Sybex or Cisco Press?

Sybex or Cisco Press? What book would you recommend to take you through the CCNA?

Also, is the exam weighted on the following:

Design and Support
Implementation and Operation
Technology

As these are the broad areas Transcender tests on, do they reflect the actual exam?

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Comments

dredlord

I personaly use the cisco press network accadmy books. CCNA 1, 2 ,3, 4 companion guide and there associated Lab commpanion and jurnal books. There very detailed and I highly recomend them. Thow the choice of books is open to personal taste, I suggest you read a sample chapter before you make your choice. See which you like best

mobri09

This is a great question! Many people ask this and there will be many opinions given as well. I would definitely do a search on this topic. Here are some must read stickies regarding books etc. Hope this help

http://www.techexams.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=7268

totts

dredlord wrote:

I personaly use the cisco press network accadmy books. CCNA 1, 2 ,3, 4 companion guide and there associated Lab commpanion and jurnal books. There very detailed and I highly recomend them. Thow the choice of books is open to personal taste, I suggest you read a sample chapter before you make your choice. See which you like best

Thanks for the advice. I bought some equipment from ebay and someone chucked the companion guides in and I've just taken a look at the Labs. They actually look ok! Did you find that they were adequate to get you through the CCNA. I've seen the Netsim LE that comes with the Cisco Press CCNA self study guide and i didn't think much of that, but the companion guide looks ok. I think half the battle with the CCNA is finding the good materials to use.

kafifi13

my opinion is to buy both books.

iproute

http://www.quepublishing.com/title/0789735199

totts

iproute wrote:

http://www.quepublishing.com/title/0789735199

Thanks for the advice everyone. Much appreciated

Stotic

My opinion: both!

I read the Cisco Press: Intro first to gain a foundation. Now I'm reading the Sybex book to gain a foundation for the Cisco Press: ICND book which I'll be reading next.

So order:
CP: Intro
Sybex
CP: INCD

totts

Stotic wrote:

My opinion: both!

I read the Cisco Press: Intro first to gain a foundation. Now I'm reading the Sybex book to gain a foundation for the Cisco Press: ICND book which I'll be reading next.

So order:
CP: Intro
Sybex
CP: INCD

Sounds like good advice to me, I was kind of thinking that way. I've got the CCNA companion guides with packet tracer 3.2 but can't find out anything about. Nobody ever mentions it. Do you know if its any good?

totts

dredlord wrote:

I personaly use the cisco press network accadmy books. CCNA 1, 2 ,3, 4 companion guide and there associated Lab commpanion and jurnal books. There very detailed and I highly recomend them. Thow the choice of books is open to personal taste, I suggest you read a sample chapter before you make your choice. See which you like best

Thanks for your input dredlord. I'm very interested in what you said about the companion guide and associated labs. I have the companion guides with the associated 'Packet Tracer 3.2'. I've been looking over them today and they look good. However, they do look like they've got their limitaitons, eg... I don't seem to be able to configure serial or ethernet interfaces by the command line. Is this a feature of the software? Apart from that, it looks like an excellent learning tool. Can you tell me how you've used this software and what successes you've had with it. Many regards, Totts. Come to that, if anyone else is reading this and has had experience with cisco's 'packet tracer' I would welcome your comments.

dredlord

I dont realy use packet tracker, since unless im mistaken its not a router simulator but simply as the name sugests a method to see how a frame is traversing the network. I would sugest gueting a real simulator if you want to practice IOS. Thow for there price you could easly set up a nice home lab and practice on the real thing. If you want a good simulator i heard the Boson one is good or you could use the one offered by ciscopress called Cisco CCNA network simulator.

Hope you find this post usefull.

ITdude

For the CCNA go for both the Sybex as a first read and then Cisco Press to really get a deeper understanding.

Try to get actual hands on with routers and switches. To me simulators are fine, but nothing beats the three dimensional feel, look and understanding of using actual equipment. You gotta play with the stuff and try to blow it up!

You will learn more from your mistakes than what you do correctly, IMHO.

Netstudent

ITdude wrote:

For the CCNA go for both the Sybex as a first read and then Cisco Press to really get a deeper understanding.

yep, that what I'm doing and it is working great for me so far. Sybex delux followed by Cisco Press ICND. but i don't read a whole book and then read another whole book. I read a chapter from sybex and then reread the same material from ICND. This way to reiterate that material in a closer timeframe.

Stotic

I find that that way bores me. I learn about it in one book then I find myself skimming along in it the next book because I feel like I already know it. I find that reading both books right after another kinda forces you to dig in your memory for the info you previously learned, kinda like you do in a test.

manic

My opinion is who better to lear from then who offers the certification. that is why i have a library of ms press books

i plan on reading them all at some point

ITdude

Yes, but even Microsoft Press books alone will not adequately prepare you for their exams...

Delirious

ITdude wrote:

Yes, but even Microsoft Press books alone will not adequately prepare you for their exams...

unlike the cisco books the ms books are like eating cardboard. I passed the ms tests i took using the ms books as my primary guide. Wait....... i take that back i had Mark Minasis book as well "mastering server 2003".

I think it all depends on how much you know to start off with. The cisco and sybex book would be more than enough to pass the test.

Paul Boz

The Sybex book by Lammle, hands down. It's practically all I used to prep for the CCNA and I got 1000/1000 on the ICND and 972 on the ICND. I'm not bragging, I'm just saying that I didn't see anything on the test which wasn't presented in the Sybex book. It thoroughly prepared me.

ITdude

I would definitely agree, it depends on your experience level. That being said, the Sybex is pretty darn good. Too bad it doesn't carry over to the 642 level exams.

Netstudent

Stotic wrote:

I find that that way bores me. I learn about it in one book then I find myself skimming along in it the next book because I feel like I already know it. I find that reading both books right after another kinda forces you to dig in your memory for the info you previously learned, kinda like you do in a test.

Thats cool. I think the lesson here is everyone has a different learning style. It is very important to be in tune with your personal learning style.

shednik

I'd also like to throw in some more good reference material...buddy of mine who just recently obtained his CCNA recommended www.thebryantadvantage.com he has an e-book set with 3 days of rack time, a private forum run by him, labs, and test questions....I've only had time to look at some of his material so far but its well written, easy to understnad and i watched some of his train signal videos which are great as well.