Exam Certification Guide vs. Self Study Guide

Im trying to decide what Cisco Press BSCI book to purchase. What are the advantages and disadvantages of each? Exam Certification Guide vs. Self Study Guide

I do not plan on attending any classes, I will be self studying.

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ITdude

The Exam Cert Guide is more narrowly focused on the exam while the self-study book covers a broader range of topics in more depth than might be on the exam..,.

If you feel really good about your L3 stuff then you might be okay doing the Exam Guide alone but if you want a more indepth look the self-study might be a better approach. Best yet is to read them both even though it is alot to read...

aself-study followed by exam cert guide and of course lab experience!

Obliged

I read Odem's CCNA Exam Cert Guide and I was not too fond of it, but I did like the detail. I have not tried any of the Cisco Press "Self Study" books. Which one has more of the labs and questions in it, the Exam Cert Guide?

I understand that the new Exam Guide for the BSCI is due out July 17th. I cant decide what I should get. I really would like the detail that the Self Study guide may give, since I havent tried that kind from Cisco Press yet.

sprkymrk

Obliged wrote:

I do not plan on attending any classes, I will be self studying.

I don't know about that idea. Look at how you barely squeeked by on your CCNA...

ITdude

Yea, perhaps the self-study thing might be problematic!

Yes, the Cisco Press stuff is definitely more dry than say the Sybex for CCNA. However, as others will tell you, once you go above CCNA with Cisco, the Cisco Press books or the Official Courseware are the only(albeit more dry) way to go.

I have an order in for the Exam Cert guide. I want to see how good it is. The self-study guide is already on my bookshelf.

mwgood

Just as a suggestion - try http://search.safaribooksonline.com and preview whatever IT books you want.

MACattack

If you don't want to enroll for study programs, my suggestion is to purchase the self study guide of Cisco not the exam certification guide. This is what I got confused when I purchased BCMSN cert. Guide and sadlly faild the exam.

Out of topic does anyone try to connect pemu to dynamips, I have successfully connect dynamips to VMware running 4 pc's different OS. This stuff is good for Vlans and inter vlan.

Obliged

Since the BSCI Exam Guide is not out for almost a week, there are no reviews on it.
Today I decided to purchase the BCSI Self Study book. I'll see how that go's. Who knows, I might purchase both.
Please post back on your review of the BSCI Exam Guide book once you've had a chance to read it.
Thanks...

Deadmaster200

I would like to make one suggestion.

Don't forget about the Bryant Advantage stuff. I already finished the BSCI, so never got a chance to check out the Exam Guide, I only had the Self Study Guide. The Self Study Guide is dense, very long, and really difficult to read. I doubt (and really hope!) all Self Study Guides are going to be so difficult to read, but I made the mistake of reading it first all the way through, then reading or doing other things.

After finishing the Bryant Advantage Study Guide which I read after reading the Cisco Self Study Guide, I realized that it would have been MUCH better to have read the Bryant Advantage first, then I would have gotten so much more out of it when reading the Cisco Press Self Study Guide.

I think this is a good way to go and plan to do this for the rest of the CCNP exams. I recommend it for anyone who doesn't already have years of hands-on enterprise-level experience.

On a side note, despite being a CCIE-level book, I found Doyle's Routing TCP/IP 1000 times more readable than Cisco's Self Study Guide. I really hope that book is the exception and not how the rest of the Study Guides will be.