BSCI Certification Guide 4th ed vs Study Guide 3rd ed

Who else is having trouble getting IPv6 through his/her head from the 4th edition cert guide. It’s apparent that writer cut corners or must be deprived of caffeine at the time of writing last chapter. I just ordered the study guide 3rd edition and hopefully things are explained in depth in that book. The other topic is multicast which is also vaguely explained. I wonder if the things are explained from a different perspective and with more examples in the study guide because the cert guide is pretty dry on all topics beside IGP’s

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Comments

skelt11

The exam cert guide for the BSCI is useless in my opnion. I read the Self-Study guide last year and used the exam cert guide to refresh my memory. Well, it does't cover quite a bit of material. And your right, the IPv6 chapter is pathetic. You'll really enjoy the Self-Study guide a lot more. IPv6 is covered more in depth and so are the rest of the topics, especially ISIS.

waymorr

I too have been using the cert guide and am struggling as some of the chapters do appear to have been skimmed through, I am also thinking of switching to the self-study guide in the hope that chapters are covered in more depth

miller811

After failing the BSCI on the first attempt, I purchased the self study guide and also the lab porfolio. I am gaining a better understanding of all topics. Hopefully about 4 weeks from a retake on the exam.

singh8281

Labs from the BSCI lab portfolio book just flies above your head if you jump on them just after covering the topic from the cert guide. It's clear that the material in the cert guide is not aligned with the labs. I hope the study guide is designed with the lab portfolio in mind.

Being the only official cert guide this book severly needs an editing and hopefully the new edition will be a bit thicker than this

mikej412

Cisco Press explains their books on their website.

Self-Study Guides, which are based on Cisco courses for the related exams, provide essential foundation learning and thoroughly cover topics addressed in those courses. These books assume no prior knowledge of the subject matter and take a detailed approach to tutorial-based learning.

Exam Certification Guides help prepare candidates for Cisco certification exams. These books assume readers have attained the necessary learning foundation and experience for a certification test and are reviewing material before exam time.

When a Self-Study book doesn't exist for an exam, then you should use the exam blueprint as a guide and search the Cisco Documentation and White Papers to find the material for foundation learning.

Unless you have lots of experience with all the exam topics, you should always start with the Self-Study Guides and then move to the Exam Certification Guide. The Odem CCNA Certification Library is the one exception -- that's the only Exam Certification Guide(s) that covers the material to the depth of the Self-Study Guides.

miller811

singh8281 wrote:

Labs from the BSCI lab portfolio book just flies above your head if you jump on them just after covering the topic from the cert guide. It's clear that the material in the cert guide is not aligned with the labs. I hope the study guide is designed with the lab portfolio in mind.

Being the only official cert guide this book severly needs an editing and hopefully the new edition will be a bit thicker than this

The study guide matches up with the lab guide.

singh8281

Thank you guys, the study guide is on it's way.