Below are links to the resources I reference in the video.
- Boson exam simulator
- official Cisco Press books
- Ultimate router/switch configs
- landscape photo of router w/ markup (jpg)
- Ultimate Router Config (gdoc)
- Ultimate Switch Config (gdoc)
- Exam Objectives for 200-101 (pdf)
I forgot to mention in the video that the Cisco Press books also have a CDROM at the back that has videos, an Exam Simulator, and a Network Simulator. Lots of value for your $25!!! The vids are alright; I didn't really use them and you can find better/more on YouTube. The Network Sim I can't really review as I only used Packet Tracer and that is what I'd recommend.
The Exam Simulator however, I loved as the questions were hard and the explanations were decent (not as good or thorough as Boson, however). You could also easily export (copy/paste) the explanations to a document if you wanted; with Boson they've locked it down a bit more so you can't copy any of the text, but you could print it to a .pdf, then copy/paste it from there to a doc. You also got more questions in the form of the DIKTA (do I know this already) questions at the beginning of every chapter; 10 or so questions/chapter. Also, more questions from the 200-120 exam that was included. If you purchase both books (sheeze, I sound like I'm doing an advertisement for them... honestly, I'm not getting anything for this...) you get 4 CCNA exams (2/book) plus 3 ICND1 (book 1) & 3 ICND2 (book 2) exams; 10 exams total!!! That's a lot for the money!
I'd recommend:
As always, please let me know if you have any questions or comments in the comment section below.
The Exam Simulator however, I loved as the questions were hard and the explanations were decent (not as good or thorough as Boson, however). You could also easily export (copy/paste) the explanations to a document if you wanted; with Boson they've locked it down a bit more so you can't copy any of the text, but you could print it to a .pdf, then copy/paste it from there to a doc. You also got more questions in the form of the DIKTA (do I know this already) questions at the beginning of every chapter; 10 or so questions/chapter. Also, more questions from the 200-120 exam that was included. If you purchase both books (sheeze, I sound like I'm doing an advertisement for them... honestly, I'm not getting anything for this...) you get 4 CCNA exams (2/book) plus 3 ICND1 (book 1) & 3 ICND2 (book 2) exams; 10 exams total!!! That's a lot for the money!
I'd recommend:
- ICND1 Book = $ 25
- ICND2 Book = $ 25
- Boson ExSim x 2 = $200
- Packet Tracer Simulator = $ 0
- Total to get CCNA = $250
This is a way better deal than if you went to a training center (take a look at the Boson site, they charge $7000) or community college (maybe $5K). This, however doesn't take into account the value of your time, however you'd still be putting that in no matter what route you chose.
Finally, one last disclaimer, while I did create that exam objectives pdf available (with the comments) I didn't really look at it or review from it... it was the creating of it that helped me obtain and "retain" the knowledge... it forced me to go back to the book or to my configs and review the information again. I hope I'm not doing you a disservice by providing it; it should still help as long as you review it again and again and really know it... and not only know it (as in memorization), but rather "understand" it as well.
As always, please let me know if you have any questions or comments in the comment section below.
