Best Book for CCENT and CCNA?

Been looking for the best book for each of the CCENT and CCNA exams but I'm getting mixed reviews. Are these the best two per exam or does anyone know of better? Thanks!

CCENT

Amazon.com: CCENT: Cisco Certified Entry Networking Technician Study Guide: ICND1 (Exam 640-822) (Exam 640-822 With CD) (9780470247020): Todd Lammle: Books

Amazon.com: CCENT/CCNA ICND1 640-822 Official Cert Guide (3rd Edition) (978158720425

: Wendell Odom: Books

CCNA

http://www.amazon.com/Cisco-Certified-Network-Associate-Deluxe/dp/0470901071/ref=sr_1_5?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1342586171&sr=1-5&keywords=ccent

http://www.amazon.com/CCNA-ICND2-640-816-Official-Guide/dp/1587204355/ref=sr_1_7?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1342586171&sr=1-7&keywords=ccent

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Comments

Iristheangel

I'm a big fan of the Wendell Odom books personally

mapletune

I used "CCENT for Dummies" as a review of everything I had learned before taking the exam. To that effect, it has served me well.

GOZCU

http://www.amazon.com/Cisco-Certified-Network-Associate-Deluxe/dp/0470901071/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1342598579&sr=1-1&keywords=todd+lammle

Best one.... this is the 7 th edition. Just check out how many of them were sold for the 6 th edition

NotHackingYou

Lammle did it for me

MrXpert

For CCENT the dummies guide is the best one I tried. Aaron B's CCNA guide is also very helpful. Helped me passed both exams and I had no networking experience at all.

I didn't really use Odom's books as they were rife with errors.

Ltat42a

You can do CCENT & CCNA with Todd Lammles' 7th edition CCNA Book. There's a CD that comes with it and he offers bonus material if you send him a copy of your receipt.

Nytrocide

What kind of bonus material? Does he mention that in the book itself?

GOZCU

There are flashcards and tests in the cd, But i have never used the cd itself, book itself is definitely enough to pass.

P.S. I read the book after i completed watching CBT Nuggets.

Nytrocide

Do you suggest I skip the CCENT book and hop straight into CCNA even if I'm going the ICND1->ICND2 route? An extra $20-25 if nothing if it's even slightly better considering I have ZERO knowledge of Cisco equipment/networking.

Ltat42a

The bonus material are Packet Tracer labs he offers to those who purchase his book. The labs cover almost every chapter of the book.

@Nytrocide, yes, if you purchase the CCNA book, you don't need the CCENT book. His book covers both ICND1 & ICND2. You can study part of it for the ICND1 (which I did), then study the other part to get the ICND2 (which I'm doing now). If you prefer....study the whole book for the composite exam.

hth

Ltat42a

This comes from Todd Lammle himself on his forum (lammle.com)-
I wrote my latest CCNA 7th edition book to cover the latest objectives and information for all three exams: ICND1/ICND2/CCNA Composite. The reason that this wasn't any harder than writing two books is that there is a lot of overlapping information on both the ICND1 and ICND2 exams.

For the ICND1 exam, study these chapters:
1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16

For ICND2 exam, study these chapters (assuming you've passed ICND1):
5, 6, 7, 9, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16

For CCNA composite, obviously study all chapters.

Forum thread -
How to Study for ICND1 and ICND2 with my new 7th Edition CCNA book - Lammle Forum

Nytrocide

So there's no benefit in getting his CCENT book at all? I guess I'm just paranoid about missing a certain subject lol

veritas_libertas

I bought the ICND2 Odom book for the Boson test (and my library) and Lammle's for the reading material itself. The combination really helps in my opinion. Odom's reads like an encyclopedia and Lammle's more like a fun teacher.

NetworkVeteran

Nytrocide wrote: »

So there's no benefit in getting his CCENT book at all? I guess I'm just paranoid about missing a certain subject lol

All of the CCNA material (ICND1, ICND2) can be learned in a single book. Be happy! This is an entry-level certification and it's not meant to be extremely challenging. As for Lammle vs. Odom, they are both fine for passing the exam and learning the material. Personal taste.

RomBUS

Awesome info guys

Needed some direction as far as which books to get. So to re-iterate....he send you bonus practice material when you send him a receipt of the book purchase...I am guessing an invoice or online summary of the purchase?

