise to myself many years ago that I would acquire a CCNP. I will be starting with ENCOR and then moving into one of the wireless specializations to complete it. Once that is done, I will move back into the CWNP tracks.
Lastly I want to thank you if you have been following along as I worked through each chapter. I genuinely hope they have provided a benefit for you and have helped move your studies along. Please feel free to connect with me on Twitter and LinkedIn and reach out if you have any questions or just want to chat. I love connecting with like minded individuals. Now get back out there and achieve your goals!
Hi Mike…thanks for this blog I just passed the CWNA yesterday (first attempt) and your blog was an inspiration and a helpful study tool for the last week of studying leading up to my exam. The exam was challenging but at the same time easy if you put in the time to study and master the topics. I read Coleman’s and Westcott’s book cover to cover. Took all the quizzes at the end of each chapter and used the Wiley test bank to study and master the material. Took me about 6 months to study while working and dealing with normal life. Its daunting certification, lot of material to digest and retain. Thanks again for your blog, it was very helpful. I’m onto the CWAP!
Excellent news Antonio! Glad to hear about your passing the exam. I’m honored to have helped in your journey. Good luck on CWAP. I’m working on CWDP now.
HI Mike,
Thx for taking the time produce this blog of your journey to CWNA. I expect to take the exam within the next two weeks and was having some concern whether the practice exams I purchased were representative of the paid exam. I have studied consistently for the last two months and have many years of experience in the mobile RF and network engineering domain. Based on your suggestions, I will switch to flashcards for a week or so to reinforce my confidence for the CWNA exam. I have never taken a certification exam before and have no idea what to expect beyond the practice questions. I purchased from CWNP. Thanks for sharing your experience.
Hey Douglas,
I do really feel like the flash cards were quite helpful. If you are doing well on practice tests and have real world experience, I am sure you will do just fine.