CCNA - New Exam Study

DaveTheSpic

Hey Guys & Girls,

I'm looking to do the CCNA in the coming weeks and I was wondering what are the best books to study with?

I've done online tutorials in the past for my CompTIA and Microsoft certifications and I find they don't cover everything and you eventually find yourself purchasing and studying the books anyway.

Since the exam changed at the end of September, will there be new books coming out for the new ones?

Any and all feedback would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

DeepBlue

The new books are out with a while as I think the new exam started back in May (there is some overlap while both exams are active and then the old exam was discontinued at the end of September).

The new CCNA library - http://amzn.to/17fsGGu

It will take more than a few weeks to study these. The exams are tough for a few reasons - 1) you need 85% or above to pass and 2) the questions can be phrased in such a way that you need to be 100% sure in order to answer correctly.

The second exam is a couple of steps tougher than the first one because the topics are more advanced and also because the standard of question is tougher.

There is a CBTNuggets available for the new exam.

You might find these sites useful for practice questions

http://www.9tut.net/ - ICND1
http://www.9tut.com/ - ICND2

A lot of topics that were previously in ICDN2 have been moved to ICND1 and some new topics have been introduced to ICND2. Also some topics have been dropped such as wifi and security.
Good luck with the study.

DaveTheSpic

Thanks very much for all the info though. That's great!

delta36

Came here looking for that exact information, thank you! Nearly accidentally ordered the book that was valid before the switch over!

whitelightrider

Im just wondering how people find these books when it comes to studying? Easy to follow?
Im debating getting these and starting or waiting for the Todd Lammle book which isnt out till January I think

delta36

whitelightrider wrote: »

Im just wondering how people find these books when it comes to studying? Easy to follow?
Im debating getting these and starting or waiting for the Todd Lammle book which isnt out till January I think

This might help you till someone who's actually studied with the books can answer you. The current CCNA book set has it's first chapter available to view on amazon here, it might give you an indication. http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1587143879/ref=olp_product_details?ie=UTF8&me=&seller=

Cuddlesworth

whitelightrider wrote: »

Im just wondering how people find these books when it comes to studying? Easy to follow?
Im debating getting these and starting or waiting for the Todd Lammle book which isnt out till January I think

I much prefer the videos, labs then books route. Although I'm pretty much at the point where there are no videos. I find reading a book more useful when you have questions that need answers before you open it.

DeepBlue

whitelightrider wrote: »

Im just wondering how people find these books when it comes to studying? Easy to follow?
Im debating getting these and starting or waiting for the Todd Lammle book which isnt out till January I think

I think the Wendell Odom books are pretty good.

You can use books.google.ie to preview quite a bit of the books and compare the styles to see if you prefer one style over the other.

http://bit.ly/19wXIM0 - CCNA Cisco Certified Network Associate Study Guide, 7th Edition (Todd Lammle)

http://bit.ly/15zds1F - Cisco CCENT/CCNA ICND1 100-101 Official Cert Guide (Wendell Odom)

http://bit.ly/19DjGim - Cisco CCNA Routing and Switching ICND2 200-101 Official Cert Guide (Wendell Odom)

The Odom books are for the new curriculum so that may make judging a bit more difficult.
I had a pdf of Lammle's book but didn't really use it that much (didn't really have the time to read two books).

Sir_Badshot

DeepBlue wrote: »

You might find these sites useful for practice questions

http://www.9tut.net/ - ICND1
http://www.9tut.com/ - ICND2

This is a braindump website. Not to be used as a resource. You are kidding yourself going this path and undermining the qualification.

delta36

Sir_Badshot wrote: »

This is a braindump website. Not to be used as a resource. You are kidding yourself going this path and undermining the qualification.

What's a braindump site? Is it just leaked exam questions or something? Also, out of curiosity, why do you need to sign and NDA sitting the exam, and why is it bad to look at previous exam questions?

Sir_Badshot

delta36 wrote: »

What's a braindump site? Is it just leaked exam questions or something? Also, out of curiosity, why do you need to sign and NDA sitting the exam, and why is it bad to look at previous exam questions?

People do the exam, go to the internet and upload the questions and answers.

It has plagued IT certification for years.

The questions on 9tut are all straight from the CCNA exam. Cheating basically for people who can memorize all the answers.

You sign the NDA to say you will not do exactly this.

Loads of resources from the horses mouth:

https://learningnetwork.cisco.com/community/certifications/ccent/icnd1_v2?tab=practice

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