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

lantech

At the end of the day each person has to decide which path is best for him/her. People can make recommendations to you all day long. What style of book or video is best for me and what is best for you might be two completely different things.

I enjoyed Odoms book. While it was dry it did go into a lot of technical detail. Some like me like that amount of detail while others don't and find them to technical. But we are after all or will be soon in a very technical industry. Because of them amount of detail in his books they are long and dry. But I'm not reading these books to get a good laugh. I'm using these books to learn.

While I did finish the Net Academy classes a couple of years ago I just took the ICND1 test a couple of months ago and passed on my first try. Course I did study for over 4 months but that was only on the weekends. The only book I used was Odoms to study. I didn't watch any videos either. Just the book. So while you can find stories over on Ciscos website about how people used the books and passed you can also find a lot of stories of people successfully passing the test with his books as well.

Just choose whatever path is right for you.

Roguetadhg

If you failed your test, which would you be more able to recover?

If you can easily fail the CCNA Composite, go for it. If not, go for the ICND1 first.

I'd rather have a chance to loose 150 instead of 300.

Michael2

My two cents: I don't know if there's ever a "best" way to prepare for anything because you're always going to encounter surprises. This comes from my experience in getting my CompTIA certification. When I went to Amazon to get a book for the ICND1, I looked at customer ratings, publication date, and whether the book came with a CD or not. I ended up going with Odom's most recent edition for the ICND1. I also have the CBT Nuggets videos because I was originally going to go the composite exam route. I would say it's as much about thinking critically as it is about what materials you use. However, I would say you should use as many materials as you can before the test, but there comes a time when you just have to hold your breath and jump; so study hard and study often, but eventually you will just have to take the test.

Illumanati

lantech wrote: »

But I'm not reading these books to get a good laugh. I'm using these books to learn.

Well the reason Jeremy Ciora's CBT Nuggets is so recommended is due partly because the author uses humor to lighten up a very dry and serious subject. So by your recommendation, noone would watch CBT Nuggets because you can't use humor and be serious about learning and it's simply not true.

(However, I am *with you* in the sense that CBT Nuggets uses TOO MUCH humor all TOO OFTEN for *some* people although I didn't have a major problem with it)

beach5563

ToddB wrote: »

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.

Sounds good. I just downloaded his CCENT study guide. Did you use his Trainsignal videos?

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 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.

Nice set of study materials especially the dummies book- apparently you have to be smart for dummies. CBT Nuggets comes up TOO much to be ignored.