CCNA Virtual Test Center

It's not perfect, and using the CCNA Virtual Test Center as your sole study guide for the CCNA exam would be foolish--but as the finishing touch to a study plan, it's a good value for the money. The Test Center is a test engine with well over 300 sample questions. But there's only one question that you should ask when you're evaluating testing software--namely, how good are the questions?

I'm pleased to note that most of them are close to what you can expect to see on the final exam, and there are no filler "idiot questions" to waste your time. There is a nice mix of command-line questions ("You have been asked to change the name of a VLAN on a Catalyst 1900 Series Switch; which command do you use?") and general technology questions ("How does the operation of VTP differ when a switch is configured for Transparent mode?"), which should help the CCNA aspirant on both ends. Some questions are extremely simple, naturally, dealing with simple areas such as the OSI Model and the difference between switches, hubs, and bridges--but questions that were all grueling might completely roll over some mid-level potential CCNAites. The choices you're given are also well written; they all sound plausible, at least, so you're not able to dope out a question you don't understand thanks to a couple of blatantly harebrained options.

The testing engine itself offers four types of tests: Eight static "virtual tests," adaptive tests, random tests which offer between nine and 63 questions, and objective tests. The virtual tests are a bit of a disappointment test-wise, since they tend to have questions clumped together; you're likely to find almost all of the VLAN questions in, say, Test 5. It would have been nice to spread the questions out so each of the eight virtual tests quizzed the full array of CCNA knowledge. The objective tests are helpful, though, and the adaptive exams are comparatively brutal. Every type of test (except for adaptive) can be taken in "practice mode," which allows you to see the correct answers and get a short but useful explanation.

This is not to say the CCNA Virtual Test Center is not without glitches, however. For one thing, it has no logon mode; although it tracks your stats, it's intended to be used by one person at one PC, and there's no option for multiple users--which makes it tricky to use in a corporate environment. Also, when you start a test there's no way to stop taking it except for scoring it immediately or quitting the software, so make sure you have the time set aside. And when you're in practice mode, you may be driven batty by the cheerful noises that pop up to let you know whether you've gotten it right or not. And, although you have three options on the noises (neutral, insulting, or praising), there is no option to turn it off.

But still, for the price, it's better than many other test engines out there, and after you've done your homework and studied, this will lock down a passing grade for you. Recommended. --William Steinmetz

1 virtual mistake center
I purchased this bundle in order to get more practive questions for my ccna exam. And in all fairness to the software i did end up passing the exam partly thanks to the Sybex software. Some of the things I liked about the testing engine is that you can configure the types of questions you want and what type of testing scheme you'd like. You can run them in practice mode and get explanations for each answer or you can do timed test mode.
The BIG BIG problem i have with this bundle is that it was filled with mistakes. It uses terms like "fastforward" switching. I mean terms that don't even exist. And it uses them not as fake alternatives, it actually teaches you these terms as if they existed. Another example is the Router#copy ios tftp command it uses. As far as I know the right command is copy flash tftp. Well anyways. There are a handful more mistakes like that throughout the testing engine. And i find that extremely annoying. Not only because I don't like to shell out fifity bucks for defective product, but also because the ccna exam is very unforgiving. A few incorrect answers and you fail that exam. So there is really no room for inaccuracy when it comes to cisco examinations.
Anbother issue that really bothered me was the fact that the explanations for some commands that I'd never heard of before point you to certain chapters in Todd Lammle's CCNA study guide. Well guess what when you turn to look them up, they are not even covered there. Thats not good folks. Specially since the study guide and the software are supposed to compliment each other.
So I'm disappointed with sybex.