CCNA for Dummies [With CDROM]

As with all the 'For Dummies' books, this book is an excellent place to start. It's fast to read, and by the time you finish you will have a good overall view of the subject. In this case that particularly includes the vocabulary. In fact knowing the jargon, as per Cisco is about half the battle in passing the test. The other half of the battle is knowing how all this stuff hangs together. I'd suggest that you read this one go through the test on the CD-ROM, and then study one of the harder books -- my own suggestion is the 'official' guide from Cisco. The reason for doing it this way is that I find the Cisco books a bit more difficult to use when trying to get an overview of the subject. They get down into the details too quickly and I get lost too quickly. Read 'For Dummies' to get the overview, then the other.

Make sure you have the new edition of this book that covers Exams #640-801/811/821. As a starter book for CCNA it breaks you in with an very good overall picture and its a quick good final read also. Cisco Press or Sybex have "the meat" in much longer and involved texts which you will need unless you are doing a course. Dummies books are never to be underestimated. Recommended.

By far the most helpful resource in getting my CCNA. This book covers everything on the CCNA, a little more condensed than Wendell's book, (by the Cisco Press) but I believe Wendell's book hit every imaginable topic while Mr. Glister's hit only the relevent topics for the test.For [the priceyou will not make a mistake using this as a resource.

By far one of the best study materials for the exam. I bought several books, Cisco: A beginners Guide. CCNA From the Cisco Press CCNA By Todd Lammle (sybex) and This one. Ron Gilster has once again demonstrated the ability to make we want to read his book, I never felt imtimidated or like I was being flooded, yet it has half the pages of the other books! I read the top listed ones, bought some practice tests, and realized I was missing some stuff, I then purchased the dummies book, and found all the information I had been missing. I passed the test shortly afterwards.

Passed CCNA exam first time (897/1000) with a lot of help from this book. The first few chapters on OSI model and subnetting were very useful. But the best part was the test exams on CD. From the self-assessment, I found out what areas I was weak on. More information is needed for switches, WANs and access lists.