CCNP Route Study Material Suggestions

I am ready to start my CCNP track and would like to know the best study materials for Route. I have read several posts some mentioning FLG vs. OCG books, CBT vs. INE etc... I am not really worried about the vids because I have them but I am mainly focusing on the books and lab manuals. I will be using GNS3 to simulate my lab environment. Please let me know which books & manuals would be the best.

Thx

PC_Tech

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kohr-ah

PC_Tech wrote: »

I am ready to start my CCNP track and would like to know the best study materials for Route. I have read several posts some mentioning FLG vs. OCG books, CBT vs. INE etc... I am not really worried about the vids because I have them but I am mainly focusing on the books and lab manuals. I will be using GNS3 to simulate my lab environment. Please let me know which books & manuals would be the best.

Thx

PC_Tech

I just passed the ROUTE and here is what I would suggest (I am still doing ROUTE Labs as after the exam I feel like I should know some subjects better).
- Hands down the FLG book was way better than the OCG.
- Lab Manuals I used the SLM for basics and 101 CCNP Labs for advanced. Also I recreated the examples out of the FLG.

Videos (my advice) Jeremy (CBT) makes it very easy to understand but covers the basics.
INE the guys goes into depth but put me to sleep so I didn't watch all of them

Cingular

kohr-ah wrote: »

I just passed the ROUTE and here is what I would suggest (I am still doing ROUTE Labs as after the exam I feel like I should know some subjects better).
- Hands down the FLG book was way better than the OCG.
- Lab Manuals I used the SLM for basics and 101 CCNP Labs for advanced. Also I recreated the examples out of the FLG.

Videos (my advice) Jeremy (CBT) makes it very easy to understand but covers the basics.
INE the guys goes into depth but put me to sleep so I didn't watch all of them

Congrats, I just passed ROUTE as well, last Friday.

I agree 100% with the FLG > OCG, sure it's a monster of a book to get through, but going in to the exam I felt like I knew everything about every topic covered by the exam. So it is definitely worth the extra 200-300 pages.

Heracles004

Grats to both of you. I passed switch a few weeks ago and plan on doing route over the holidays. What is it that makes the FLG so much better than the OCG on this one? Is it just much better explained or just better written? Also I watched the INE CCNP videos already, would you recommend going through the CBT nuggets also? What would you estimate is the amount of time that you spent In labs?

LeitoSR

Cingular wrote: »

Congrats, I just passed ROUTE as well, last Friday.

I agree 100% with the FLG > OCG, sure it's a monster of a book to get through, but going in to the exam I felt like I knew everything about every topic covered by the exam. So it is definitely worth the extra 200-300 pages.

Can u tell me the number of the pages of your FLG book.?
because as far as i know the OCG book is 150 pages more than the FLG book.

Putney

LeitoSR wrote: »

Can u tell me the number of the pages of your FLG book.?
because as far as i know the OCG book is 150 pages more than the FLG book.

OCG -768 pages
FLG - 976 pages

CCNP ROUTE 642-902 Official Certification Guide
Implementing Cisco IP Routing (ROUTE) Foundation Learning Guide: Foundation learning for the ROUTE 642-902 Exam

kohr-ah

LeitoSR wrote: »

Can u tell me the number of the pages of your FLG book.?
because as far as i know the OCG book is 150 pages more than the FLG book.

I will edit this post once I get back to my tablet as it has the book on it but I want to say 900 pages or very close to. (also read the appendices as it has info you will need for the exam like aggregate addresses for bgp)

kohr-ah

Heracles004 wrote: »

Grats to both of you. I passed switch a few weeks ago and plan on doing route over the holidays. What is it that makes the FLG so much better than the OCG on this one? Is it just much better explained or just better written? Also I watched the INE CCNP videos already, would you recommend going through the CBT nuggets also? What would you estimate is the amount of time that you spent In labs?

To me it was the way it was written. It goes in depth but not overkill. Like let's use EIGRP for example. It will show step by step with graphics along with the writing what the topology does when a neighbor goes down.

If you watched INE I would say no need for cbt nuggets. The INE guy covered it all and then some.

As for Labs I want to say total I did probably 90 to 100 hours. I did a lot of it while on the couch. Knock out like 2 Labs a night. Repeat one the next day if I didn't get it.

LeitoSR

kohr-ah wrote: »

To me it was the way it was written. It goes in depth but not overkill. Like let's use EIGRP for example. It will show step by step with graphics along with the writing what the topology does when a neighbor goes down.

If you watched INE I would say no need for cbt nuggets. The INE guy covered it all and then some.

As for Labs I want to say total I did probably 90 to 100 hours. I did a lot of it while on the couch. Knock out like 2 Labs a night. Repeat one the next day if I didn't get it.

Did u pass the ccnp route exam or not yet ?
if yes may i ask how long it took you to be fully prepared for the exam.?
how many days, and how many hours a day.?

kohr-ah

LeitoSR wrote: »

Did u pass the ccnp route exam or not yet ?
if yes may i ask how long it took you to be fully prepared for the exam.?
how many days, and how many hours a day.?

