Best CCNA book out there?

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vk99x

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Looking to get my CCNA and need to know the best CCNA book to begin studying? Can I find just one book to teach me what I need to know on BOTH tests? if so, which do you recommend? thanks!
 
vk99x said:
Looking to get my CCNA and need to know the best CCNA book to begin studying? Can I find just one book to teach me what I need to know on BOTH tests? if so, which do you recommend? thanks!
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I like the Cisco books personally.
 
The de facto standard for the CCNA has been the Todd Lammle CCNA Study Guide (Sybex). I suggest you take the 640-801 exam instead of 640-811 + 640-821 and save yourself some cash.
 
I used the Sybex book that Bob mentioned, and found it quite thorough, and it had a bit of personality too. I can tell you, having bought the Cisco CCNP series, that the cisco ones are dry.
 
We just recieved the Sybex books in our WAN class... pretty decent reading for a tough subject...

Jon
 
The Cisco Press books are what their bootcamps are based off of. They might be dry, but I have found that the font size they use and their presentation make them easy to read and not sleeping material.

IIRC, if you go through all the bootcamps one by one, they start you off with "ICND", then move on to meatier content.
 
I've found the CiscoPress book to provice concise, factual information and that Sybex (and others) simply make the information more digestable.
 
I own the Cisco Press books for CCNA and CCNP and they served me very well - I highly recommend picking them up.
 
As others have previously stated, the Sybex study guide is fantastic. I am using the cisco books to make sure I get everything down and I use the study guide to help further implement that into my brain :)
 
Another vote for the Cisco Press.

I got the CCNA (Intro + ICND) set and they were great. And I just recently bought the 4-book CCNP set. You also save money on these if you buy the whole set at once as opposed to each book individually. Also, Borders 25% off-one-item coupons also count towards the cost of the entire set. ;)
 
i have Todd Lammle's CCNA videos on a 6 disc set that i used to pass my CCNA a long time ago (3 yrs ago). i am a network engineer now and i can tell you that all the info is still pretty much the same. i also got some CCNP videos too on tape... they're all pretty boring, but much better than reading. a combo of both worked well for me.

GL.
 
IMHO, the Cisco Press books bury you in information, while useful, that is not particularly needed for the tests. Sybex books are great and I used them for some of my MS certs. For my Cisco certs I went to Global Knowledge training/boot camps since I already had a huge backround in networking.

Cisco tests definately aren't a joke... They are very passable, but much harder than even the complex active directory and security design tests that MS gives.
 
mattjw916 said:
IMHO, the Cisco Press books bury you in information, while useful, that is not particularly needed for the tests.
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I didnt necessarially feel buried. There was definately a LOT of information in those books, but 95% of any of that could have been a potential test question. In fact, people told me to spend less time on switching and more time on routing, and then I go to take the test and I get TONS of questions about switching (including a switching sim). Also, it depends on how much you care about the cert and how much you just want to learn.

mattjw916 said:
Cisco tests definately aren't a joke... They are very passable, but much harder than even the complex active directory and security design tests that MS gives.
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Agreed. I havent taken the MCSA/E's, but the Cisco tests are tough.
 
i have the CCNA Books, the Self Studies, and the Fast Pass
I like them all...
 
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