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95 of 97 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Great for the comprehensive CCNA exam (640-801), but..., January 1, 2004
This review is from: CCNA Certification Library (CCNA Self-Study, Exam #640-801) (Hardcover)
First, let me tell you where I'm coming from so you know what kind of spin this review has. I studied for the CCNA about two years ago using Lammle's CCNA book first and then Odom's, but I never got around to taking the exam. Now I'm trying to ramp back up to take the comprehensive CCNA exam (640-801). One thing I can say for certain is the study materials from Odom and Cisco Press have improved over the last two years. In case you didn't pick it up in the description, the "CCNA Certification Library (CCNA Self-Study, exam #640-801), Sixth Edition" contains two volumes: the "CCNA INTRO Exam Certification Guide (CCNA Self-Study, 640-821, 640-801)" and the "CCNA ICND Exam Certification Guide (CCNA Self-Study, 640-811, 640-801)". If you're planning to take the comprehensive 640-801 exam, go ahead and get this Library with the two books - they cover all the material on the 640-801 as well as the material for the two separate exams. First, the good news: - One pleasant side effect of Cisco's decision to split the CCNA into two exams is that the Cisco Press review materials are now split into two volumes. Tell me, how many of you resented having to schlep around that monolith 640-607 Certification Guide? Well, now there are two volumes - one for each exam required for the CCNA. Now you have the option of just taking "half a book" with you while studying for the comprehensive exam. -The INTRO and ICND books were designed to be used together to prepare for the 640-801. The books include a reading map that shows which sections in each book should be read in what order. This lets you get complete coverage of each major topic before you move on to the next.
- Another nice feature of the books is the "Do I Know This Already?" quiz at the beginning of each chapter. If you've been involved in networking for a while or you've studied for the CCNA before (like me), taking these quizzes can keep you from wasting time reading about things you already know. Taking them also keeps you from possibly missing some arguably odd things that Cisco deem important enough to include in the exam(s). - Odom and Cisco Press definitely do a much better job explaining networking fundamentals. If you're new networking and/or the CCNA, you'll definitely want to start with the INTRO volume. Basic concepts are covered there first and, in my opinion, covered well. - The accompanying CDs include PDFs of the books. Also, the exam and router simulators on the included CDs are a nice bonus, but I already have a couple of 2501's and a 1900 at home I can use for lab scenarios. Now, the bad news: - The bane of all technical exam guides: ERRATA!!! Although the number of errors in these books is way down since the 640-607 Certification Guide (49 vs. 80 at last count), to me, nothing is more obnoxious or problematic than a test preparation book with errors. We use these books to learn and study. Whenever there's an error it undermines the learning and that defeats the purpose of the book. What I'd like to know is how those 49 errors got past the *three* CCIE's who were the Technical Reviewers for the books. - Some of the figures are counter-intuitive. For example, some of the figures in the INTRO book showed data flowing from right to left. We read left to right, so using diagrams that move right to left seemed a little perplexing. - For some inexplicable reason the PDF versions of the books on the CDs are of the 1st printing while the books are 2nd printings. This will drive you nuts when you start finding errors on the PDFs that aren't in the printed versions. Even with these problems, this Library is the best bang for the buck when it comes to preparing for either the comprehensive 640-801 or the INTRO and ICND exams. As a bonus, it's written by Cisco Press, so it's much more likely the material you see on the exams will have been part of your reading. If you do get the library and install the exam simulators, make sure you download the update from the Cisco Press Web site; it takes care of some errata in the test engine. I'm giving this Library 4 stars due to the number of errors in the books and the disparity between the versions of the printed books and the included PDFs. Overall, those may be small quibbles on my part. Regardless, short of attending the Cisco Networking Academy, this Library is the best prep you can get for taking either the comprehensive CCNA exam or the two separate exams.
