trying for CWTS

anuragaks10

Hi people,

I am taking CWTS exam around 20th of feb. I was hoping if you guys could show me some ropes.
1# how difficult is it ?
2# I am using sybex CWTS study guide. Will it be enough ?
3# I have no professional experience in Wireless. I am still in Uni. Does this matter for CWTS?
4# Is one month enough to prepare for it ?
5# Any extra suggestions you would like to add ?

I really want to get into the wireless field. thought starting from a entry level cert might help getting better understanding of it. Please give me some advices regarding taking this test


Thanks & Regards
fellow cert aspirer

veritas_libertas

JDMurray has a blog posting about the CWTS, that might help you out.

CWTS Certified Wireless Technology Specialist Official Study Guide | TechExams.net Blogs

JDMurray

anuragaks10 wrote: »

1# how difficult is it ?

The exam itself is entry-level and the questions are very straight-forward and not tricky. But for someone who knows little about 802.11 wireless networking it will be a very difficult exam.

anuragaks10 wrote: »

2# I am using sybex CWTS study guide. Will it be enough ?

It depends on how much you already know about wireless networking. I really recommend getting the official study guide for any cert exams that you are preparing for.

anuragaks10 wrote: »

3# I have no professional experience in Wireless. I am still in Uni. Does this matter for CWTS?

While hands-on experience is a big help for any exam, you can learn everything you need to know from the CWTS books and doing extra study on the Web. Where experience helps is in understanding scenario-based exam items, but you'll need that more on the CWNA exam.

anuragaks10 wrote: »

4# Is one month enough to prepare for it ?

It depends on how much you already know and how well you study. You'll need to look through the material decide for yourself how long it might take you.

anuragaks10 wrote: »

5# Any extra suggestions you would like to add ?

Read my CWTS blog article, as described in the previous post.

anuragaks10 wrote: »

I really want to get into the wireless field. thought starting from a entry level cert might help getting better understanding of it. Please give me some advices regarding taking this test

If you know very little about 802.11 networking, you should take this opportunity to learn it well and not just study to get the cert. The knowledge will do you far more good in your future wireless career than any piece of paper will.

Peibol

I've already read that book, like JD suggested in another thread i started (thx JD) and watched CBT (kind of dry since it's more theory than hands-on).

Now I would like to know if 802.11 book by O'reilly is good or is covered in CWTS book

Thx in advance

Met44

I would like to know if 802.11 book by O'reilly is good or is covered in CWTS book

The short answer is that Gast's 802.11 book you mentioned will cover a lot more detail than you need for the CWTS. However, I'm sure it would be a great read when you move on to study for the CWNA.

Coming from someone who has not taken any of the CWNP exams, but who has read both the Sybex CWNA and the Gast 802.11 book, I think the Gast book fits in more with "how it works" (CWNA) than "what it is" (CWTS).

The Gast book goes deeper than some of the CWNA material, while the CWNA covers a lot of ground that doesn't have a presence in the Gast book. If the Gast book goes over the head of some of the CWNA material, it seems reasonable that it does the same with CWTS material. For instance, he includes almost 50 pages on the blood and guts of different types of 802.11 frames and their structure. He notes that this probably shouldn't be read through-and-through, and instead should be used as an excellent reference whenever you need to double check some minute framing detail.

As another example, even the Sybex CWNA book has only a half-page blip on PCF, then references you to the standards document -- I'm guessing it isn't that important to know for the CWNA exam. The Gast book devotes a 9 page chapter to PCF (which is actually more space than PCF got in 802.11-2007), with the preface that PCF isn't widely implemented and you probably only have to read it if you're interested in the standard. He did a good job of distilling the standard and making it into a readable section of his book. After you get through the sections on the different coordination functions, you really have a full picture of how the "waiting game" is used to make 802.11 functional in different scenarios.

He also includes chapters specific to Mac, Windows, and Linux and the nuances within each OS (although parts of that, like GNU/Linux not having supplicant support for WPA, are a little out-dated -- but any book more than a few years old talking about OS specifics is going to have something like that in it). I don't think these map to any CWNP exam, but they are very practical if you are currently or plan to be working with these technologies. (Note that this doesn't strictly have anything to do with the 802.11 standard; it's just good related information. There are a few sections like that in the book, and they are an excellent addition.)

When you get past the CWTS, I readily recommend the book if you really want to understand some of the 802.11-specific topics presented in the CNWA material, or if you want a better understanding of 802.11 in general.

Peibol

Thx a lot

I'm gonna go for CWTS and CWNA so that book goes to my list for CWNA.