ToddB

If ebook counts I would go with Chris Bryant ultimate CCNA study package. Odem was good and also very detailed but I failed the icnd1 twice, picked up Chris Bryant passed and passed icnd2 1st try. Now I did buy his DVD course for ICND2. For me he made it easy to understand.

Ltat42a

RomBUS wrote: »

So to re-iterate....he send you bonus practice material when you send him a receipt of the book purchase...I am guessing an invoice or online summary of the purchase?

Yes.

Check this out -

Where to get Bonus material for my 7th Edition - Lammle Forum

hth

Nytrocide

Chris Bryant does the TrainSignal videos for CCNA, right? Is it the same material?

Illumanati

Nytrocide wrote: »

Been looking for the best book for each of the CCENT and CCNA exams but I'm getting mixed reviews.

So to answer your question, the best book is probably the one that allows you to create this synopsis and "condensed specifically for you" information the best, fastest etc whatever. But you can do it with any of them. I would say Lammle's style is more conducive to condensing quickly because it facilitates understanding it quicker but if you already understand it then the idea is to strive for clarity which in that case Odom could come into play for greater clarity. Because of this variance in amount of detail specifically the grandiose amount of detail in the Odom books versus Lammel or Bryant, it puts the impetus or focus on how YOU want to approach yout study versus which book to use. This is why I think there is a lot of variance even among those who pass because some can study to pass while others can study to really know and virtually guarantee a pass. It's all in your hands! Use what you got to get your hands dirty cause it's all "hands on"!!

The problem you're going to run into is thinking any book is going to give 'your brain' the "synopsis" it is going to need in order to recall for the exam. Another words, the book is just the starting point, the very initial entry point into your foray into the material. Then, you're going to have a heckuva fun time trying to figure out what you focus on for quantity and what you focus on for quality and then trying to get them into your brain. Basically, in learning to pass the exam, you're going to strive for quantity for the theory and concepts and quality for labbing and test questions which means you are absolutely going to read and take notes and absolutely lab and practice tests(times and untimed) otherwise you have no chance of retaining anything. So if each study guide is 800-1000 pages, guess what..you're going to have to pick your poison(s) and then sprinkle in labs and hope that when you get to the practice exam stage, you have statistically improved your odds for passing enough to get it done the day of the exam.

The study guides, no matter if you pick Odom, Lammel or Bryant are just starting or entry points. Wait till you dig in and have to decide whether you try and memorize all the Ethernet standards or go for quantity because the authors will have you believe you will have to do practice exercises ad nauseum until you memorize it ALL and that is just for starters for the ICND1 exam. Again, it's about "picking your poison" as to what you focus your quantity on versus quality. Needless to say, all of this "distilled and revised" information has to then be crammed into your brain. Somewhere along the way, you hope to really get into it and have funnnn with it.

So before you get too hot and heavy into trying to figure out "which book is best", try to think about how you're going to go about approaching your study. What to read once(gloss over) versus what to smash and hit hard with exercises at the end of each chapter including labbing. Study to pass or study to really get into it and "fall in love". Either way, you're going to have to condense whatever 800-1000 page book into 'a version for you" unless you're going for a hail mary luck shot which isn't even studying just to pass it and throwing 150 bucks away. The key is to commit to the process and fall in love with the process first and magically any decent book will be the right one "for you"! It's all going to take hours of time so the question is are you going to quit before you really get started?!

To answer your question, Sybex Lammel is the best for getting started followed up by labbing with packet tracer and sample tests(timed and untimed). The others who like Odom have a stronger commitment to this process I discussed and thus can handle the more cumbersome monotonous drivel type tone that requires a good match personality wise. Lammle is like a friend who wants to explain it the fastest way and facilitates a more smoother transition for learning where Odum is like the strict old grandfather who insists on explaining things in only the long and hard way.

For example, these words are the definition of Lammle CCNA 7th edition: (not completely because there are shorter study guides that are more concise but this is strictly from beginner's POV and also sometimes, Lammel is boring and wordy too)

terse
1. neatly or effectively concise; brief and pithy, as language.

2. abruptly concise; curt; brusque.

