LinkwingThis plan is for people starting the CCNA 200-301 with little or no networking background. It assumes about 72 hours of focused study, the middle of a realistic 60 to 80 hour range for a beginner, and shows how that time fits into 20, 30 or 45 minutes a day. Focused means actively learning: reading or watching a lesson, answering questions, typing commands, drilling subnetting and reviewing mistakes. A video playing in the background does not count.
The topic order follows the six domains of the CCNA 200-301 v1.1 blueprint, which applies to exams taken up to and including 2 February 2027. If your exam will be later than that, read the section on exam dates near the end.
How long it takes at your pace
| Daily study | Per week | Weeks for 72 hours | Roughly |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20 min a day | 2 h 20 min | about 31 | about 7 months |
| 30 min a day | 3 h 30 min | about 21 | about 5 months |
| 45 min a day | 5 h 15 min | about 14 | about 3 to 3½ months |
These figures assume you study every day. If you study six days a week, multiply the weeks by 7/6 (at 30 minutes a day, 21 weeks becomes about 24). If you already work in IT you may finish sooner; if subnetting or OSPF takes longer to click, budget extra time rather than skipping practice.
How the hours map to the exam domains
| Block | v1.1 weight | Hours | What you cover |
|---|---|---|---|
| Foundations | not a domain | 6 | What a network is, clients and servers, switches vs routers, IP and MAC addresses, binary-to-decimal conversion |
| Network Fundamentals | 20% | 12 | OSI and TCP/IP models, cabling and interfaces, TCP vs UDP, IPv4 addressing and subnetting, IPv6 addressing, switching concepts, wireless principles, virtualization basics |
| Network Access | 20% | 12 | VLANs and 802.1Q trunks, inter-VLAN connectivity, CDP and LLDP, EtherChannel, Rapid PVST+ spanning tree, wireless architectures and AP modes |
| IP Connectivity | 25% | 14 | Routing table components and forwarding decisions, IPv4 and IPv6 static routes, single-area OSPFv2, first hop redundancy protocols |
| IP Services | 10% | 6 | NAT, NTP, DHCP and DNS, SNMP and syslog, QoS concepts, SSH, TFTP and FTP |
| Security Fundamentals | 15% | 8 | Threats and mitigation, device passwords, AAA, VPNs, ACLs, port security, DHCP snooping, dynamic ARP inspection, wireless security (WPA2, WPA3) |
| Automation and Programmability | 10% | 5 | Controller-based networking and SDN, REST APIs, JSON, configuration management tools such as Ansible, AI and machine learning in network operations |
| Review and mock exams | all | 9 | Timed mock exams, weak-area review, final subnetting speed work |
| Total | 100% | 72 |
IP Connectivity gets the most time because it carries the highest weight (25%) and because routing-table and OSPF questions reward practice. Foundations is not an exam domain, but without it subnetting and switching are much harder to follow. The last 9 hours are for review and full mock exams, not new material.
The week-by-week plan
The table shows the week in which each block ends at each pace, counting from week 1. Week numbers are rounded, so a block may finish mid-week. Move on when you reach the milestone, not when the calendar says so.
