Richard A. Deal
1 My rating: Good++ or Great-
I purchased this book in 1999, but only find time to read it recently, and thus unfortunately let go of a golden chance of passing CLSC 1.0 exam. This 700+ pages cram is a solid, systematic, and detail presentation of major switching topics - good enough that I carry it around as on-the-job reference, and also using it as an important part of my preparation for Swiching 2.0 exam, partly because (1) most BCMSN book for switching 2.0 exam is still not out (2) I couldn't see too many authors out there that can explain thing as well as Richard Deal's book. I have no complaint of the thick 700+ pages format - in fact I do hope that this book can expand in size and perhaps explain some tricky topics (tricky for guy like me who previously only work with the trickless ethernet hubs) like vtp, stp in a more graphic manner, with perhaps more examples. And perhaps add more examples on how big big switching network is built - like what I see in Kennedy Clarke's book.
2 Get Muticast info somewhere else....
The book does a decent job of covering most topics, but stay clear of the muticast section. There is constant confusion about which multicast address is for all hosts 224.0.0.1 and which is for all routers on a subnet 224.0.0.2. The author has switched them in more than one place. There is also one stating that 224.1.1.1 is for all routers on a subnet. It's funny, the Cisco Press book used the address 224.1.1.1 in an example in that same chapter. hmmmmm....strange.
3 Great buy for the information contained
I orginially purchased this book a while ago when I was going for the CCNP v1. I read it from cover to cover and was about to take the test when I decided to wait a little longer and go for the v2 exam. The informaiton in this book is great. I have used it several times as a desk reference on customer calls.
4 Do Not Buy
Not a good book, pay a little more and get a batter book.
5 Everything you need to know...
I used this book to successfully pass the new cisco switching exam even though it is directed toward the older exam. I recommend purchasing this book
6 NOT AN EXAM CRAM !
This book is advertised as "exam cram" but it is "too much information" for cramming. You will find yourself taking in too much information to properly prepare for the test. The point of exam cram books are to scale down the amount of informatiom into the core essentials of information to pass the test. I would however recommend this book for a reference guide.
7 Study guide but great reference source
This is a good book. It has some great material. I passed the certification for both the CLSC 1.0 and the beta CLSC 2.0. This is a good technical reference. This is a keeper....
8 Great book, but not as a cram....
The only reason that I will not give this book 5 stars is because it goes into too much detail to be a member of the cram series. C'mon, a 715 page exam cram? This book should be remarketed to be a stand alone study guide, it provides everything you need to know to get through the exam, not just an overview as I expected. The cheat sheet in the front of the book is a great last minute read! Use it! I just wish I had read this book first, instead of last. I could have saved myself some study time. Good luck!
9 Excellent overview for test
I read three different books preparing for the CLSC test (Cisco Press, Sybex and this one) and while the Cisco book provided alot of detailed information, it tended to skip over the reasoning behind some of the defaults and left you wondering why? - this book was an excellent resource for filling in alot of those gaps, and I felt that the content was segmented alot better making for an easier, more logical, read.
10 Two thumbs up for Richard Deal and Coriolis Press
Another excellent test-taking book! Although a little thick this book is the perfect companion for every CCNP candidate (including myself). The amount of information is right and very well fits the CLSC test. Sometimes it might seem that the author is going into too much detail for topics which are not that important but this impression will be totally wiped out by the test. Also, the book contains a lot of useful information which comes handy in your "real life" as network engineer. You just have to underline those perls of wisdom (yellow marker works good) and keep the book on your bookshelf.
If you have the knowledge of Catalyst family and need only a prep tool for the test this will be your only investment. If need deep insight on LAN switching, Catalyst family and network design this is not the right book for you! It barely scratches some of the "hot" and poorly understood topics like STP, VLANs and trunking but remember - this is an "exam cram" book.
Unfortunately Cisco is coming with a new test - CLSC 2.0 sometime this year and this book is not very adequate, but I hope that the author will come up with something at least as good as this one whenever the new test comes live.