Synonyms: concise , curtailed, ephemeral, fast, fleeting, hasty, instantaneous, little, meteoric, momentary, passing, quick, short-lived, short-term, swift, temporary, transient, transitory, abridged, boiled down, breviloquent, brief, compact, compendiary, compendious, compressed, condensed, curt, epigrammatic, in a nutshell, laconic, lean, marrowy, meaty, pithy, short and sweet, succinct, summary, boiled down, compendious, concise , epigrammatic, in a nutshell, laconic, make a long story short, marrowy, meaty, pithy, pointed, short and sweet, succinct, terse, to the point

and these words define Odom's ICND1(and ICND 2 books)

Antonyms: expansive, lengthy, long, long-winded, redundant, repetitive, wordy, big, large, lengthy, long, unabridged.

One of the greatest drawbacks to learning and concentration is the feeling that nothing can be learned unless it is pleasurable. If this is what you believe, inertia will surely stop and prevent you from even starting any project which might be considered intellectual. If you have no particular interest in anything of an intellectual nature, such an interest must be generated. Developing a genuine interest in a subject must be preceded by a certain amount of information about it. Learning a little bit about something usually whets the appetite to learn more. For example, collecting stamps or coins i.e acquiring the first unusual stamp or coin begins a chain reaction. The way to prevent this is to "start easy". Unless you are successful right from the start, you will have no interest, desire or motivation to continue. Your interest and pleasure in a certain subject(CCNA) is in exact ration to the amount of information you have about it and it follows that the more you learn, the more you want to learn. Each day you begin your reading and study, you absolutely have to have success right away or you will have no desire to continue or your mind will shutdown long before your heart will. Success is defined by a capturing or an increase in knowledge. Because unless you are successful from the start or beginning each and every time and study session, you will have no desire to continue. In effect, your study will fail before it ever got going. My point is finding the right book that will facilitate this is imperative and crucial to success.

So tell me this, if you were going to "start-off" each day for many many days on end, which you will be doing inevitably, which book or definition above will allow you to secure some information about ccna topics right away on each and every study session? Would be terse or "short and sweet" like Sybex Lammel or would it be long-winded and expansive like Odom Cisco?

The choice is clear: Sybex Lammel CCNA!

lilmansdad

MrXpert wrote: »

For CCENT the dummies guide is the best one I tried. Aaron B's CCNA guide is also very helpful. Helped me passed both exams and I had no networking experience at all.

I didn't really use Odom's books as they were rife with errors.

Can you expand on that? Anyone else? I like his writing style...

xbuzz

If you want 1 set of books that covers the ICND1+ICND2 topics fully, then the Wendell Odom books are what you're looking for. They're dry, but if you get those books you don't techincally need any other study source for the exam.

If I were to do ICND1+2 again. I would buy both Wendell Odom books, I would use the free INE CCNA video series, and if I had some spare cash, I would get CBTNuggets ICND1+2 series. The CBTnuggets series is awesome as the first source of information to use as Jeremy explain general topics and concepts really well, then you can watch the INE series and polish everything off with the books.

ck42

Sitting in an ICND1 class right now (2nd day)
Instructor has us convinced that the composite test is the way to go if you're looking for the 'easier' of the two choices.
He says that a big reason for this is the larger number of labs that you will have in the ICND-2 test (4 or 5 for INCD-2 vs. 2 in CCNA test). Also indicat4es that the 'depth' of the questions is a little deeper too. This is coming from an instructor who says he routinely takes these various INCD1/2 and CCNA tests and appears to be qualified to make these comments.

j.petrov

Just a word of advise if you get the Lammle book, just get the CCNA one and skip the CCENT book. I bought the CCENT and now I have to buy the CCNA book, and there is a ton of overlap the CCNA book is only a couple hundred pages more... save your money and only by one book.

lantech

Well, there are two schools of thought on which way to go for the tests.

1) Do the two test option. This requires you know the information better because it's testing you on only half the information needed for the CCNA at one time. The benefit of this is that you only have half the material to study. Also if you fail one of the tests you are out $150 as opposed to $300. But because you are taking two tests it means you probably have to know the information a little better since they can go a little more in depth on each topic. This test is probably geared more towards those with no experience.

2) Take the composite exam. This is the one test option. It will cover all the topics needed for CCNA for one test. So you will have to know twice the amount of material at one time. While this test is half the questions of the two exam route you also have to make sure you know twice the amount of information so it will be harder to study for and learn. Also if you fail the test then you are out $300 instead of $150. This test would be more for those that already have experience in the field or are looking to renew their CCNA.

