ICND2 official cert guide by Odom, 3rd edition

MrXpert

I got the new edition of Odom's ICND2 book a couple of weeks ago and so far i'm really struggling with it. Finding it hard to read but there's also many mistakes in it. For example on page 428 it refers me to "example 12-1" to demonstrate how wild card masks can be configured for EIGRP. I look on the same page for this example called 12-1 and it doesn't exist. I got back a few pages and find it only to realise it has nothing to do with wild card masks. Example 12-1 is a picture of two routers trading updates including the initial hello. It should have stated "example 12-57" which is directly below the text mentioning the wild card masks. It then mentions again another example called 12-2 which again has no bearing. I know this may seem trivial but i dont want to waste time rifling through his book trying to work out which examples belong to what description. Opens the question, what else may he have got wrong

I didn't have much problem reading his ICND1 book but admit it wasn't my main source. With the 3rd edition ICND2 book I am falling asleep reading it. The author in my opinion doesn't seem to be that enthusiastic..just seems very mechanical. Even more so than how he was in ICND1.

I do have cbt nuggets and train signal vids along with Aaron B's very good guide to CCENT and CCNA, but is that enough? or are there any other decent ICND2 books out there apart from Odom.

onesaint

Pick up the Sybex CCNA Study Guide - 7th edition. It covers the topics and Lammle's writing style is a little more interesting to read (although arrogant at times). Of course there are errors in his book too, but it's constantly the other highly recommended CCNA/ICND book. Lastly, doing the review questions, labs, and what not at the end of the chapters I have found to be a good help.

I found the CBT Nuggets to be great for over all concepts, but you really need a detail source to supplement the concepts. Lammle or Odom's ICND v3 (the older v3) should help with that. I found the Labsim CCNA material to be good in that regard (acquired through my local B&M ICND classes). I also found 31 Days Before Your CCNA Exam to be a great refresher and point out some good details as well. Lastly, you might also pick up the CCNA Portable Command Guide and go through that as well. It just runs through straight commands, but can be helpful to reference random "how do I do that again" needs. I sit for my 640-802 on Tuesday.

HTH.

Excellent1

I'd also check out Chris Bryant's material. It's only 25 bucks, and it's probably not something you'd want to use by itself, but I enjoy his style. I'll agree that Odom is dry, but his material does cover the information fairly thoroughly. As onesaint mentioned, though, the best bet is a layered approach on your resources. I also picked up Lammle's 7th edition book and I can vouch for it being well written.

Good luck.

Greenmet29

I have his second edition (I don't think i'm going to get the third edition) and before I started reading it I found the erratia online and corrected all of the given mistakes. I was kind of surprised at how many there were, but glad to have the erratia.

MrXpert

Hi, thanks for your advice! i took it and got the Chris Bryant guide and it is very good and certainly complements Aaron B's free guide on router alley very well. I enjoy reading it and so far i have not spotted any errors. really supports the view that the best things are free.

in comparision, i paid £25 for Odom's 3rd edition ICND2 book and there's heaps of errors.for example on page 276 chapter 8 advanced IP access lists, the "do i know this already quiz" the questions start from numbers 7 to 13. Odom or someone seems to have misnumbered them. The answers for question 7 are from e to j. Answers at the back of book take some deciphering a bit to work out whats what.
page 419: ethernet speed is stated as 12Mb but it should be 10Mb as per the formula calculation he's doing. I've only looked at a few chapters and now given up with this book. I feel like i've been ripped off good and proper. Cisco press must not have bothered proof reading their books or have employed a 4 year old to do it. If it was me i'd be embarressed to author a book where there's so many errors.

Since using Bryants and Aarons guide,plus cbt/train signal vids I've also bought the ICND2 Boson ex sim max questions and answers. I selected a custom exam and Only done the routing and switching questions so far (only topics i've studied for so far) and i scored 90% on each section so very happy with this especially since Boson is much harder than the real thing.

Excellent1

MrXpert wrote: »

in comparision, i paid £25 for Odom's 3rd edition ICND2 book and there's heaps of errors.

There is a thread about how to get the replacement for the Odom books. The errors weren't his; they were part of the publishing process - mistakes in printing. Anyway, check out getting a replacement: http://www.techexams.net/forums/ccna-ccent/72166-ccna-icnd2-640-816-official-cert-guide-3rd-edition-replacement-copy.html