Hi

I'm glad to say that I completed my CCNA earlier this week (with some useful advice from the CCNA forum). I am now hoping to get to work on the CCNP and wanted to ask for some advice from people that have some experience of it.

1. Do you have any views on the order that the exams should be sat in? Just wondering if there are principles in one that need to be understood before looking at the next exam/course.

2. I was looking at Amazon and there are several different Cisco books on each topic, do you have a view as to which are the most useful?

Thanks in advance.

Frank

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hello,

the Cisco recommended order is in exam-number order, routing, switching remote-acess and troubleshooting. You can choose any order that you wish, depending on your current experience. I've done them in number order...

I've got the four-book Preparation Library as I believe it goes into slightly greater detail and I have limited experience of Cisco gear. It also serves as a reference set after passing the exams.

Again if you have more exerience then you may prefer the exam guides as I believe these are more concise, plus they inclde more exam questions for practice.

One of the other guys recommended a site the other day, www.addall.com for finding books at low prices. As I'm in the market for the CCDA book, I went to CiscoPress to find the ISBN, typed it into the search field of addall and found the book on another site around 40% cheaper than Amazon (and the price included delivery to the UK!).

Regards
Peter

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I did switching first, now on routing then going to follow up ith BCRAN then support.

Most people tend to do the support last as it has a little bit of everything.

The general consensus on books seems to be Ciscopress rather than titles by Sybex. Further to peters post I use www.shopsmart.com for books and it does a search of all the major internet bookshops to find the cheapest including postage - not sure if it checks addall though - I find it easier to search for ISBN numbers.

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I study the books of all these four subjects first then i gave gave exam of bcran then routing and so on . But it depends on the person also . Some people may even give exam of CIT first

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http://www.bookpool.com

Good deals on tech books!

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CIT was my first exam and I suggest to all not to take this test first. It contains many questions from previous tests (especially on switching). I think that other 3 tests could be taken in any order.

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Let me be the first to add my support to the view that the Sybex books are shite.

I bought the CCNP Routing Sybex book because a friend of mine had enjoyed the CCNA one (and I thought that the Cisco Press CCNA one was just a little bit condescending,) and in comparison to the official Cisco one, it sucked. Badly. Apart from the numerous inconsistencies and fighting Todd Lammle's huge ego, the book seems to be more about 'memorise these concepts and you might pass' rather than 'let's learn stuff.'

Sybex blows.

Sid

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That's great - so it is definately Cisco Press and from what peterd says it sounds like the Preparation library rather than the Certification library.

Cheers.

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Somebody said that sybex books blow. They don't if you use them correctly.

I found that the Exam Cram from Sybex gives you a great summary and many exam tips.

1) Use the Cisco Press books to study from

2) Then use the exam cram to top it off!

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Hi peeps. Just thought I'd let you know about another site http://www.megabytebooks.com It's the cheapest site I've managed to find out there in the ether for certification books. I believe they also have a fixed delivery charge of £2.95 regardless of how many books you order. I don't think it's included in ShopSmart or AddAll.

I've also been to various computer fairs - had to pay an entrance fee of £1, but it's worth it if you're buying. A bit like shopping in the Far East. You can negotiate the price. Saw the Sybex CCNA 2.0 Study Guide for £10! Had the CD with it too and it was a new copy. Of course you can always pickup used books from the fairs too.

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