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Book Review - Cisco CCNA Exam Flash Card Practice Kit

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alt.don
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PostPosted: Fri Oct 03, 2003 4:47 pm    Post subject: Book Review - Cisco CCNA Exam Flash Card Practice Kit Reply with quote

Cisco CCNA Exam #640-607 Flash Card Practice Kit
Author(s): Eric Rivard, CCNP
Publisher: Pearson Education
Book Specifications:Soft-Cover, 404 Pages with CD
Category: Cisco Certification Aide
User Level: Intermediate knowledge of TCP/IP
Suggested Publisher Price: $39.95 USA/ $61.99 CAN/ £28.18 Net UK (inc of VAT)
ISBN: 1-58720-048-1
Amazon.co.uk: Cisco CCNA Exam Flash Card Practice Kit
Amazon.com: Cisco CCNA Exam Flash Card Practice Kit



Info from Back: "CCNA test time is rapidly approaching. You’ve learned the concepts, you have the experience to put them to real-world use, and now you want to practice, practice, practice until exam time"

Introduction

There are many certifications out there today to choose from. Not many certifications are as focused on their subject matter as Cisco’s CCNA certification (this could be looked on as a positive or negative point). Cisco's CCNA certification is the introductory certification upon which one can further build one’s knowledge of Cisco products such as their routers in this case and move onto other certs such as CCNP or CCIE. CCNA certification is highly desirable as it shows you have attained a good base level of knowledge vis a vis Cisco routers, and their implementation.

Core concepts of this book are very much aimed at those network professionals who are trying to achieve a widely known, and respected certification. It is of use for those system administrators who also have to do the configuration, and management of routers in addition to their normal duties. The Flash Card Practice Kit can be used as a handy reference to answer your questions. In order to achieve the most of this book one should have a good knowledge of not only routed protocols, but also have a good understanding of routing protocols as well.

Questions and answers contained in this book will also cover the many area’s in between such as cabling, and other networking issues. All topcics are well covered and relate to the exam itself in a clear, and easy to understand fashion. Over the course of the books various sections you will quickly come to the conclusion that you bought this book for, are you ready for the exam or are you not?

Details

The book itself is broken down into 15 different sections. All of these sections cover the material required to successfully determine whether or not one is ready for the CCNA #640-607 exam.

All of the sections themselves cover the material in a logical progression starting with Internetworking Concepts, followed by cabling for Cisco devices, and the operation, configuration of the Cisco IOS. Further sections go on to deal with the managing of a network environment, and also has a section on the Catalyst 1900 switch.

It will also go on to test you in other key CCNA topics such as PPP connections, Frame Relay, IPX, amongst other key topics. Also at the end of the book are study sheets which can be used as cram sheets for each of the topics covered in this book. Most every section receives equal treatment in the book in regards to the amount of questions posed. Some are shorter as befits the subject, to whit “Cabling Cisco Devices” Section 2 has far fewer questions in it then other sections. There is only so much to know about cabling.

That being said all other topics receive on average of roughly 20 questions each. This is not mentioning the other 550+ questions on the CD, which accompanies this book as well.

Style and Detail

Physically speaking the book itself is of a nice convenient size. It is not overly big, and is easy to handle. The questions themselves are both clear, and concise. You are not left scratching your head as to the intent of the question. What is also appreciated is the nice large print for questions as well as the non cluttered background used for the answers. The questions themselves are followed by the answers on the very next page, which is a nice feature. This saves time for the reader who will not have to constantly refer to the back of the book. Also at the end of the book there are diagrams, and brief explanations (study sheets) covering all of the questions covered in this book in a very nice fashion.

The book also includes a cd which contains 350+ flash cards, and more then 550 practice questions. These can be downloaded to your Palm OS, and Pocket PC handheld devices, which is a nice touch.

Conclusion

This book does an admirable job of preparing the reader for their CCNA exam. The layout of the questions, and answers is very nice as mentioned. The inclusion of the cd and it’s many questions which can be downloaded to a handheld device is a very nice touch. Especially in light of the connected world the network professional lives in.

It's gets an SFDC 9/10 from me, highly recommended.




Keywords for this post: Cisco CCNA Exam #640-607 Flash Card Practice Kit

This review is copyright 2003 by the author and Security-Forums Dot Com, and may not be reproduced in any form in any media without the express permission of the author, or Security-Forums Dot Com.


Last edited by alt.don on Fri Oct 03, 2003 8:54 pm; edited 1 time in total
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EricTheBald
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PostPosted: Fri Oct 03, 2003 7:29 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I second that, and I'll add that when I was preparing for my exam I spent the entire final week doing flash cards and taking practice exams.


One note though...

Don't plan on passing the exam if that's all you do. If you don't understand the material, you wont pass.
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sim0n
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PostPosted: Sat Oct 04, 2003 1:29 am    Post subject: ... Reply with quote

true. i'm taking the the third and forth part of the courses this year. They give so much time to do it at school. I get 180 days to do one section of the courses.

For second semester, I read the whole course in a week and took the final exam. I was 6pts. off from passing the final. I still have to retake it.

The course is so easy if you read thoroughly and are a VERY good note taker.
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