Customer Reviews

CCNA: Cisco Certified Network Associate Study Guide, 5th Edition (640-801)

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This book does a very good job of mapping to the exam pretty closely without going into too much detail on things you don't need to know, or skipping too many things that are vital to pass.

Todd's method of discussing topics are tactfully approached so they are not confusing to the reader, and his explanations are clear and easy to understand.

The book came up a little short on NAT configuration, and you might want to go over some of the switching stuff again before taking the exam.

Overall though, I would say if you already have some experience you could probably just read this book cover to cover and take the exam (640-801).

Five years ago, I took a course on the CCNA exam, and the Sybex book was the standard course material. The Cisco books at that time were overly wordy, dry, and difficult to learn from. This seems to be the major reason Sybex became the textbook of choice for Cisco material. I had good success with that book and passed the test on the first try with little complications.

Then, a few months ago, I decided to go back and tackle the new CCNA exam and get certified again. Naturally, I went back to Sybex and bought this book. After a month of study, I felt I had fully grasped all the concepts in the book and began taking practice tests in preparation for the 640-801 exam. I was disappointed to find that I was repeatedly failing the practice tests. I spent some time reviewing and slowly came to realize that there are a variety of topics you will face on the new CCNA exams that aren't favored enough in the Sybex book. Frustrated, I went and picked up the Cisco Press: Official Exam Certification Library, which consists of the "CCNA Intro" and "CCNA ICND" books. I thought at first that having two books for this material was overkill. After several weeks of reading through these books, I am startled at how much raw content is in these two books that is directly relevant to the test. Even more obvious is how basic the Sybex course material is in comparison.

My personal experience is this: Cisco seems to have toughened up their exams quite a bit since they switched to the new CCNA exam, and Sybex doesn't seem to have kept up with this. Considering Sybex has also tried to squeeze the entire CCNP course material into a single book, when Cisco has four separate books for the same material, I'm not surprised that the CCNA book feels compressed. In particular, the areas I'm finding the biggest gaps between the two are as follows:

Cat 2950 Switch configuration - This is kept to a minimum in the Sybex book and only the most basic commands are offered.

General Routing Troubleshooting - A big theme in the practice tests I have taken thus far is the ability to properly troubleshoot various router setups. While the Sybex book gives you all the basic show commands and gives a very straightforward configuration for each topic, it simply isn't enough. There should have been several chapters dedicated purely to troubleshooting. The Cisco material did not provide dedicated chapters to troubleshooting either, but they take much longer to explain the topics than Sybex did.

Various Miscellaneous Topics - There are a variety of commands, terms, and concepts that I never saw until I started taking practice tests and picked up the Cisco Press CCNA Flash Cards book.

In closing, I will say that I like the way Todd Lammle writes. He is very easy to understand and Chapter 3 of this book (which covers IP subnetting) is a very well written chapter. This book is by no means "bad". It just isn't enough to pass the exam on it's own. If you have yet to purchase any material for the CCNA, I strongly recommend you spend the extra ten dollars and pick up the Official Exam Certification Library from Cisco Press. While it may be a little more difficult to read, it will be worth it when you go to take your test.

I believe this book **USED TO BE** one of the best CCNA books out there, but CCNA has changed and this book failed to catch up. After reading the 4th ed of the study guide, I started trying some of the test engines. I realized there were many questions that I simply had no clue. I went to a book store to grab the 5th ed, but still couldn't find some crucial information that definitely appeared in the current CCNA. As some reviewers already mentioned, NAT is an absolute joke - the guide only mentions three NAT types but you are actually expected in CCNA to be able to configure NAT. There are many other topics that are not covered by the 5th ed. Also (Again, as other reviewers put it), sections of Catalyst1900 series can be omitted - the possibility you see questions about 1900 in the current CCNA is virtually none.

Although this book has some positive traits, the coverage is simply not enough for the current CCNA. Make sure you buy an extra CCNA (ICND) book from Cisco that includes 2005 update to fill some missing topics in this study guide. I don't say reading this study guide is a waste of time - it is still a good book that is easy to read so people new to Cisco will get benefits out of it. You just need an extra book or two if you want to pass the current CCNA. Did you notice that most of reviews that gave the book 4/5 stars were put in here in 2004 or before?

I just passed CCNA with 974/1000. I used this book, Cisco Flash Cards and Boson NetSim 6.0. I dont suggest you to use solely this book and expect to pass CCNA. I recommend you to do plenty of hands on labs along with this book. I found that a lot of questions from CCNA exam were from this book, some even word for word (I noticed that from ISDN chapter). Although this book done a great job explaining but I wouldnt have pass the test with this book alone. The there are a lot of drag and drop questions and three heavy weight sims on my test. I hope this help, and remember "Ping" and "show cdp neighbor details" is your best buddy :) Good luck.

