CCNA books are an excellent choice when you want to study for the CCNA on your own or just as a supplementary material to the CCNA classroom-based course you might be taking. There are so many books in the market today that you might be confused as to what to buy. Here is a checklist which you can use as a reference to choose the right CCNA book:
1. Exam number - The exam number on the book should be the same as the exam you are going to take, which would be the ICND1, ICND2 or CCNA exam. Check on the Cisco website for the exam code and verify that the book is written for the current version of the exam. Cisco revises the exam and puts out new versions approximately every 1-2 years. New and revised material and objectives are introduced for every exam. You don't want to be stuck with outdated material.
2. Certification of authors - The best CCNA books are written by CCIE certified individuals with years of experience. You should also check the technical qualifications of the co-authors or other technical reviewers.
3. Publisher - The official publisher for Cisco Systems certification material is Cisco Press. These follow strictly to the official published Cisco guidelines for CCNA books. It would be a good idea to have at least 1-2 books from Cisco Press for your exam. Sybex also publishes good CCNA books which a well-known one from Todd Lammle.
4. Exam samples - Check to see if there are any exam samples included in the book. You will definitely need this to get some extra confidence before you go for the exam.
5. Electronic copy of book - If you don't want to bring the whole CCNA book around, an electronic copy is very useful so you can just print the chapters you need.
6. Video training - If the book has included videos to help illustrate more difficult points, this is an added plus. Videos sometimes can teach what a static book cannot, for example, on the more confusing topics such as subnetting.
7. Price - Most of the Cisco Press CCNA books come in a hardcover version only and thus are more expensive. If price is a concern, the books from Sybex and other publishers are usually cheaper because they come in a softcover CCNA book. Be sure to check the above points first. Price should not be such a determining factor as you want to have a good solid foundation to take the exam.
More Information:
I hope this article has been useful. Visit us at SavvyNetCert.Com to find out more about how to buy
CCNA video training and what to look out for when choosing
CCNA books.