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Dewey Decimal Number: 004 EAN: 9781587200373 ISBN: 1587200376 Label: Cisco Press Manufacturer: Cisco Press Number Of Items: 4 Number Of Pages: 2400 Publication Date: February 05, 2001 Publisher: Cisco Press Studio: Cisco Press Editorial Review: Amazon.com Review: The Cisco CCNP Certification Library is a set of four technically-correct books written as course materials. They all have the same strengths and weaknesses: they're technologically accurate and make passing the exam a no-brainer, but the dense, no-frills nature of the writing means that every sentence must be read thoroughly and completely to guarantee your CCNP. First of all, the good points: By and large, these books are highly accurate and reasonably error-free, which is not at all surprising, since these are official course guides straight from Cisco's mouth. They get their facts across directly and succinctly, and are unlike most other certification books in that they're all deeply concerned with teaching you how to do your job properly. They're packed with on-the-job examples, and the experience shines through when it comes to teaching you the important bits, for not only do they show you the "how" and the "why," but quite often they also show you the "where"--how each technology and protocol fits into the larger picture. The writing, unfortunately, is much the same from book to book--they're all extremely textbooky, as if each book was written by Joe Friday from Dragnet. There isn't a wasted sentence to be found here; every word counts, making the information-to-text ratio higher than almost any other certification book you're likely to find on the market. Skim a page of a topic that you think you already know, and you may miss two or three important smaller points that become quite important in later chapters. If you're used to chattier books like Sybex or Macmillan, the lack of handholding can be abrupt and startling. The information density and real-world experience comes at a cost: Although the end goal of every test-taker is ultimately to put that experience to work on a live system, every CCNP wannabe has to get over the hurdle of taking the exam--and none of the books are true exam practice. Admittedly, each of them gives you tons of useful knowledge, but there are a lot of meanderings where they go into detail on something that never gets tested. Furthermore, they don't tell you that these are rarely-tested topics, so you may spend a lot of time struggling with some abstract concept that never comes up on the exam, and ignoring a subject that almost always is on the exam. Moreover, the questions at the end of each chapter are essay-style, not multiple-choice. Cisco has made it quite clear what their teaching objectives are: If you know the material well enough, says Cisco, you don't need us to tell you what's on the exam--you'll know. As such, each book has to be read and thoroughly understood in its entirety in order to guarantee a passing score. This means that if you're willing to devote the time and effort, you'll pass without a hitch--exam slackers can look elsewhere. The books themselves are remarkably consistent, and pleasantly free from the "two good books and a crappy one" syndrome so common in large, expensive boxed sets. Each book pulls its own weight, although the CCNP Routing Guide--even though it's the thickest and deals with some of the toughest concepts--is probably the weakest in the set, since some of the writing is obtuse even by Cisco's standards and may confuse those not intimately familiar with routing concepts. On the other hand, the CCNP Support guide is sterling by anyone's standards and is even a useful read for non-CCNP candidates, as it hands out real-world troubleshooting advice by the barrelful. In short, this set isn't an easy read--not even close. It isn't for those who barely passed their CCNA or people who don't routinely work with networks. But it is astoundingly comprehensive and error-free by certification guide standards, and the effort you put into grinding through here will be richly rewarded by a high passing score and a good foundation of CCNP concepts that will set you up for an excellent job--and perhaps even your CCIE. Highly recommended. --William Steinmetz Product Description: Cisco CCNP Certification Library is a complete test preparation package for all four exams required for CCNP certification. This bundle contains the following four books: CCNP Routing Exam Certification Guide, CCNP Switching Exam Certification Guide, CCNP Remote Access Exam Certification Guide, and CCNP Support Exam Certification Guide. These four Certification Guides combine to give CCNP candidates the only officially developed review and practice tools for comprehensive self-study. Covers -- all the key topics for routing, switching, remote access, and troubleshooting, several unique features of these books help CCNP candidates maximize their retention and recall of subject matter at exam time and at their daily job. Over 200 practice questions on the companion CD-ROMs lets readers take sample exams that simulate the real testing environment. This customizable software lets users decide how they want to practice or take a full practice exam. Average Rating:
 Rating: - Excellent CCNP resourceI ordered these 4 books because i was going for my CCNP, however after a little while (during a 2 month period) CCNP got upgraded to a newer version, still not to be disappointed i read both sets of CCNP, old one and the new one. Took the 4 new exams, passed them all, extremely happy with the results! In my opinion old CCNP books are valuable and a lot of help because the CIT and BCRAN books/exams are not in the new CCNP course and also some things of old BCMSN (like SPAN) just got removed and it's ... Read More Rating:  - most comprehensive self-studyIt was one of the best self-study books and of course, from an online service that is best in service and delivery. Rating: - Everything You Need to Know, Updated to Current TestsCisco Press has re-issued the complete Certification Library in a Third Edition. These four books cover: BSCI Exam 642-801 BCMSN Exam 642-811 BCRAN Exam 642-821 CIT Exam 642-831 which are the current versions of the exams as listed on Cisco's web site (November 8, 2005). The set of four books contains updated copies of: CCNP Self-Study CCNP CIT Exam Certification Guide CCNP Self-Study CCNP BSCI Exam Certification Guide CCNP Self-Study ... Read More Rating: - Good value, good booksOverall, thought the BCMSN was best, then BSCI, then BCRAN, then CIT. BCMSN is an excellent book, well written and comprehensive. It some nice practice scenarios at the end that are tough and really test your knowledge. Almost everything on the exam was in the book. BCSI book is also excellent. There are nice practice scenarios at the end of each chapter that test your knowledge. It's a thick book (~900 pages!) and there were very few unpleasant surprises on ... Read More Rating: - ExcellentOnce you have achieved the CCNA certification, your natural path points toward the Cisco Certified Network Professional certification. This title from Cisco Press is a set consisting of one book for each of the four exams specific to the CCNP certification. This set includes the following books: --CCNP BSCI Exam Certification Guide, Third Edition, by Claire Gough --CCNP BCMSN Exam Certification Guide, by David Hucaby --CCNP BCRAN Exam Certification Guide, Second Edition, by Brian Morgan ... Read More |
