Christmas comes early with free cert prep content from Cisco

Ho, ho, ho! Not even Jolly Old St. Nick himself will be putting anything this cool in your stocking. It's the perfect gift for certification candidates everywhere. Cisco Learning Network is so confident you'll like its premium training content that it's giving those materials away. Some of them, anyway.

Just in time for the holidays, you can treat yourself to a heaping helping of certification study materials. And that's not even the best part: This bounty of preparatory power won't cost you a nickel. You can dive into 40 sample training modules for CCNA and CCNP certification, with no strings attached. OK, you have to become a Cisco Learning Network member, but that's a simple matter of entering some basic information and getting a username and password.

Cisco Learning Network is hoping you'll find all of the free content so addicting — to say nothing of efficacious — that you'll want even more of it. The sample modules are typically available exclusively to Cisco Learning Network subscribers. Anyone can become a Cisco Learning Network member at no cost, but you have to pony up for a subscription, or as Cisco calls it a "premium" subscription.

There are two levels of subscription. At the basic premium subscription level, you get access to more than 600 training videos for CCENT, CCNA and CCNP certifications, sample virtual lab exercises and special webinars. At the advanced premium (or would that be "premium premium?") level, you get full virtual labs access, a library of more than 1,100 study questions and 10 percent off all products at the Cisco Learning Network Store.

The 40 free sample modules are both video and lab demos. You can view short presentations on topics ranging from "Networking Basics and IPv4 Addressing" to "Cisco Email Security Appliance." The basic premium content is available for a low as $10/month, while access to the premium premium content starts at $225/90 days.

Even if you're just a Cisco Learning Network member, with no subscription, there are plenty of benefits. You can research Cisco exam topics, meet like-minded exam candidates to form study groups, play learning games, interact with both career and certification experts, and more.