CCNP route books - OCG or FLG?

MAC_Addy

So which do you think I should get? The OCG or the FLG? I've heard pro's and con's for both. Just wondering which I should get?

LDhiker

Safari books online 10 day free trial. Take a look at them and decide. I have a subscription, so I use both as needed. I also bought Chris Bryant's CCNP Switch book, it was like 5 or 10 bucks.

Nightflier101BL

I haven't tried either one based on reviews and what I've seen for myself with my Safari subscription. I'm using the two Routing TCP/IP volumes (which are fantastic, by the way) as my primary reading. Along with this, I've printed out the exam blueprint and supplementing the above with Cisco documentation.

For some reason, I'm just not liking the OCGs or I'm just not absorbing it properly - something.

shortstop20

There's plenty of distaste for the OCG but I like them. Yes, the first edition had ALOT of errors that were corrected, but I think the OCG are great overall.

I have not read the FLG.

negru_tudor

MAC_Addy wrote: »

So which do you think I should get? The OCG or the FLG? I've heard pro's and con's for both. Just wondering which I should get?

Well..

They're both lacking in material depth but out of the two, I find the OCG better than FLG (for SWITCH at least).

You should however be able to get by with any of these BUT you have to complement with video courses. I can't recommend INE's video courses enough for CCNP R&S. I hated their stuff on the voice track but for R&S, they're the most thorough you can find.

MAC_Addy

negru_tudor wrote: »

I can't recommend INE's video courses enough for CCNP R&S.

Perfect, thank you! My employer has a subscription to INE, so that should help out quite a bit!

Juddda

I also have a corp subscription too for INE and can say 99% it is aswsome (-1% for Rob Riker as he totally sucks)

Keith B and Travis B give you the detail wihout the crazy excitement that is not needed at the CCNP level

INE.com + 1

Nightflier101BL

Yes, can't recommend INE enough. Hands down, the best. ...and Rob Riker is terrible.

LDhiker

Are you guys referring to Keith Bogart for the INE CCNP? I prefer Live Lessons Kevin Wallace.

Nightflier101BL

Yep, Keith Bogart is excellent.

MAC_Addy

Started the CCNP track last night - Keith seems to be very knowledgeable, and is also good at explaining things. I'm going with the ROUTE first, then SWITCH. Is that what most people start with?

Oh, I also bought the Chris Bryant series on Udemy yesterday. They're currently discounted to $15. Doesn't seem too bad since this set of exams will be pretty tough.

For now, I think I'm going to go with the OCG for ROUTE. Watch the INE and Udemy videos to supplement my learning. However, I might do it the other way around - what the videos and then read the books.

negru_tudor

You can start wherever you want as long as you leave TSHOOT last. I think most people do ROUTE first then SWITCH after.

I personally liked routing a lot more than I did switching when doing my CCNA but started off with SWITCH for CCNP just because I was hyped up for studying and thought it might be easier to tackle the one that feels like a chore while I had that initial drive.

The way I did it for switch was go through the OCG and take notes but at the beginning of each chapter I'd watch all the videos I had on it from the video courses (INE, CBT and KW). Then I would go through the OCG, outline stuff out, lab every concept out and then take condensed notes in a separate notebook (kind of like doing flashcards). Did this up until half-way through the material then went back and labbed up all the topics again starting from chapter 1 and revised or added to my notes. Rinse & repeat.

When I finish studying the OCG / blueprint (4 more chapters left) and labbing every topic up, I plan to go through the TSHOOT OCG to study all the SWITCH-related topics from there. Once I'm done with that, I'm going to sit the exam.