CCNP: Route. Book question

Which is the best book to get? The FLG or OLG? I've heard pro's and con's for each. Just wondering what the consensus is around here on which to chose from.

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Danielh22185

This is a very frequently discussed topic, I may just make some time to make a sticky on later.

However to directly answer you...

The norm is FLG > OCG. I personally read both and enjoyed the FLG book much more. I also read the Simplifed book for Route and found it to be one the best reading resources I used.

OCG is a bit dry and most would agree does not cover the topics well enough or does a poor job keeping the reader engaged.

late_collision

I'm trying to read both at the same time.

I can not get over the length of the chapters in the FLG. If you don't have the FLG, its somewhere between 900 and 1000 pages and has, what, like 8 chapters? I always find myself powering through to the next heading for a stopping point, but it never seems to be a clean break.

However, I wasn't getting as much by reading just the OCG either. I feel like it makes some assumptions of your knowledge and leaves some gaps if your not terribly familiar with the topic at hand.

What has been working for me, is reading a section in the FLG for a base level understanding of the topic, and then reading the OCG to reinforce the knowledge. The FLG is a little more verbose, but I feel like the OCG is a bit more too the point.

One thing I am doing, is keeping a spreadsheet of every command and parameters I come across in each book, which I think will be valuable come review time.

Danielh22185

late_collision wrote: »

I'm trying to read both at the same time.

I can not get over the length of the chapters in the FLG. If you don't have the FLG, its somewhere between 900 and 1000 pages and has, what, like 8 chapters? I always find myself powering through to the next heading for a stopping point, but it never seems to be a clean break.

However, I wasn't getting as much by reading just the OCG either. I feel like it makes some assumptions of your knowledge and leaves some gaps if your not terribly familiar with the topic at hand.

What has been working for me, is reading a section in the FLG for a base level understanding of the topic, and then reading the OCG to reinforce the knowledge. The FLG is a little more verbose, but I feel like the OCG is a bit more too the point.

One thing I am doing, is keeping a spreadsheet of every command and parameters I come across in each book, which I think will be valuable come review time.

I too agree the FLG book is a bit intimidating considering how long its chapters are, however I believe it is broken up well with different subject headings.

I agree with note taking. It is critical to retain the content you have read. I was just discussing this with a co-worker that is working on route. I told him you need a method of review, so take notes on anything you believe to be important, if you question its importance take notes over it.

thenappyone

I just finished my CCNP and I used the OCG, Simplified and the Bryant books. And as others have pointed out the OCG is very hard to get through. I thought the simplified book was pretty good, I feel it has many things beyond the scope of the exam. But we are doing this to learn, so what's a little more knowledge? And while the Bryant books were kinda brief they were cheap and one other source to learn from. I get access to INE vids at work and I felt they were really useful to solidify a lot of topics from the books. As far as review and note taking I read each book then re-read and took notes. And I used a white board and drew mind maps to help relate items with their respective technology.

bermovick

I agree with late_collision. For me it wasn't that the OCG was necessarily worse, but that it throws you into the deep end. The FLG I felt didn't do that, so was easier for the transition from CCNA to CCNP levels of information. I found that the OCG either provided a slightly more thorough level of knowledge, or filled in a few gaps the FLG left, so by starting with the FLG, then continuing to the OCG, I felt I had a good understanding of the material (I'm looking at you, OSPF)

Jamm1n

What is the Simplified book everyone is bring up?

late_collision

ROUTE Simplified
Cisco CCNP Route Simplified: Paul William Browning, Farai Tafa: 9780955781575: Amazon.com: Books