Cisco CCDA Training Kit [Paperback]

Cisco Systems Inc. (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 158720004X | ISBN-13: 978-1587200045 | Publication Date: September 20, 2000 | Edition: 1

The Cisco Career Certifications Network Support track, includes CCNA and CCNP certifications, is a set of courses and exams geared towards teaching network professionals how to design, prototype, and test effective network structures. The first level in the Network Design track is the Cisco Certified Design Associate (CCDA) certification. In order to achieve certification, you, the candidate must pass the DCN Exam, #640-441. This exam tests your ability to design and implement network systems for small- to medium-sized businesses. Cisco CCDA Training Kit offers both training and practice presented in an electronic format to help you master exam topics and pass the DCN exam. This kit is a unique CBT product designed to offer in-depth instruction on exam topics and a test bank of practice exam questions. This product offers a cradle-to-grave solution for learning the concepts behind the questions, so that you are prepared to succeed on the exam,and in your daily certified networking job.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Cisco Systems, Inc., is the worldwide leader in networking for the Internet. Cisco solutions, which include industry-leading publications from Cisco Press, educate and provide competitive advantage to customers through more efficient and timely exchange of information, leading to cost savings, process efficiencies, and closer business relationships. These solutions form the networking foundation for many organizations worldwide.Priscilla Oppenheimer, CNX, CCDP, CCNP, CCNP Voice Access Specialization, has been developing data communications and networking systems since 1980 when she received her master's degree in Information Science from the University of Michigan. After many years as a software developer, she became a technical instructor and training developer and taught more than 2,000 network engineers from most of the Fortune 500 companies. Her employment at such companies as Apple Computer, Network General, and Cisco Systems gave her a chance to troubleshoot real-world network design problems, and the opportunity to develop a practical methodology for enterprise network design.

Product Details

• Paperback: 85 pages
• Publisher: Cisco Press; 1 edition (September 20, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 158720004X
• ISBN-13: 978-1587200045
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 7.5 x 2.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,338,104 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars This is not a CBT..., November 16, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Cisco CCDA Training Kit (Paperback)

The CISCO CCDA training kit (like the CCNA training kit), is NOT a CBT. The individual reading assignments are actually just sections of an over 300-page long PDF file.

The "interactivity" is limited to a menu interface that just refers to sections of this huge PDF file. Using the practice tests, you can also jump to the page relevant to the question displayed. That is the extent of the "interactivity" of this product.

The good: 1. Information in the PDF file is more condensed than the Cisco press books, yet more elaborate than the "enough to pass" Sybex alternative. 2. The testing software has many useful options (Such as don't ask questions answered correctly N times) and can be effectively used as a study tool, as opposed to just a benchmark. It is definitely better than the testing software that comes with the certification books.

The bad: 1. Anybody who has used a real CBT module would be extremely disappointed in this product. There is no TRAINING element to just linking to a big ol' PDF file through a menu. 2. Navigating through one big PDF file is more awkward than using a real book. I ended up printing out over 150 pages (2 pdf pages per sheet of paper) and studying from that.

This product does not deliver as promised, and I would go as far as to say that the product description is in fact misleading. (Cisco never even MENTIONS Adobe Acrobat or PDF files.)

The bottom line is that if you are not confident that you can pass the real test - this product will help you determine weather or not you're ready. But one final thing to consider - for the price of this product, you can take the actual test itself.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A somehow disappointing cut-and-paste, November 19, 2001

By 

Stefano Ferroni (Milano, Italy) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Cisco CCDA Training Kit (Paperback)

The exam focuses on three areas: a broad overview of network technologies, a set of methodologies and guidelines for designing a network, and marketing information about Cisco products.

The book (it is actually a large PDF file, no computer-based training, as another reader pointed out) is somehow disappointing, in the sense that it is a careless cut-and-paste of good training papers and/or excerpts from pre-existing good and well written books.

Apparently, nobody cared to proofread the result. Just to give you a feeling:
at page 5.13 there is a "network health checklist", which claims to be the same network health checklist of chapter 3, "reported here for reader convenience". Unfortunately, it is different from the "network health checklist" at page 5.31 (8 items to check against 14), which shares the same claim.
There are many forward references to chapters 6,7 and 8, while there are only five modules.
Appendixes are also referred to throughout all the book, but none of them can be found.
You will also enjoy some "deja vu" experience (on page 4.19 and 4.34, for example), and from time to time you'll wonder if you have missed a page.
Sometimes the text is unreadable. For example, at page 3.89 and 4.89.
The ROI analysis for customer ABC at page 5.42 shows how you can draw the wrong conclusions in order to sell a new network project to an "actual customer" (to be honest, this is the only case in which I have found a true error in the book)

In conclusion, the lack of organization in the book makes more difficult to make a synthesis and to grasp the "big picture".

Despite this, the book reflects the exam contents, and the mock exam is very similar to the true one. This can be a good reason to buy the book.

I can provide you with these advices:

1. I have prepared both CCNA and CCDA before taking any actual exam, and passed CCNA two weeks before CCDA. I think it has been a good idea, do the same if you can.

2. Download CCDA exam notes (examnotes.net)... Those notes have a good summarization of all the steps necessary to do a good network design according to Cisco, and they can help you organize the parts of the course oriented towards methodology

3. During the exam, take note of the case studies when they are presented to you. You may want to draw a network map as well. You will leverage those information later, since you will be faced with three or four case studies during the exam, and there will be other subsequent questions on the same case study.

Good luck

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars PDF plus Test Engine, November 16, 2001

By 

Chris Champion (Harrisburg, PA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Cisco CCDA Training Kit (Paperback)

I've taken other CBTs from Cisco, mostly on the web. Those were usually Powerpoint presentations with audio. I was very disappointed with this training.

The "CBT" is actually just a PDF that has been indexed by the menu-driven "study engine". Except that the PDF was written exclusively from the study engine. This is evident when you start with Chapter 1 and it takes you to page 53 in the PDF. Immediately, the PDF starts referencing material covered in the earlier pages (which you haven't read yet).

Like the other reviewer, I printed out the PDF on a duplexing printer (377 pages on 188 pieces of paper) and am reading the PDF in sequential page order.

THE GOOD: The test engine is very good and will allow me to "familiarlize" myself with the type of questions I might get on the test.