Customer Reviews

Network+ Exam Guide (Exam Guides)

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Mr. Feldman did an excellent job of writing this study guide. It's concise and to the point, but at the same time, it has plenty of very good information. It's written so that a beginner can understand the material, but it doesn't insult networking professionals who have much more in-depth knowledge.

It covers the topics tested by Comp-TIA very well, and does so in a way that is rarely seen in technical books. The material covered can be exceedingly dry and boring, but Mr. Feldman's style is easy to read and humorous. I did find a few technical errors, but they were all fairly minor.

As a Novell Master CNI (Instructor), I strongly recomend this book to all of my students. Some of my students have found this book to be the difference between passing and failing the Network Pluse exam, as the materials provided by MS in the Networking Essentials course or Novell in the Networking Technologies or the new Network Plus exam can be very daunting (with far too much detail) for people with little experience.

All in all, I have found this book to be an excellent resource.

Network+ Exam Guide was written in an interesting format to keep your attention. It is complete and very easy to understand. All you need is intermediate knowledge of networking and this book will take all the way through your certification process. It was written for the professional who understands the concepts and not only extends your knowledge to enable you to pass your exams but it is also a great reference book for troubleshooting.

This book was a great test prep. I am A+ certified and now Network+ certified. I have had minimal networking experience. It was organized very well and covered the important things that were on the exam. The CD, however, is horrible. In fact I would recommend burning the CD or using it as a xmas tree ornament. I almost had a heart attack when I began to use the CD the day before the test. The CD asks questions about stuff that is never covered in the book or on the test for that matter. Obviously the CD was created seperately from the book. I recommend using the Exam Cram Practice Tests book in conjunction with this book b/c the questions in there are more like the ones on the exam.

Ordered book Thursday, arrived Monday, read Tuesday, passed test Wednesday. Previous experience - Mac Tech, moderate Linux exposure, a little Win95/8, almost no NT. Novell as client only.

There's a reason why this book is 200,000th place on Amazon's sales rank while other Network+ books, like the ones by David Groth, and the Coriolis book are at 1000th and 7000th places respectively: This book has major problems.

Problem #1 - The CD

As other reviewers have commented, the CD is horrendous. In most certification books the CD and the practice tests on it are an invaluable help in both reviewing the information and boosting your confidence before the test. In this book however the CD is a nightmare filled with irrelevant information, it's just plain bad.

Problem #2 - The Diagrams

Diagrams should help elucidate what the words are describing. However too often in this book the diagrams confuse you more than help you. For example on page 13 there is a diagram of a simple bus topology network (a rectangle with computers connected at various point), and page 14 there is a diagram of a simple ring topology network (a circle with computers connected at various points), the problem is according to the diagrams these two networks are LOGICALLY EXACTLY THE SAME. It doesn't matter if you lay your cable in a square or a circle its still the same thing.. now maybe the rectangle is supposed to be solid and represent one wire (that's not how it looks though), but if your at the point where your trying to decipher what the diagram really means, the diagram has already failed its purpose. This is just one example out of many.

Problem #3 - The Writing

I'm sure Mr. Feldman is an excellent network technician but unfortunately his gifts do not extend so far into the domain of writing. The key to any certification book is CLARITY. But the style of this book is just muddled and meandering. I'm A+ Certified (I used the Coriolis books) and I had no problem understanding any of the information as it was presented there. But too many times this book made me reread passages trying to figure out what he was really trying to say. Does he mean this, or does he mean this? I'm not sure because the information is not presented in a clear definitive way.

If you read the other "positive" reviews you'll see pretty much everyone has something negative to say "needs a few touch ups" "found some technical errors."

My suggestion is this: If you just want to pass the exam, by Groth's book. If you want to be a network technician by the Coriolis Book. If you want to waste your money buy this book.

I found the book easy to read, and most of the information was correct, but there are some glaring errors. It is not helpful to find these in a study guide. I admit I am learning a lot as I have to double-check so much of the information with other sources. Don't take the information as Gospel and make sure you check the authors work! It would help if there was an Errata page, but I can't find one anywhere, nor can I find a link to a web page or Email for the author.

Jonathan Feldman has done a good job at putting together a reasonably entertaining and fairly easy read here. The problem with it is that there are far too many errors, and the information that IS correct is not explained very well. My learning and experience as a CCNA gave me a solid understanding of most of this material, fortunately. I bought this book for a quick review of the major exam objectives, which it provided well enough. My previous knowledge, however, made apparent the very large gaps, lack of explanation or background, and relatively poor concept treatment contained in this book. Bottom line: If you have a firm knowledge of networking already, this book may be a humorous and quick review of the salient points. However, if you already are that prepared, there's nothing you will gain from this book anyway. For the less experienced, I'm afraid the information contained in Mr. Feldman's guide will ony serve to confuse. There are better guides available.

I love the book. I used it to review my knowledge on networking before taking the test. This book is not for the paper network techs, Comp-TIA wants you to have some network experience before taking the test, and it will help you with a basic review of basic networking knowledge. The writing is very humorous. You can tell that the author has a lot of networking experience under his belt. I really liked the pamphlet that you can tear out and carry with you. I give it five stars. The CD could be better. The contents make up for the CD. Look, as all us network people know, no network runs perfect, unless you're a vendor. It is same to say that no book is editor perfect either. If we have time to nitpick a computer book, our network would never run correctly.

My advice is this: If you are a paper network person, don't get the book some parts will shoot over your head. If you are an experienced network person, use some of your experience and this book to past the exam. If you have time to nitpick a computer book, better check on your network because you have just too much time on your hands.

Good Luck!

I found some mistakes (mistypes char/word, wrong theory, etc) in this book. You should have another book for references.

CompTIA has created the basis for network technical competency and several Computer Book Publishers have delivered exceptional books on the subject. This book falls just a bit short. The book does give you everything you need but lacks any practical hands-on applications.

Like most books I have read, this book covers the entire Network+ exam objectives. The coverage of each objective is very good and will give you enough information to pass the exam. What is missing are the hands-on exercises to test out that knowledge.

There are plenty of figures, table, diagrams and pictures to explain the subject material. The authors do a very good job of pointing out key concepts and they also give you practice questions and practice tests at the end of each chapter.

Included is a cd-rom with practice test that you can take to help you prepare for the live exam. The software will show you where you need to improve and what kind of progress you are making. Overall, adding more hands on exercises and this book becomes one of the best tools for passing the exam.