ICND2 books: What's the difference?

2nd Edition by Odom:

Amazon.com: CCNA ICND2 Official Exam Certification Guide (CCNA Exams 640-816 and 640-802) (2nd Edition) (9781587201813): Wendell Odom: Books

3rd Edition by McQuerry:

Amazon.com: Interconnecting Cisco Network Devices, Part 2 (ICND2): (CCNA Exam 640-802 and ICND exam 640-816) (3rd Edition) (9781587054631): Stephen McQuerry: Books

I really liked the ICND1 book written by Odom, but who is this McQuerry guy and why did he take over?

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Comments

Forsaken_GA

The difference is that one is an authorized self study guide and one is an official exam certification guide

Normally, the authorized self study guides go into more depth and are trying to teach the technology, not the exam.

My experience with Odom, otoh, is that he writes official exam cert guides like they're authorized self study guides and includes more than you actually need to know to pass the exam. Which is good, because it makes the book useful as a reference once you're done with the exam

mmartinez85

Thanks for the reply, but can you or someone else go into more detail about the difference between self-study guide and exam certification guide?

It seems that the two are so similar that they shouldn't even have two different books.

networker050184

mmartinez85 wrote: »

Thanks for the reply, but can you or someone else go into more detail about the difference between self-study guide and exam certification guide?

It seems that the two are so similar that they shouldn't even have two different books.

What kind of detail are you looking for? Maybe if you ask specifics someone can help you out.

Its pretty simple though. If you need to learn the material get the study guide, if you need to review for the exam get the cert guide.

mikem2te

mmartinez85 wrote: »

Thanks for the reply, but can you or someone else go into more detail about the difference between self-study guide and exam certification guide?

It seems that the two are so similar that they shouldn't even have two different books.

Really, for the CCNA books don't worry about it. It seems there is a Cisco Press policy to produce a range of books for each exam, each for a specific purpose, the self study book takes you through the initial study and the certification guide is the final exam prep as someone stated above. Uniquely, for the ICND1 and ICDN2 the ODOM books are so good most people can get by with just them.

If you continue to some of the other Cisco certs having both the cert guide and the self study guide is recommended, but certainly not essential.

mikej412

mmartinez85 wrote: »

but can you or someone else go into more detail about the difference between self-study guide and exam certification guide?

How about the Cisco Press web site

Who should read Self-Study Guides?
The primary audience is networking professionals new to a subject area who need to build a learning foundation on a networking subject and who need an on-the-job desk reference. The secondary audience is Cisco course attendees who use these guides as supplements to their course material or networking professionals who need early-stage self-study materials for an exam.

Who should read Exam Certification Guides?
These are mid- to late-stage exam guides that help readers master exam concepts. These books are written for readers who have conceptual, hands-on knowledge of the material and need to concentrate their study efforts before sitting for the exam.

Usually you want to use both book series -- when they are available -- for an exam, but as has already been mentioned, Odom does such a GREAT JOB with the Cisco CCNA Certification Library (the ICND1/ICND2 Exam Certification Guide bundle) that we'll usually suggest it by itself as the primary source of study.

Then we toss in Todd's Sybex book (6th Edition) as a "second source" since it's a "fun read." Todd's book has some good exercises to perform hands on, is GREAT for SUBNETTING, and works GREAT either as a "warm up" for newbies so Odom isn't such a shock, or as a review after Odom to focus on the exam.

TheShadow

Mike always seems to come up with the right link at the right time. I was looking for those quotes but could not find them although I knew they existed.

one tells you how to tell time and one tells you how to build a watch. Odom compromises and tells you about sundials too.