mattrgee wrote: » Hi all, Passed CCNA Security today, although I became slightly disillusioned towards the end of my studies. I found the official certification guide a massive disappointed having read the excellent Odom books during my CCNA studies. Bad grammar, repeated text and lacking concise information were the main problems I found. The exam went ok, I was nervous as always and rushed through the first 30 questions, with a final score of only 811. I passed by the skin of my teeth with 20 minutes to spare! I thought the exam had some badly worded questions and difficult to navigate sims. I used GNS3 for all my router labs and a single 2950 switch for the layer 2 security topics. For other test takers in the Manchester area, I took the exam at Pitman Training in Stockport. The exam centre was very well organised with polite staff who followed the correct procedures. They actually took my photograph, unlike other 'cattle market' test centres I've been to. They were open on a Saturday too, which is always a bonus. I will use them again. Not sure where to go now, the material for the CCNA Security exam has put me off the security track somewhat. I need to have a look at the exam topics for CCNP and CCSP and see which are the most relevant.
mattrgee wrote: » Hi all, Passed CCNA Security today, although I became slightly disillusioned towards the end of my studies. I found the official certification guide a massive disappointed having read the excellent Odom books during my CCNA studies. Bad grammar, repeated text and lacking concise information were the main problems I found.
mikej412 wrote: » Congratulations!! CBT Nuggets seems to have a good set for most of the current CCSP. But the Cisco Press books are a different story -- you'd have to spend a bunch of time looking at the exam blueprints and the "old CCSP" books trying to decide which ones are still useful. Bookwise it may just be easier to get some of the great (and good) books that get recommended for the products/devices/software. Read those and then use the blueprint and Cisco Docs to hunt down the specifics you'd need to know for the exam. The Cisco Press Quick Reference hopefully would be good along with the exam blueprints to guide you to the topics/configurations you need to concentrate on for the exam. Without dedicated certification books it may take longer, but it's still doable <no dynamik's mom joke allowed>.