In case you need deeper knowledge (not for the test) look at Cisco Press "Cisco LAN Switching" book and don't be scared by it's size (926 pages).
Good look on the exam!
11 Best book on the CLSC Exam
Although the "Exam Cram" title might suggest a thinner book, this book is best computer book I have ever bought. I also bought Todd Lammle's CLSC study guide and Exam Notes but those books are not the caliber of Richard Deal's book on CLSC. First of all, Richard Deal's book is comprehensive, and second, it is written as a part study guide and part Exam Cram, so at the same time you are getting comprehensive information while getting knowledge that is relevant on the test. Also one of the most important features in Richard Deal's book is that not only he gives a test at the end of each chapter (and at the end of the book), but the answers are given with a detailed explantion to why or what not this is the answer, which is extremely beneficial on test day.
I am glad that I bought this book, because without it, I believed I would of failed the exam.
12 Excellent book to learn, passing CLSC is a by-product
Excellent book for deep knowlegde of switches. This is a book to read, learn and enjoy. If you just want to pass the exam regardless, there are other books with much less pages.
13 Excellent In-Depth Coverage Of LAN Switching
I generally shy away from Exam Cram books, but the reviews on this one got me to buy it. I can't say enough about it -- it's one of the best IT books I've ever read.
Mr. Deal does a great job making a book that goes into great detail interesting to read. It is much more than a "cert book". The detail is wonderful for those of us who are interested in learning more than just enough to get through an exam. And as far as the exam goes, after answering his exam questions, you should be more than ready for the exam.
Another compliment for the questions -- the answers are explained in detail, and the reasons other answers are incorrect are explained as well.
As you'll see by reading these reviews, there are two camps of Cisco certification candidates -- the ones who want to learn "just enough" and those of us who want to really learn how things work, and why. If you just want to pass the exam, there are other books that will suit that purpose, and you'll probably get tired after 50 pages of Mr. Deal's book, anyway. But for those of us who want more detail and a true learning experience, you owe it to yourself to get this book.
14 A Good Book for CLSC Test Prep
It's one of the good book for CLSC test. You may also want to read "Ccnp Cisco Certified Network Professional Test Yourself Practice Exams" in order to pass the test.
15 Excellent Work
This is an excellent book, aimed at those who: - wish to pass the CLSC test; - are willing and able to to read; - want to understand the material, and not just memorize the minimum amount of material to pass a test; - are actually INTERESTED in switching technology, and have an intellectual curiosity that goes beyond the scope of Cisco's test objectives.
I think this is a first-rate book, at a very reasonable price. My only complaints have to do with the sample test questions. Here I would have liked:
- more questions; - better proofreading, and fewer double negatives in the test questions; - more substantive questions. (I assume, however, that Mr. Deal is trying to mimic the specificity and literal-minded nature of the test.)
This is the best $ I ever spent on a computer book.
16 Passed CLSC with 870 using this book
I read this book twice and passed the exam. This book covers the objectives almost verbatim. The little cram sheet included in the book helped me answer at least half the questions on the test. The other books on the market don't comapre, especially for twice the price.
17 This is a good review guide
I personally didn't use this guide to teach me Lan Switching. I used it to re-inforce what I previously learned from "Cisco Lan Switching" author: Kennedy Clark. It definitely beat making up my own questions for review. The questions presented and summaries will test your knowledge of the subject. It also relieves those pre-test jitters (You know where you doubt every answer you select)this is your final run through the material. Once you've made it this far go take the exam, believe me you'll do okay.
18 Not a great "Cram" but a great "Text" on CLSC
I passed the CLSC with this book alone with no hands-on. At 700 pages it is not much of a cram but is very readable and covers every point on the exam.
19 I passed the test using only this book, but barely.
I used only this book to study for the exam. I read it in 4 days and took the test and got a 70%, which is passing. The study questions were pretty close to the exam questions. I thought that some questions on the CLSC exam were ambiguous...but I pulled it off. I think if I went over the book more than once, I would have gotten a better score.
