mark-wa
asked on
Looking for books to buy for CCNA....
Hi,
I don't know if this is the right place to ask this question, but I am looking for some books to buy to study for my CCNA certification. I have heard good things about Sybex. Are they the best? Does anyone know what the latest version is and a good place to buy it from? Any other additional info would be greatly appreciated! Thanks.
Mark
I don't know if this is the right place to ask this question, but I am looking for some books to buy to study for my CCNA certification. I have heard good things about Sybex. Are they the best? Does anyone know what the latest version is and a good place to buy it from? Any other additional info would be greatly appreciated! Thanks.
Mark
ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION
membership
This solution is only available to members.
To access this solution, you must be a member of Experts Exchange.
SOLUTION
membership
This solution is only available to members.
To access this solution, you must be a member of Experts Exchange.
SOLUTION
membership
This solution is only available to members.
To access this solution, you must be a member of Experts Exchange.
I was thinking about those too. The Cisco Press Exam Prep books are almost exactly word for word identical to the Cisco Academy courseware; less the excerise books and since they are Cisco they do relate very well to the test materials. So if anything else they do rate on the better half of things. (I think this is accurate to version 3 of the Cisco Academy materials.)
The only thing that stopped me from recommending them as a singular study source is that for all of the written material (which is excellent) they parallel the Cisco Academy material; less the excerise book. the instruction from the instructor and the hardware that the Academy uses to re-enforce that material. Because of the parallel, I feel that there isn't enough done to make up for the lapses left opened; which is decently addressed by the Cisco Academy curriculum. Adding a Boson Simulator or even the Cisco simulator may help. But that means transposing what's learned via Cisco Press to a Boson Simulator. Some people can or can't make the transitions.
The Sybex stuff, which actually lacks the inside information on how Cisco wants to proceed with their testing for the year gets the material to about what I think is about 85% to 95% of what Cisco's CCNA is testing for, plus materials that Cisco don't even cover thoroughly. Its a tradeoff, but because the Sybex writers need to convey their information exclusively by book, it does not have as big of a gap that the Cisco Press stuff has for CCNA (, but there are gaps).
I feel that with the Sybex and Boson (or other simulator) you are looking at 2 complete products; with a start and end, the Cisco Press stuff is excellent and again I do have an entire library of them that I use for reference.
Well that's my 2 cents...
Regards,
The only thing that stopped me from recommending them as a singular study source is that for all of the written material (which is excellent) they parallel the Cisco Academy material; less the excerise book. the instruction from the instructor and the hardware that the Academy uses to re-enforce that material. Because of the parallel, I feel that there isn't enough done to make up for the lapses left opened; which is decently addressed by the Cisco Academy curriculum. Adding a Boson Simulator or even the Cisco simulator may help. But that means transposing what's learned via Cisco Press to a Boson Simulator. Some people can or can't make the transitions.
The Sybex stuff, which actually lacks the inside information on how Cisco wants to proceed with their testing for the year gets the material to about what I think is about 85% to 95% of what Cisco's CCNA is testing for, plus materials that Cisco don't even cover thoroughly. Its a tradeoff, but because the Sybex writers need to convey their information exclusively by book, it does not have as big of a gap that the Cisco Press stuff has for CCNA (, but there are gaps).
I feel that with the Sybex and Boson (or other simulator) you are looking at 2 complete products; with a start and end, the Cisco Press stuff is excellent and again I do have an entire library of them that I use for reference.
Well that's my 2 cents...
Regards,
Regards,