And if your teacher can't pass the exam then I would wonder about his ability to teach the material to you lol. But keeping on taking the exams probably gives him a point of view that a lot of people won't have about it since he gains more and more experience with the exam each time he takes it. Doesn't necessarily mean he will know the best route to get to certification. Just maybe the best route for him.

ck42

lantech:
"And if your teacher can't pass the exam then..."

Didn't mean to imply that the instructor is taking the tests regularly because he's failing them. He takes them because he's keeping up to date on what is being covered in the tests and also to see what differences exist between the composite and the individual versions.
Again though, as I originally stated, apparently one of bigger deals with the 'separate' tests is that you will have more labs...which he indicates are the more difficult parts of the tests. He seems pretty adamant though that if given the choice, the composite test would be the 'easier' of the two options - he's not telling the class though that this is the option they should choose. The only reason this was discussed was because one of the students asked about the differences and described essentially what I see in these threads - separate tests allow you to focus on less material, etc. etc.

snokerpoker

I recommend reading Lammle's book and then the official Cisco Press books. I felt like Lammle's book was great but didn't go into as much detail as I would have liked. The Odom books are very thorough and some might say dry, but they expand on all the subjects.

Good luck!

Vik210

Only book I used was Todd Lammle's. I also used (and highly recommend) CBT Nuggets.

FloOz

GOZCU wrote: »

Amazon.com: CCNA Cisco Certified Network Associate Study Guide, 7th Edition (9780470901076): Todd Lammle: Books

Best one.... this is the 7 th edition. Just check out how many of them were sold for the 6 th edition

agreed. todd is my favorite

MrXpert

lilmansdad wrote: »

Can you expand on that? Anyone else? I like his writing style...

Yes of course. I bought Odom's 3rd edition ICND2 book when it first came out and found lots and lots of errors in it. I was not the only person to spot these. I emailed Wendell and he replied telling me that it was the publisher's fault. He then gave me their contact details and they send me a free of charge copy of the 2nd print of that book when it came out. I waited 2 months for it. However there's still a few errors in that.
I personally think anything by Wendell Odom is a waste of money and time. I also had his ICND1 book and there were errors in that. I gave up using both. The problem with his material is that he tries to make things more complicated than they really are and as a result his books are 700-900 pages long.

I had no networking experience when I started doing Cisco but have managed to learn the material using the following:
CCENT Dummies guide, Chris Bryant, Router Alley, CBT Nuggets, Rene Moleanar, Steve Bowler. The latter two I used extensively for my CCNP studies.

Illumanati

MrXpert wrote: »

Yes of course. I bought Odom's 3rd edition ICND2 book when it first came out and found lots and lots of errors in it. I was not the only person to spot these. I emailed Wendell and he replied telling me that it was the publisher's fault.

I personally think anything by Wendell Odom is a waste of money and time. I also had his ICND1 book and there were errors in that. I gave up using both. The problem with his material is that he tries to make things more complicated than they really are and as a result his books are 700-900 pages long.

I agree and that is why anyone who has not done CCENT and has no experience should never touch any Cisco press books and I seriously mean that. Go look Cisco's own learning network and you will scores of people who have failed and maybe multiple times using it and some have read it twice and done all the labs.

The real answer(to the question: which is best/right book for me) is no book is right for everyone but it also means finding the right book, if one exists, can be an absolute impossibility. The author uses too much verbosity or verbage and doesn't get to the point fast enough nor take the time to really explain without being afraid the book will be too small or not sell enough copies or not "look too hard' for the old publishers. All CCNA books fall off the cliff because they're too long and authors are pretty choppy and dry and mainly because they're just plain boring. Even Lammel's CCNA has many boring moments where it looks like a straight copy and paste from a Cisco white paper.

Now I have Cisco 3rd edition and and even Lammel's 7th ed but I had to know if they were right for me and they were not! I'm a stickler for true foundation and never felt satisfied I was being properly introduced to the fundamentals nor a career in networking not to mention an "I got this" attitude for passing the test! I would never recommend Odom or even an 800 page Sybex Lammel for teaching the absolute beginner the basics. For the introductory student, these books are overkill and especially for ICND1 or CCENT and unfortunately, all of CCNA, both ICND1 and ICND2 *are* the basics!.