20 If the ends justify the means....
This book is way too long. While the pages are shorter than a regular study guide and their are a lot of diagrams, this book goes into way too much detail where it is not really needed. The author also has an annoying habbit of using an Acronym without defining it at the begining of a topic. For instances - CLI; Would you guess until later on that he was refuring to command line interface. This is not like GUI or something. The other major fault is that he is overly repeative with matterial - obvious from looking at this tables!
While I would say that you could pass the exam on much this book, I seriously think that the author needed to examine what would be on the test, go objectively through each one, then bring it all together. This is more like a reference book that added questions. On the other hand the man teaches this subject and may feel that in some of the random tests that in some way this stuff is nesessary. OK. However he neeeded to use an Appexdix. Too much that no one including Cisco would care to comment on. Also, outline looks based on Cisco's Class room manual...
21 I can't read all this...Just take the Cisco course instead.
Too big, too much stuff not on the exam. Desk reference, not a Exam Cram. Good teacher, bad writer.
22 I passed the exam almost exclusively with this book
While I found the volume of information in this book to be a bit overwhelming, I believe that it covered most if not all of the material on the exam.
My only negative comment would be that it could be a bit better organized for easier digestion.
Great job Richard!
23 I just received my book. How can I cram reading 700 pages!
Too much fluff. Can someone please send me a real Exam Cram for the CLSC
24 Used book to pass the test
Just past the Foundation Routing Exam and couldn't have done it without this book. I have read the class material, but this book went into more depth that the class material. This book will help you pass the CLSC exam, where as these other "study guides" seem to fall short.
25 This Book Helped Me Pass the CLSC!
This book follows the actual CLSC course material closely, and I did find that alot of the test questions were answered in this book. I have both this book and the course materials and they were pretty similar. I read through it twice before the test and ended up with an 87%. The Cram Sheet in the front of the book really helped me with some test questions. The book isn't too thick, you just have to have the desire to learn the material.
26 THE BEST WAY TO PREPARE FOR THE TEST!!!
For everyone who said this book does not prepare you for the test, it is obvious you are looking for a 50page quick way to memorize the test and pass it only to forget everything you learned after you are done.. Well, forget it, the only way to do that is the get a copy of the test, and no book will give you that....
Anyway, I know had a little experience with Catalyst switches, and this book was the very best way to prepare for the test. The sample questions were dead on, and the real test only had variations of them. so if you understand the subject matter of the questions in the cram book, that fact that the wording and answer choices are different on the test should not make the test any harder than the one in the cram book..
I recommend this to anyone who wants to pass the CLSC exam...
27 Too big, exam objectives are not easy to find, if at all.
HUGE book. Study guide size, errors, no exam objectives listed. Returned for a full refund. Save your money and time.
28 An excellent book for CLSC preparation
The Cisco CLSC Student Guide has a tremendous amount of detail. Richard Deal has done an excellent job of creating a cohesive and technically readable document which should assist even those who have had the CLSC class
29 This is a way too long dictionary!
What's up with this exam cram? This is the largest exam cram I have ever seen. Try again.
30 Superb Exam Preparation
This book is by far the best non Cisco Press book I have read. It's subject matter is clearly divided into distinctive chapters, and the test is very easy to read. The exam advice is excellent, and the sample test is fairly comprehensive.
However as the title suggests, this is an "Exam Cram" book. It highlights important concepts that are tested in the exam at a fairly high level. It assumes a solid understanding of networking, and does not try to explain the fundamentals.
Perfect exam preparation if you have actually worked with Cisco products.
31 A -5 book. Too large, almost 700 pages! Exam cram????
This is a study guide, and a poor one at that. Hard to find the exam objectives, and the text is too poorly written to understand it. Stopped counting the errors after the first few chapters. Wait for another CLSC book to come out. I have never seen an exam cram book this poorly written or so large before. It would take forever to read all of this book.
32 Did not like this book
I have found many many mistakes in this book. Does not prepare you for the CLSC test at all, exam objectives are not followed...the writing is unclear and unprecise.