| Block | 20 min a day | 30 min a day | 45 min a day | Milestone |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Foundations | week 3 | week 2 | week 1 | You can explain what a switch, a router and an IP address do, and convert any 8-bit binary number to decimal. |
| Network Fundamentals | week 8 | week 5 | week 3 | You can find the network, broadcast and host range of any IPv4 address and prefix on paper. |
| Network Access | week 13 | week 9 | week 6 | You can configure access and trunk ports and explain why a port is blocking in spanning tree. |
| IP Connectivity | week 19 | week 13 | week 8 | You can read a routing table, pick the route a packet will use and configure single-area OSPF. |
| IP Services | week 21 | week 14 | week 10 | You can configure NAT and PAT and explain DHCP, DNS and NTP in one sentence each. |
| Security Fundamentals | week 25 | week 17 | week 11 | You can write a standard and an extended ACL and place each one correctly. |
| Automation and Programmability | week 27 | week 18 | week 12 | You can read a short JSON snippet and explain how controller-based networking differs from the traditional model. |
| Review and mock exams | week 31 | week 21 | week 14 | You score consistently well on timed mocks you have not seen before, in every domain. |
What a daily session looks like
| Pace | New material | Practice | Review |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20 min | 10 min: one short lesson | 5 min: questions on that lesson | 5 min: flashcards or yesterday's mistakes |
| 30 min | 15 min: one lesson | 10 min: questions, or a command lab on lab days | 5 min: flashcards |
| 45 min | 20 min: one or two lessons | 15 min: a command lab or a question set | 10 min: flashcards and a short subnetting drill |
Once a week, replace new material with a review session: redo the questions you got wrong that week and write one line for each explaining why the right answer is right.
Rules that keep beginners on track
- Start subnetting early and keep it going. Subnetting appears in addressing, routing, ACL and troubleshooting questions. After the Network Fundamentals block, drill it two or three times a week until exam day. Keep the subnetting cheat sheet as a reference, not a crutch.
- Type the commands. Reading
show ip routeoutput is not the same as producing it. Use a simulator such as Cisco Packet Tracer (free through Cisco Networking Academy), lab equipment or command labs, and type every configuration you study. - Review mistakes, not scores. A question you got right by guessing teaches nothing. Keep a short error log and revisit it every week.
- Use spaced repetition for facts. Port numbers, administrative distances, IPv6 address types and wireless standards stick better with flashcards than with rereading.
- Measure readiness with unseen questions. Scores on questions you have already answered overstate what you know. Judge readiness on first-try answers and on timed mocks.
- Pick an exam date after Network Fundamentals. By then you know your real pace. Booking on day one adds pressure; never booking lets the plan drift.
How to know you are ready
Cisco does not publish the passing score for the CCNA, so there is no official percentage to aim for. Leave a margin: look for consistently strong results on timed mock exams you have not seen before, across every domain, rather than one good score in your favorite topics. Before booking, you should be able to:
- Subnet any IPv4 address and prefix length in well under a minute, without a calculator.
- Explain why a switch port is forwarding or blocking, and why a route is in the routing table.
- Configure VLANs, trunks, static routes, single-area OSPF, NAT and standard and extended ACLs from memory.
- Score consistently well on full-length timed mocks, with no domain far below the others.
As one example of a conservative target, Linkwing assumes that about 80% correct corresponds to roughly 825 out of 1000. Treat any such figure as an estimate.
Your exam date decides the version
Exams taken up to and including 2 February 2027 use CCNA 200-301 v1.1; exams from 3 February 2027 use v2.0, which reorganizes the domains and changes some topics. Starting from zero on 1 October 2026 and studying every day, this 72-hour plan finishes around:
| Pace | Finish | Exam version |
|---|---|---|
| 45 min a day | about 5 January 2027 | v1.1 (about 4 weeks of buffer) |
| 30 min a day | about 22 February 2027 | v2.0 |
| 20 min a day | about 5 May 2027 | v2.0 |
If you land on v2.0, the domain order above still works; add the new topics before your review block. See CCNA v1.1 vs v2.0 for the differences.
Where Linkwing fits
Linkwing is an iPhone app that follows this kind of plan. Its 17 Start Here lessons cover the Foundations block, and its 15 exam worlds follow the domains on an illustrated map. The Subnetting Gym generates unlimited drills, 75 IOS command labs let you type real commands, and mock exams of 20, 50 and 100 questions are weighted like the blueprint. The predicted score appears only after 40 first-try answers, and an exam-day forecast compares your daily study minutes with your exam date. It works offline and is free to download. Whatever tools you use, keep Cisco's official exam topics list as your checklist.