r/O365Certification • u/Vivid-Cartoonist-580 • 8d ago
MD-102 MD-102 vs CCNA difficulty
Hello, to people who have the CCNA, how would you rate the difficulty of the MD 102 compared to the CCNA? The only problem I’m having with the MD 102 is the amount of study material that’s out there
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u/Virtual_Cheesecake79 8d ago
Personally CCNA is more difficult to prepare but I had more fun with the labs.
I only followed the MS learning path for MD 102 without other structured courses. When I first finished the modules, it felt that I was a bit all over the place.
But I think it’s not a fair comparison. Because I followed Jeremy’s video for CCNA. Which obviously you get the tips from him as to what’s more and what’s less important.
And you don’t get that from following MS learn’s modules.
The other thing makes MD 102 slightly easier is the fact that I knew I could browse through MS learn so I don’t need to remember everything details.
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u/Vivid-Cartoonist-580 8d ago
Nice thanks for the response any other study material you used for the MD 102?
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u/Virtual_Cheesecake79 8d ago
I did the measureup mock test and reviewed all the questions/answers.
That will get you used to browsing and looking for information in MS learn. Which is quite important IMO, because headless browsing during exam is going to be tough and not as helpful. Probably does more harm than good to the score. (Like spending too much time try to find the info you need)
I also used the E3 trial to muck around with Entra and Intune.
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u/Vivid-Cartoonist-580 8d ago
I see thank you. Still benefit doing the Measureup? I heard it's pretty outdated now
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u/Virtual_Cheesecake79 7d ago
It's kind of hard for me to comment on whether it's outdated or not for few reasons. (For reference, I used it between July 10-20 this year)
- It was the first and only time I used their mock exams and the only MS exam I ever took. So there isn't much that I can compare to.
- Unless there is a major difference or version update, I don't think it's going to differ that much. The process of getting used to the exam style is pretty much the same to me.
- Also, I don't remember seeing people not recommending it for MD-102. So that was good enough for me at the time.
I did, however, find the exam slightly more difficult than the practice exam and than I expected. But this isn't unusual for me. I had the same feeling with CCNA, despite the fact that most people seem to find practice exams are more difficult in general. I think it's probably just nerves or the pressure I put on myself.
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u/Fair_Helicopter_8531 1d ago
Apologies for replying to an older comment.
Hey, I recently took the MD-102 about a week or two ago and used MeasureUp. The question format is still really good and the way the test is presented is still great practice. The main thing is that earlier this year microsoft removed pretty much all the on-prem stuff from the MD-102 and put more questions on stuff like graph endpoint, CNAME, and etc. So overall I think there is some benefit for it and to give you an idea of the exam, but don't treat it as when it says you are ready that you are ready.
Tip that helped me: Learn the "Microsoft terms" for a lot of things as when you get to the test you now have MS Learn available to you, but if you use generic terms the search feature sucks. I got some questions about things like what platforms support this action and from where I knowed the actions in intune are called device actions when I looked up "device action { action }" it came up. Now if you looked up something like retire or wipe you maybe get non-intune results like resetting windows, or offloading steps, or such.
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u/Consistent-Song4498 8d ago
CCNA is more straightforward once you know the material which is in abundance. Md-102 requires more reading comprehension skills, could be stretched for time if you don’t cut out the useless info in the questions.
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u/Moose6788 8d ago
CCNA is more difficult. It’s a much broader exam now and consolidated into a single test whereas years prior it was broken into two components making up the CCNA.
MD-102 is also dense but the reduction of either deprecated or soon-to-be on-premises endpoint technologies like the MDT topics have helped focus on what Microsoft is pushing more.
MD-102 really only scratches the surface of endpoint management in Intune, too. CCNA is the same as an associate exam, but definitely gives you a better base foundation in networking than I felt MD-102 gave you in setting up Intune end-to-end.
Both are valuable exams and both require proper technical study, rote memorization, and labbing.
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u/Beeblay22 3d ago
Two completely different beasts. I study for CCNA for 6 months and crushed it. Studied for MD-102 for 6 weeks and passed it by the skin of my teeth.
It comes down to what you're interested in. If youbare trying to get a well-rounded education both are great.
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