CCNA Certification Study Guide and Practice Tests Kit: Exam 200-301

Passed CCNA on the first try using both this guide and Cisco's free packet tracer labs, but did not use his CCNA volume 1 guide. I enjoy Todd's narrative approach and his focus on incorporating subnetting into all practice materials help overcome one of the tougher subjects on the exam.However, you should know this book approaches CCNA as the first step in an IT career, not necessarily as a CCNA bootcamp. I prefer this outlook because, as many other reviewers have pointed out, there are sections where Todd says "this isn't on the exam but you need to know it professionally" which is added value, if you ask me. I also must agree with earlier reviews that this book has many grammatical errors which are distracting but are likely a result of him rushing out the current version after the 200-301 released. Assuming you also work a full-time job, I would say this book requires at least 2 months to prepare for the exam. This book won't be worth it if you can't commit the time needed to read it thoroughly and re-read chapters as needed.The accompanying practice tests go into way more detail than both the book and the exam cover. That was frustrating for me--especially since a lot of the explanations for incorrect options are simply, "X is incorrect." Just realize that if you can handle the practice questions then you are probably going to do fine on the exam. Really focus on the core concepts like how to read a routing table, how VLANs work, and troubleshooting why an interface is down based on various output snippets. In my opinion this book covers all that adequately as long as you are also using GNS3 or packet tracer to do his online labs or at least practice the CLI on your own.

These books are the best. I’m reading and getting excited all over again for IT. It’s been years for me but the information is valuable. Great purchase.

Great for a beginner

Go through the books and practice questions and you should be ready to take the test now that there are now practical's on the test.

good book all nicely packed. Love it. Thank you.

If you’re studying for the CCNA, this is will be your bible for until you take your exam. The book is filled with all the information you need to succeed on your exam. I believe in you. Like you did in me.

I bought some other books first and in the end, bought these because of the superior practice questions. Got my CCNA!

I've only gotten through the Introduction and Assessment Test so far, but it is just FULL of grammatical errors. "The Code Preview feature in can generate a simple code snippet" ? huh?Its just been so distracting that it really does get in the way of the material.In the assessment test (and answers)question 42 asks what command to do you use to lookup a module in ansible. A. is ansible-docIn the answer section of the assessment exam 42 is "C. Ansible uses the ansible-doc command to look up a module." (There are multiple other examples in just the minimal 60 question pre-assessment, but Ive not the time to list them all)My first impressions are VERY POOR. If this what the start is like, I'm sure the rest of the book is like that too. Rushed, low-quality, and full of mistakes.