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67 of 73 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
irritating to read but gets the job done, January 16, 2004
This review is from: CCNA Certification Library (CCNA Self-Study, Exam #640-801) (Hardcover)
Cisco Press' CCNA Self-Study Certification Library by Wendell Odom consists of two books: the ICND guide and the INTRO guide, corresponding to tests 640-811 and 641-821, respectively. Passing each of those tests will make you a CCNA; so will passing combined exam 640-801. I passed exam 640-801 in one try, with no real networking experience and having taken no classes. The ICND and INTRO books comprised my primary training materials. Although it is possible to enroll in official ICND and INTRO courses created by Cisco, the books that make up this "library," apparently, are not the books used in those courses. Within the ICND book, Odom refers to "the ICND course, on which the exam is partly based," suggesting that what you have in your hands is a reverse-engineered study guide: a study guide for an exam that is based on a course that does not use said book. Odom occasionally presents tables that he claims come from the ICND course. Clearly, some parts of the course are not fair game for the study guide.
In other words, don't think that just because you are reading the official Cisco press CCNA study guides, you are dealing with a set of information that is as close as possible to the set of information from which the test was drawn. Studying these books will prepare you for the CCNA in the same way that reading the Encyclopedia Britannica from A to Z will prepare you to identify the capital of Nairobi. It goes without saying that a CCNA candidate should not be studying just to pass a test, she should be studying to qualify herself for a job. But in this case, the difference between the material presented and the material actually making up the test is excessive. Odom goes to a lot of effort to make the reader feel like he is being spoken to by a friend. "Fun, isn't it?" he writes, after presenting an illustration of function groups and access points that I had to re-draw for myself several times in order to understand. Later, he describes Inverse ARP as "another case of learning by listening, a great lesson for real life!" Gee, thanks. The subtle condescension in the non-humorous asides, the gleeful overuse of exclamation points, and the fable in which Pebbles Flintstone invents networking is compounded by the persistent contextual encapsulation of every single topic in the book. Odom tells you what he's going to tell you, then he tells you, then he tells you what he's told you, much more than necessary. A better way to put the flustered reader at ease might have been to proofread the books. The ICND guide, especially, is so full of typos that it is often embarrassing to read. In some cases, these are nothing more than obvious misspellings that can be passed over without much more than a little annoyance (e.g. ICND p. 472, "status enquiry messages"). In other cases, the meaning of the sentence is muddled. Worse, the configuration examples have obviously not been proofread either, resulting in, for example, the prompt "R1(config)#" when the appropriate prompt is "R1(config-if)." The difference may seem trivial, but understanding its significance is the kind of stuff the CCNA is all about. Each book comes with a CD containing a practice test engine and a router simulator (both from Boson). The mistakes in the ICND book pale in comparison to those in the CD test engines. In fact, an argument could be made that studying with those practice tests will hinder more than help the CCNA candidate who has not read the books thoroughly enough to recognize the mistakes. Many multiple-choice questions count correct answers wrong and vice versa (and some of these are taken directly from the books, which usually give the correct answer). A configuration entered into the CLI on a simulator question will be graded as wrong, and the user will then be presented with an identical configuration as an example of the correct way to solve the problem. None of these problems change the fact that these books will, if used correctly, absolutely help you pass the CCNA. But do it this way: Read the INTRO book. Take the exam right away. If you don't pass, flip through the ICND book and find the areas that you actually need to work on. You'll save months of study time that could be better spent working on your CCNP.
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14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Good books , but not fully up to date with October 2004 exam, October 17, 2004
This review is from: CCNA Certification Library (CCNA Self-Study, Exam #640-801) (Hardcover)
I have used the books to learn for the 640-801, and even if I passed it with flying colours 3 years ago, I didn't pass it this time, as the exam is much more comprehensive than in 2001.
These books were the only material I have used to prepare, and I guess that was my mistake, as the content of the books doesn't cover 100% the material you actually have to know for the real exam.
Apart from the standard questions, there were few tricky ones about routing protocols, mainly EIGRP and OSPF, and one question was about DR and BDR (designated router and backup designated router), and I didn't even know what the terms mean, so I guessed wrong...
Needless to say, the terms are not even mentioned in these books. I have quicly checked (with special thanks to Amazon for the very helpful 'Look inside' feature) the index of Sybex's CCNA book and 'designated router' is mentioned on three different pages. You guessed right: I checked that after the exam... :0
So, even it's been said many times before, maybe someone will listen: never rely on a single source of preparation for the exam... :)
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