CBT and Official ICND1

new2net

Hello everyone. I am training for the CCENT. I was wondering if CBT Nuggets are sufficient study prior to the exam (with hours upon hours at my home lab of course- few routers and switches)? The videos are great and I learned a TON after watching the series a few times. I started reading the Official ICND1 book (about half way through) and notice there is a lot more detail about things (i.e..CBT didn't cover switch forwarding methods like cut-through, fragment free, and store & forward... and even when it comes to TCP/IP stuff). I am wondering if CBT is enough? I know you can never have too much info, and I love reading the book because it is really in depth. But I also really just want to tackle this exam and get it out of the way. Opinions ?

jbrad95706

I haven't taken the exam, but don't think CBT Nuggets covers everything.

I watched the Train Signal and the CBT Nuggets, and while the Nuggets were more fun to watch - I picked up so much more detail from the Train Signal video's.

Also, the book I have goes a lot more in depth than CBT Nuggets.



I would say, watch the video and hit the book you have - better safe than sorry.

mikej412

The videos are a great ADDITIONAL SOURCE for your studies (if you're a "video person"), but they don't replace reading the book(s) and "doing the time" (labs).

beef1218

Only the CBT Nuggets itself is not enough.

I marginally passed ICND1 1 month ago.
I only watched CBT Nuggets and Train Signal once each and played with boson. I didn't read any book. The result was that I barely passed ICND1.

Learned from my mistake, I am reading the Cisco press book now for my ICND2. The cisco press book does cover more than you need for the test, but it doesn't harm to prepare more.
Since you are already in the half way of the book, finish it and practice some subnetting and basic commands. Then you should be good to go.

wbosher

You can probably pass CCENT using only CBT Nuggets, that's what I did. Having said that, I only JUST passed. I tried reading the Cisco Press book but probably only got about 1/3 of the way through before I wanted to slit my wrists.

ICND2, I'm sure will be much different!! I'm building a lab this time around which I didn't do in CCENT (I used a sim), and am also watching the Train Signal videos which has a lot more detail than CBT although not quite as easy to watch. I'll try to read the Cisco Press book for this one but I'm already getting REALLY bored with it. I like Odom's blogs though, especially the one about building a lab.

Good luck on the exam!!

billscott92787

I highly recommend the Train Signal videos. I have been watching them as well. I am studying for the one route option the 640-802. Which I just confirmed and register this morning. The heat is on now until my date November 21, 2009 @ 10:00 AM. The Train signal videos are excellent, and Chris Bryant - CCIE - does great at explaining everything in detail.