Yes I passed on Saturday ^_^

I studied at minimum an hour a day but many times did 2 if I really got into it and read on lunch also.

I always took Fri and Sat off.

It took me a lot longer than expected. It took me 6 months but I could if done it in a lot less if I didn't have things going on in my life which slowed it down.

Cingular

Heracles004 wrote: »

Grats to both of you. I passed switch a few weeks ago and plan on doing route over the holidays. What is it that makes the FLG so much better than the OCG on this one? Is it just much better explained or just better written? Also I watched the INE CCNP videos already, would you recommend going through the CBT nuggets also? What would you estimate is the amount of time that you spent In labs?

Thanks'

.

In my opinion what makes the FLG so much better is that it will dive right in to every single topic, whether it's something big like route redistribution, or something minor like what causes SIA with EIGRP. It gives you more examples, with different topologies and more scenarios to further explain the theory.

My co-worker read the OCG after the FLG and told me not to bother, simply because the examples in the OCG are so minimal and it skims over the topics due to it being geared toward the exam. The FLG wants you to know everything.

As for lab time, I too probably estimate spending close to 100 hours all up. Took me 9 months to knock this exam out, but was slowed down with a lot of other things going on in life.

LeitoSR wrote: »

Can u tell me the number of the pages of your FLG book.?
because as far as i know the OCG book is 150 pages more than the FLG book.

My book is at home, so I'll edit this post once I check it out tonight (am fairly sure it's around 900 too). But on my PC here at work, in PDF form it is 765 A4 pages..A4, haha.

**EDIT** - Final chapter review summary ends on page 896. Chapter review questions end on page 900 exact. Glad that's over, lol.

fredrikjj

My opinion on FLG vs. OCG

EIGRP: FLG wins due to better examples, and I think that you would have an easier time understanding the Query/Reply process using that book.

OSPF: OCG is the winner due to better explanations of the LSAs and the database.

BGP: FLG has more stuff, but you could argue that it's overkill. Getting a Sim with Route Reflectors and stuff seems completely unrealistic to me, and BGP is only 5% of the score on the exam.

Redistribution: It's been too long since I looked at the FLG chapter, but I think that they complement each other well, with the FLG being very heavy on configuration. It wouldn't hurt to use both here.

Policy-based Routing: The chapters are very similar to the point where it really doesn't matter and I can't pick a winner.

IPv6: Both books have three sections: IPv6 addressing, IPv6 Routing Protocols+Redistribution and IPv6 tunnels. They both cover roughly the same material in the addressing section, but the FLG is definitely more advanced on the Routing and Redistribution and has some examples involving MBGP. The OCG is better on the tunnels and really helped me get 6to4 and ISATAP. Both have a small section on NAT-PT.

Branch Office: Totally bombed this section on the exam so I don't feel like I should even comment, but superficially they seem very similar. Neither prepared me for the exam.

kohr-ah

fredrikjj wrote: »

My opinion on FLG vs. OCG

EIGRP: FLG wins due to better examples, and I think that you would have an easier time understanding the Query/Reply process using that book.

OSPF: OCG is the winner due to better explanations of the LSAs and the database.

BGP: FLG has more stuff, but you could argue that it's overkill. Getting a Sim with Route Reflectors and stuff seems completely unrealistic to me, and BGP is only 5% of the score on the exam.

Redistribution: It's been too long since I looked at the FLG chapter, but I think that they complement each other well, with the FLG being very heavy on configuration. It wouldn't hurt to use both here.

Policy-based Routing: The chapters are very similar to the point where it really doesn't matter and I can't pick a winner.

IPv6: Both books have three sections: IPv6 addressing, IPv6 Routing Protocols+Redistribution and IPv6 tunnels. They both cover roughly the same material in the addressing section, but the FLG is definitely more advanced on the Routing and Redistribution and has some examples involving MBGP. The OCG is better on the tunnels and really helped me get 6to4 and ISATAP. Both have a small section on NAT-PT.

Branch Office: Totally bombed this section on the exam so I don't feel like I should even comment, but superficially they seem very similar. Neither prepared me for the exam.

Branch office did you mean GRE tunnel / Crypto tunnel questions? Because if so I felt neither book prepared me for that either and I didn't do well on that either.

bermovick

I watched CBTNuggets and read the OCG. About halfway through the OSPF section I put the book down and ordered the FLG.

Watched CBTNuggets again, then read the FLG, then read the OCG again.

Heracles004

Thanks for the info, I appreciate it. Looks like ill probably hit up the FLG based on the reviews.

esr0159

Thanks for the info, seems that most CCNP takers favored the FLG. Just need to look at our local bookshops here if they sell those books.

bobfromfpl

When shopping online don't forget to check out the 'used' books. I gotten half my books this way and for sometimes 50-75% of 'new' price. They were in near mint condition!