Todd Lammle | Arthur Pfund | et al. | Sybex
1 Warning!!! Do not use these books to study for certs
I have read through two of the books in this series and gone through all of the review questions at the end of the chapters as well as the tests on the CD's. Both of the tests that I took I failed on the first try. It was only after more study with Cisco Press books and other materials did I pass them.
These books do not teach you what the exams want. The BCMSN book is so poorly written that you could learn more by typing the question mark at the end of every command you type, because that's exactly what the author did. The CIT book was good, but still did not teach me what Cisco wanted me to know. I have used Lammles books before with success on the CCNA, but steer clear of this series.
You're better off paying the extra money for the Cisco Press books. I wish I had never made the decision to go the "cheap route" with this purchase.
FYI: I have a CCNA, CCDA, Citrix Certified Admin, and MCSE, so I am not inexperienced with what Cisco's requirements are for their tests nor with the whole certification process. You have been warned.
2 Sybex CIT book - extremely disappointed
I had a chance to use and compare two books when preparing for the new CIT exam (642-831). One was by CiscoPress, another by Sybex.
Well, what can I say... I am very disappointed with Sybex. I think the guy is "criminal" - Todd Lammle that is... I'll try to explain why...
I have nothing personally against him - he may be quite a nice person, he may even know his stuff but I have a feeling that he is not in a business to help us pass the exams... He may be in a business of making money or promoting his Router Simulator software...
The book is infested with errors. Also a LOT of irrelevant information - yes, it may be useful to know but irrelevant for the exam.
It contains old material reprinted under new cover -- that's the impression I'm getting.
For example, first 2-3 chapters - troubleshooting methodology - I think is based on a previous version of CIT exam which had more steps. Compared with current 3 steps Cisco methodology tested on the exam.
The book gives you just too much detail (like LSA types for OSPF -- that's useful for BSCI but not for CIT exam! -- Ciscopress book doesn't have this kind of information at all). It looks like the authors are paid based on the number of pages they write - so they would write whatever just to make it bigger but not directly relevant to the exam. Just look at the size of margins on the pages.
Another thing and this is why I think the guy is a "criminal" is chapter 9 - Troubleshooting Switched Ethernet - total waste of time because all commands presented are not IOS but CatOS!!! I couldn't believe it - Cisco is not testing for CatOS for more than a year now.
Yet the Sybex book still gives you set-based commands - how mean it is! I think they've just copied chapters from the previous version of the book. Besides, in CiscoPress book there is no mention of Troubleshooting Switched Ethernet - what they focus on - is methodology and terminology. And the exam questions directly reflect that terminology!
To be fair I enjoyed reading some chapters (i.e. ch 5, 6) with output of debug statements. Also ch 7 about Frame Relay. It's interesting to learn all of these and may be useful as a work reference but... You don't need to know so many commands for the CIT exam - Cisco Press book for example has much less commands. What they test the most is methodology not the commands - but methodology is somehow wrong in Sybex.
There were a few simulations on the exam where you had to troubleshoot the problem - still those Sybex chapters were not of any help.
I have passed all CCNP exams now with the help of CiscoPress books and Boson tests. And I didn't have much experience at all with Cisco.
If you are considering between Ciscopress and Sybex - Ciscopress is definitely the way to go.
Yes, I think some of you can pass exams with Sybex but IMHO it would be much more difficult. So, please do yourself a favor - buy Ciscopress books. They are sold for the same price as Sybex.
Personally I lost my confidence in Sybex (particularly in Todd Lammle as an author, which is unfortunate). I don't think I will ever buy any of Sybex books. Why bother when there are better (and even cheaper) alternatives on the market.
All the best with your exams.
3 Bot covering all topics of the exam
I was quite unhappily surprised that, after reading the book for the BCSI exam, I was far from ready. I costed me quite a lot of extra work to properly prepare. Lots of topics are not covered and even worse with the BCMSN exam, where even more topics are not covered.
Very unsatisfactory!!
4 Great book for passing all your exams
Without these books I would not have passed these tests. Excellent
coverage on the important subjects the test will cover. Great CDs
along with prep labs. Highly recommend it.
5 Lammle does it again - new updates and improvements.
One thing I have learned over the past 14 years is that when you find something that works stick with it. I have found that Todd Lammle is the go to man for Cisco. I used both his CCNA and CCDA books to pass my exams and now that I am working on CCNP and CCDP I am once again looking to him for study guides.
Being that Cisco has retired the 640-603 exam, it was a good idea for Sybex to hold the release of this set until the 640-901 or BSCI or was ready, making the kit as up to date as possible.
Each book does have a number of labs, in fact the BSCI book has over 55, plus there are case studies, review questions and other exercises throughout each book. Lammle certainly gives you every thing you need to work with.
There is one thing that could be added and that is a simulator or virtual lab to work with in case you do not have access to the hardware. Although you could go to his website and pickup the Router Simulator CCNP Suite and Sybex also has their own Virtual Lab as well.
Each book comes with a cd that has 2 full practice exams and other handy study utilities like the PDA flash cards. If there was something to increase here it would be more practice questions or a test center for all exams.
