Publisher: Cisco Press
Authors: Amir Ranjbar
List Price: $49.95
Amazon Price: $31.47
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Reviews:
Summary: This book is way too light for this exam
The methodology of the troubleshooting process is the easy part. This book would have been much better if it had broken down the troubleshooting sections for each layer and given you some concrete ideas about the most common things you might see. Definitely, an extensive treatment of debug output with explanations of what to look for would have been good. Bottom line, read the book so you know the methodology, but get another source because this one won't do it.
Summary: Almost no relation to actual exam
Cisco should be embarassed to call this book 'official self-study test preparation'. Perhaps it should say 'Some basic thoughts'... The relation to the exam I just took was nowhere to be found. I think this book prep'd me for 1 or 2 questions out of 64. I'm totally disgusted. CiscoPress has lost all credibility in my mind. This book is a discrace.
Summary: Good resource for passing CIT exam
To summarize, this book is focused on troubleshooting methodology. It goes over procedures, guidelines, and methods. It is not intended as a specific blow by blow review of troubleshooting technology - you are assumed to already have this information through studying and job experience. The author is straightforward in his writing and does a good job of boiling down the information, and physically it is considerably thinner than the other study guides.
Unlike every other Cisco Press book I've read for the CCNP exam, this book is not plagued with editing errors. Finally.
The included CDROM is adequate, but there are at least three very obvious errors I counted.
There really isn't anything wrong with this book, but I gave it four stars instead of five because sometimes it wasn't as clear as it could have been (solving a problem in the Gathering Symptoms stage? I thought that happened at the Correct the Problem stage). Another reviewer thought Chapter 13, which covers scenarios, was valuable but I didn't get much use from it as it was basically rote repetition of earlier chapters with no additional detail.
I am assuming that people are buying this book to pass an exam, so the rest of my review focuses on how the book relates to it.
Essentially it covers all the areas Cisco outlines for the exam. If you know the material in this book, you should be able to pass. There are certainly exam questions that were not in the book, but solidly being able to answer book covered questions will keep you from failing. As with every Cisco test, you will be asked a few questions that are not in the book. Cisco makes it a point to make their certifications more rigorous than simply memorizing a slew of chapters without having to think.
If you are seeking certification, take this test last as the author assumes you have taken the other certifications already. You will appreciate that the preparation length for this book is much shorter than the others. I read the entire book, took notes, and prepared for a Monday exam over the preceding Saturday and Sunday. Any other test would have taken me weeks of preparation.
I am now a CCNP! Warm wishes and good luck!
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