Rosie,

I have my CCNA & CCDA and I used the Sybex study Guides
for my training and a lot of OJT.

The books did cover all that I needed to pass the tests
on the first try.

The OJT was, of course invaluable but the books were a
MUST.

The books may seam to be very elementary and cover things
that you may not use (things that may seem too base level
to really use everyday but are subjects that you really
do no know well).

Be sure, that to receive your certification you will be
required to know these elementary things.

Little things like. (i.e)
The OSI -vs- DOD protocols stacks, how many times do you
really think of these?
Or maybe the exact format of a packet.
Or different formats of packets say TCP/IP -vs- IPX.
The virtues or shortcomings of DNS -vs- WINS.
Things like this.

I am currently going for my MCSE and CCNP using the Sybex
series for these certifications and feel very confident
that I will succeed in passing using these books.

If you have access to equipment that is not used in
production or mission critical, use it to train yourself.

If a chapter is something you know real well browse it to
be sure that your understanding is in agreement with the
certificate you are after, say the difference between a
Cisco -vs- Microsoft standard or implementation.
The stuff that is new to you; read in depth.

Hope this helps.

Regards...



>-----Original Message-----
>I have looked at the Step by Step books for
certification
>purposes. They seem a little elementary. I have never
>taken a certification test so I am not sure these books
>cover what is needed. Can anyone out there that has
taken
>these exams tell me what books are good? Right now
>looking for Excel and Outlook. Will be interested in
the
>entire Office Suite in the future.
>
>Thanks,
>.
>

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