I found that the books may have some errors but there isn't a book out there without a few grammar or spelling errors. As for technical accuracy, I compared the previous set to this set and a whole host of updates were done.
Overall Todd Lammle has once again proven to be right in the forefront of the Cisco Certification arena and this study guide kit is a shining example of his latest work. Excellent job and well done once again.
6 A good enough review book...
And not much else. The author tries to pack too much info into a single book. It did work for Lammle for the CCNA study guide. However, CCNP covers a lot more. For a recap of technologies this book is fine. If you are looking for a deeper coverage of routing protocols however, check out "Cisco IOS for IP Routing" by Andrew Colton (ISBN 0972286209). That book explains the mechanics of modern routing protocols, such as RIP, EIGRP, OSPF, IS-IS, and BGP in great detail.
7 Efficient at accomplishing what I wanted to accomplish
Which was getting the CCNP as quickly as possible. I believe I was taking one exam per week at the time, and using only these books. Never cracked the CD's. I have some experience, though. I assume at this date nobody who isn't working in the industry is still wasting their time trying to get in with certs but no experience, so I presume if you're trying to get your CCNP you already use routers and switches. If you do, these books are certainly enough, I passed all the exams fairly handily and in rapid succession. This was back in 1999 with these same books (I bought them individually).
8 Perfect books for the CCNP!
This kit has all four CCNP exams covered in one kit. You can't go wrong here. The writing is excellent and covers the exams perfectly.
We actually used this kit in a CCNP boot camp I attended. It is a really nice kit for the CCNP. Highly recommended.
9 Disappointed!
I studied sybex ccna book for my ccna exam. It was amazing. I scored 935 without taking a course etc. Just 2 weeks of study with that book, boson router sim and boson exams. So I bought this set to study for those ccnp exams. I read the routing book first and tried some boson exams in order to evaluate myself. I was awful! and I assure you that was not my fault!
I could not efford to buy another book about routing so I switched to the switching exam. And I wasted 2-3 weeks with that book too!! At first, that book seems to be satisfactory but if you read the exam topics on cisco web site, you will see that some of them are not even mentioned in that book.
Today, I am going to start reading a cisco press book for that switching exam. I suggest you do the same and save money!
10 CCNP Study Guides
I used all four books and the Boson prep testing software to complete my CCNP tests. The books have many errors that are not mentioned in the errata sheets. In my opinion, the Switching book is the strongest, Remote Access is acceptable, Support is lacking in key areas (ISDN) and the Routing (especially access lists, OSPF and BGP topics) is unacceptable. I purchased the Cisco press books for Routing and Support. The Cisco books cover the material more accurately and in greater detail.
If you are already familiar with the material and just need to refresh your memory, these are probably sufficient. If you are learning a specific topic like BGP for the first time or want to have a better understanding of the material, get the Cisco books.
11 Some help, but...
The books cover all of the topics in all of the four exams for the CCNP, yet still they are a 'base level info'. If you want to understand fully the topics required for the CCNP and be able to enter the exams with confidence, be sure to pick up the recommended titles from Cisco Press. They may be considered in-depth and more than what is 'required knowledge' for the exam pass, but 'full knowledge' is what certification is really all about. These books should really be seen as a 'cram revision'.
12 Ok material, lots of Errata, copy-protect limits use of CD
I've used Sybex before, and the guides have always been really good. But these leave lots of room for improvement.
The material is presented in a good format. What you need to "PASS" the tests is here. Make sure you visit the Sybex site for the latest errata. There's lots of errors through out the books. Don't expect hugh amounts of detail. You'll need the Cisco documentation too, if you expect to get better than a passing grade.... The Acrobat PDF files on the CDs are locked, and the only way you can use them is to have the CDRom in the drive. This will limit use to your Windows/Mac desktop or a laptop that contains a CDRom drive (forget using Linux or a WindowsCE machine).
It would have been a nice touch to include the flash cards for WindowsCE, in addition to the ones included for Palm.
Overall, I give this kit an "OK". Contains enough information to pass the tests. Could have been done better (less errata) and less copy-protection (limits usefulness of CDs, but it keeps everyone honest).
13 Strictly For Review Only
The material is just dandy for a quick once through of the exam objectives--before and after you use the CISCO book. You will not find a lot of gems, nor detailed explanations on some of the routing protocols. But as a portable Study Guide, it will jot your memory of the concepts that you have already mastered, and prepare you sufficiently to feel confident for the exam.
14 Great book for CCNP
Excellent book for exam and subject review. It covers the objectives for each exam in detail independently for each of the exams in CCNP. Practice questions, excellent examples, and lucid laguage are the best qualities of the book set. I gave four stars, as this set covers only objectives for the certification, but not for real life indepth touch of hte subject matter. Cisco Press books do an excellent job for these qualities. But, Lammle rocks as usual for "to the point" approach. Good Job! Keep it up! And, Good luck to all of you'll going for the certification!
-- Pankaj Patel BSCS, CCNA, MCDBA.
