How to study without study guides or practice tests?

mw7301

Hello all,

I was just wondering how do you guys study for the Cisco exams when so often there are no study guides or much less practice tests for individual tests? For example there is no book for the 642-552 or 642-523 tests as well as none for many other of the Cisco exams. The only exam that I can tell where consistent documentation is produced is for the CCNA test, otherwise as the exams are updated it takes years for a book to be produced if ever.

Do you just look at the exam objectives and then study books on the general individual objectives or what? Thats the only way I can see being able to do it and that sounds pretty tough.

Turgon

look at the blueprint and read from there. There is much to learn!

dynamik

There are books for 552: http://www.ciscopress.com/markets/detail.asp?st=44730

You should also get the CCSP flash cards pack. It includes flash cards and what looks like the quick reference guides as well.

edit: There are also some practice tests available here as well: http://www.transcender.com/dept.aspx?dept_id=120500

mikej412

Check out the CCSP FAQ. I just checked out the Cisco Press CCSP Book link and did notice the first 3 exams listed now only have the Quick Reference Sheets listed as a resource for the exams. Some of the documentation links in the CCSP FAQ could get you pointed in the right direction.

We have discussed this in a few other threads -- sometimes you can still use the old version of the Exam Certification Guide that had been available. You still need to know a lot of that information to help you prepare and practice for the exams. For the PIX/ASA exam, there is the old Exam Certification Guide and several good PIX/ASA Firewall books.

Ultimately you do have to look at the exam blueprint and probably go to the Cisco Documents and white papers to find all the information to cover all the topics on the exam.

The CCSP exams have been getting updated so fast that the Cisco Press books can't keep up.

Search the CCSP forum to see what other's have used for the exams recently. If you can't find anything, start a thread for the specific exam and see what the people here suggest.

mw7301

Maybe I'm just not understanding how Cisco does its self study but when I've done other certifications there was always a book (or a bunch of books from various authors) dedicated to the subject that you were being tested over + bunch of self test questions over all the topics. Thats even how the CCNA test was. But looking at the stuff you posted they really arent study guides, they are just like loose notes on the subject with no labs or practice tests. The actual books that were in the list werent about the specific test they were about generic subjects that mentioned some of the exam objectives and again they were not about the specific test itself. So are you saying thats pretty much how it works with these tests beyond the CCNA?

dynamik

I think this is more specific to the CCSP than the others. This is the route (no pun intended) that I'm planning on going, and I agree, it's intimidating. I'm used to my CBTs and practice tests.

Those quick reference guides are pretty good. I'm not sure if the ones online are the same as the ones that come with the CCSP flash card pack. You can also view them online at http://safari.oreilly.com if you have a membership there. I encourage you to pick up that flash card pack and start there. That'll give you an overview of the material, and you can add resources as needed.

ITdude

There is also the Official Cisco Courseware for each of these exams but that would require taking a course from a Cisco Training Partner. You might want to check out something like CBT Nuggets too.

mw7301

Thanks a lot, I'll check out the nuggets.

ITdude

The guy who does the lecturing is quite entertaining. He is a pretty knowledgeable guy but Security is not really his forte'. His main area of focus is Routing and Switching and Voice.

In other words, do not rely on the trainings for 100% of your studies. Always try to get multiple sources. That being said, it is a pretty good series.

Good luck!