I passed my CCNA exam yesterday. I had NO practical experience with Data Networks but some academic background.
Tod Lammle has a very nice writing style which gives the same feeling you get with classroom delivered courses. He maintains a very light, humorous style, and doesn't mind reminding you of the same thing a 100 times if he believes it is important. Something I really appreciated ! A lot of what was mentioned as important subjects came up in the exam .. usually in more than 1 question.
The review questions thoroughly cover everything on the respective chapter.
This Edition clarifies a lot of stuff that didnt make any sense (to me!) in past editions.

But ..

1- Without breaching confidentiality, after I passed my exam, I discovered that NAT is thouroughly covered on the exam, but NOT the book ! Unfortuntely, Mr. Lammle sufficed with defining the different flavors of NAT. Not a single command on the subject.
2- VLSM and route summarization.. Not very clear ! I studied that from Carl Timm's BSCI Study Guide.
3- The typos are frightening !! And not everything covered in the errata.

To conclude : The book is a very interesting resource as a first reading, but certainly not enough on it's own for passing the exam.

Although I am a reviewer for Cisco Press, I have found that the Sybex book series is much more understandable for the average person trying to achieve their CCNA certification. I teach the IT Mentor 2 Day CCNA Boot Camp and have used this book for the last 5 years. Over 5,000 of my students have used this book!

The only negative I have is that there are generally more errors in the first few editions of the Sybex books.

I am quite happy with the text by Todd Lammle, published by Sybex. He structured it in such a way that it won't scare you off in the first two chapters, but he hits the in-depth areas in a hurry. He saves binary and hex conversion, subnetting, routing and what is considered the difficult items until mid-book, giving your mind a chance to adjust to what amounts to a different way of thinking. I was surprised at how much easier the end-of-chapter tests seemed to be as I neared the end of the text. My way of looking at the information had fundamentally changed, so I absorbed it more quickly and easily. There were a few chapters I needed to read a second time, specifically the subnetting and the Cisco IOS. I think my difficulty with the IOS chapter was a direct result of not being comfortable with subnetting. However, a re-read of chapter 3, subnetting, had me doing it in my head with ease...honestly, it was a surprise to be able to think in binary. Not helpful on an every day level, but for the CCNA, it works out nicely.

I don't recommend starting with this text. It will be just right for some, but I 'warmed up' with, and it's embarassing to admit this, CCNA for Dummies, as I knew I needed something to get my mind on the correct train of thought. While having networking experience helped me, there is an academic process Cisco wants you to apply, and unless you learn it their way, the CCNA will likely be out of reach. Much like the MCSE, there are faster, easier and likely 'better' methods of arriving at a solution or conclusion, but you must get there the way the people testing you want to.

Together, the two books were complimentary, and the Sybex book, Lammle's text, is MUCH more detailed and in-depth than the Dummies text. In taking practice exams, the Dummies book had me with a dumb look on my face as I tried to figure it out. The Sybex book, on the other hand, had me looking for the 'trick' part of the question or availible answers looking for what must be wrong given a question so seemingly easy.

While I have yet to sit for the CCNA, I expect to within two weeks, and I finished reading Lammle's text two days ago.

I used this book solely to study for the CCNA (2nd attempt). By the time I finished this book, I was able to master the practice tests on the enclosed CD. I found the actual CCNA questions to be much harder than the Sybex practice quetions. My coworkers used the Cisco Press books and passed easily. Todd Lammle's book is a great resource for learning subnetting; which is crucial to success on the CCNA. I would recommend the book for CCNA prep, but not as a sole resource.

Good study guide...for the old exam. The updated edition for the new 640-801 exam was done poorly. The NAT section is pathetic. The 1900 switch coverage needs to be moved to an appendix--or simply dropped--because this switch is no longer covered in the exam. Dialer interfaces ("interface dialer" config) aren't even mentioned. Wouldn't hurt to add "ip summary-address rip" command, and more on route summarization. I'd recommend Chris Bryant's $19 "The Bryant Advantage" guide instead.

This 5th edition book has WAY too many typographical technical errors to be a reliable, sole study guide. If you are a complete novice, do not even consider this book because you will not have enough background to determine what and where the errors are. I have personally sent in errata updates to Sybex in July & Aug. 2006 and they have yet to update the errata. (It is now Dec. 2006.)

This book is already out-of-date because the CCNA exam was updated (2005 update) AFTER this book was published.

If you can ignore all of the errors (especially those in Chapter 3), there is a lot of good information and shortcuts presented in this book; hence the 3 stars. Mr. Lammle is obviously a VERY knowledgeable professional in regards to Cisco networking. It is unfortunate that Sybex failed to live up to those professional standards in presenting his material.

If you must study for your CCNA exam now, and you need to purchase a study guide, I STRONGLY suggest that you purchase the 2 Cisco CCNA Self-Study Exam Certification Guides. They are up-to-date with the 2005 updates. Otherwise you can wait for the 6th Edition of this book that is due to be published in March 2007. I just hope Mr. Lammle demands the highest standards of proofreading from Sybex BEFORE it is published.