Rating: 
Summary: Good source to pass the New Cisco CCNA Exam
Review: I read this book for the New CISCO CCNA Exam twice. I took the
test last January-2002 and I passed with 975 as a first time try.
This is a good source for this exam. Actually the practice test on this book was more difficult than the test I took. DMP
Rating: 
Summary: Passed CCNA first time with this book
Review: Probably the best technical book I have ever read. I read the whole thing cover-to-cover and took all the practice tests, usually scoring 75-80%. Passed the actual test with a score of 967!
Rating:
Summary: Lots of Good Stuff - but more is needed
Review: I recently passed the CCNA exam. I used this book as well as
Wendell Odom's Cisco CCNA Certification Guide. Both books have
lots of useful info and complement each others weaknesses. I found the glossary in this book very helpful. I saw some shots taken at it by other reviewers - but everything I wanted to look up was in there. I also liked the questions at the end of each chapter and at the beginnning and end of the book - very good practice for the exam. I didn't do any of the hands on labs - mostly because they looked pretty basic and I do a lot of this stuff at work. Also, don't get discouraged if you miss a lot of
questions on the practice tests. Yes, Cisco wants you to remember lots of silly details, but I passed the exam pretty handily and I don't think I got much over 70% right on any of the 4 or 5 practice tests I took. Along with other reviewers, I noticed that many of the questions on the CD are repeats of the ones in the book. Very annoying. The CD from Odom's book was much more useful. This book also lacks many of the charts and command references that were so helpful in Odom's book. And it was dry (not that Odom's wasn't dry too). Keep lots of coffee around if you plan to read for any length of time. While I got a lot out of this book and would recommend it to prepare for the exam - I would use some other resources as well, particularly if you don't deal with this stuff at work.
Rating:
Summary: All you need
Review: This book contains all the information pertaining to the 507 exam with no fluff and nothing left out. It doesn't read like a Stephen King novel, but it doesn't read like a dry technical tome either. I tried using CCNA for dummies but I consistently failed the practice exams I found online, so I purchased this book, and I scored a 924 on the exam. I recommend reading this book once cover to cover, and then rereading the OSI model chapter and other chapters you may have trouble with. I was lost much of my first way through, but everything fell into place the second time around. I'd also recommend doing all of the labs in the book with either a real router or a simulator. It's crucial to understanding the proper syntax of IOS commands. It's not necessary, but pretty helpful anyway. And practice with the CD-ROM test and every practice test you can find online. If you miss a question, it's most important that you know why you missed it. The test really isn't difficult if you know your stuff.
Rating:
Summary: Not bad, but use other reference material as well.
Review: I prepared and passed my CCNA with this book (second edition) and the Exam Notes by the same author. Firstly, the book is pretty well organized, and designed for a newbie to networking. It covers most of the information you need for the exam. The organization is however different from the exam itself (see cisco's web site) or the Exam Notes, so cross-referencing is a little difficult. There are several typos but most of them are indicated on the book's website on Sybex - this however is not well organized: all the corrections for all the editions of the book are on the same page (lots! trust me!) and you go through half of them to realize they have been corrected. There are topics left out however, and the practice exams on the CD are different from the same ones in the book (not different exams, just a few questions changed here and there??). The practice exams are also too easy compared to the real exam and have a few errors (the errors in the practice exams and the book's electronic version are stated but you cannot download updated software). I recommend browsing the net to find lots of harder practice exams. The Exam Notes book amazingly picks-up the missed out material (Token Ring, FDDI, ATM) and is organized like the exam. There are several other missing items from the online practice tests I used, but since I wasn't tested on them, I cannot say for sure they are required. All and all not a bad book, but a pretty hard exam anyway. I recommend getting a router simulator if you do not have much hands on, but I found the supported command list on the BOSON Router Simulator fell short several times (updates are frequent though.) Strengths: several examples, labs, practice questions. Materiel organized to ease learning, not like the exam. Weaknesses: missing items (picked up for the most part by the Exam Notes), unfriendly errata page, unable to update software or electronic book. The glossary is very sadly incomplete.
Rating:
Summary: Great for learning networking and passing the CCNA 2.0.
Review: I purchased this book because I wanted to pass the CCNA 2.0 exam. After studying this volume for about 2 months, I passed 640-507 on the first attempt with a 900. What I did not expect though was to learn so much about networking. Lammle did a great job at reducing complex topics into easy to understand segments. When you finish the book you will be able to pull those segments together and have excellent fundamental networking knowledge.
Rating:
Summary: gives the knowledge but does not train for the exam...
Review: I found this book very easy read that also gives very good knowledge on how to configure a Cisco router/switch - you will not be bored!
But ... this book does not train you to pass the exam. I passed my CCNA only with this book from the first time but most of the answers were a good guess based on the knowledge this book gave me. If your goal to obtain Cisco certifications I would recommend to stick with Cisco Press books.
Success!
Rating: 
Summary: Over 100 DOCUMENTED ERRORS!
Review: This book has over 100 DOCUMENTED ERRORS and some that are NOT!. What's WORSE is that if you buy the DELUXE version for an EXTRA $20 bucks you get almost NO errors (same book, no errors, more $$$!). Unbelievable!
Rating: 
Summary: a good book but not as good as the cisco press CCNA book
Review: I purchased this book around two months ago. Since then I have read it from front to back and spent many hours studying the concepts taught within. While it is normal for technical books to contain errata, this book contains a lot. However, Sybex make no secret of this and publish a complete list of errata on there web site (Bravo Sybex!) The book contains an excellent subnetting chapter. However some chapters are a little weak. One thing that is very noticeable is the lack of structure. For instance Chapter one contains two paragraphs explaining DTE and CPE equipment. This does not need to be described until the wan chapter. The rest of the chapter covers osi. Chapter 2 covers switching technologies which just seems wrong, as the whole concept of switches is covered in three separate chapters. In chapter 2 then nothing more on switches until chapter 7 and then nothing until appendix B!! Surely it would have been better to combine all of this in to one chapter? Another annoying thing about this book it the advertising of other products. For example, page 256 contains an advertisement of the CCNP routing study guide in the middle of technical text. (This is not the way to accurately describe technical issues) This is a little annoying when trying to concentrate! The introduction also advertises Boson and CCNA virtual lab products. Both of which are excellent I might add. In summary this book is pretty good. However, it contains a lot of errata and has structural issues as well as many advertisements, which could confuse beginners. Personally I would say the Cisco press book is a better book. But I would recommend buying both.
Rating:
Summary: What a Good Source to Pass CCNA,,WhoooooOOOh
Review: I just read this book from cover to cover twice and pass CCNA 860 Score,i just spend 1-1/2 months reading this and practicing the Exam Essential 5.5 version,(practice test, Good One). the practice test are similar to actual one,it was a big help. the EE 5.5 explain much detail why your answer is wrong or right. I would Highly recommend this book and the practice for those aspiring CCNA.
Thank's Todd Nat
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