Rating: 
Summary: CCDA: Cisco Certified Design Associate Study Guide, 2nd Edit
Review: I used Todd's CCNA study guide to pass the CCNA test and found it excellent. This one however is sorely lacking (for 640-861). Many topics covered are not required and more importantly others are missing completely or not covered sufficiently. You would be better off with the recently released Cisco Press self study quide.
Rating: 
Summary: I don't get it
Review: I think most people here are putting down the First Edition of this book. Most reviews I have read were submitted before this book was even published (July 2003). I think people need to be more responsible in what item they are reviewing and make sure you are looking at the correct item. Having just finished my CCNP with a combo of Cisco Press and Sybex, I will be using the second edition of Todd's book to take the CCDA exam next month. Kevin Kincaid
aka Amazon since 98
Rating: 
Summary: Know what exam you're taking!
Review: If we would all check the Cisco website before we take an exam we would be able to ensure that the book we are using does in fact match the exam. The new CCDA exam is 640-861. The new book for this exam was only released today. The book the previous reviewer used to study was probably for the old CCDA exam which is 640-441. Always check to make sure you know what you're taking and studying. New exams sometimes come out before the new book. The new CCDA exam came out sometime in early March. This would allow for more accurate reviews as well.
Rating: 
Summary: Lacks several areas
Review: This book is surprisingly not the same quality as the CCNA/NP books. It definitely does not cover all areas of the CCDA exam. I actually failed the exam because several subjects were not even covered in the book. The review questions are poorly written and the test on the CD contains wrong answers.
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Summary: And they Published this thing?
Review: I was throughly not impressed with this book, i already have the ccna book which was far more helpful than this waste of paper, this book had one section that actualy covered topics on the exam, but it fell short, real short of actualy covering any of the information on the exam, i studied using this book as well as my ccna book as well as online study materials, if you want to pass this exam and actualy have a knowledge of ccda, use the cisco press books far more informative and you will actualy learn how to design customer networks. I passed my ccda exam with a 854 and this book was absolutly NO help at all. This book was definatly no where near the quality of the ccna book by Lammle, very disapointing, to say the least.....if you are looking for ccda books this definatly does not fit the bill.
Rating:
Summary: Frustrating
Review: Unfortunately I have found this book little frustrating after the perfect CCNA book and great CCNP series form Lammle. The book seem to be prapared in hurry just to have a CCDA volume and complete the series. The book has mainly two design related chapters, the rest is the summary of CCNA,CCNP material. So I would simply be 50-60 pages instead of 500. Also it was sad to see that, chapter questions are repeated in full in the aswers section while answer explanations are missing (just seems like an effort to increase page count), and a huge glossary. So 1/3 of the book is useless. CD, similarly, quite different from other books in this series, only chapter questions replicated on the CD without Practice or Bonus section, no PDF version available on the CD. Beyond all this observation, to be honest, the book is definitely sufficient to pass the exam if supported on the job experience and some surfing on CCO website. The problem is that, most Lammle books could be used as a perfect reference after the exam, this one is an exception.
Rating:
Summary: CCDA Review
Review: I used this book to pass my CCDA exam. I studied from several books, including books from Cisco, and have found this book to have the most comprehensive coverage of topics presented in an easy to understand manner. The test questions at the end of each chapter were also quite indicative of the actual exam questions.
I would highly recommend this book to a CCDA candidate.
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Summary: THANKS AGAIN MR LAMMLE!!!
Review: I just passed the CCDA exam, I used this book as my only source of information, I studied with it for two months, and passed on first try!! so I can tell you this book does cover the test scope. I passed the CCNA test on first try as well, and using Lammle's book too.
Rating:
Summary: Terrible book, not worth the money!
Review: I am a big fan of Todd Lammle, I used his books exclusively to get my CCNA. This book, however, falls short. It does not cover the exam materials very well at all. In fact, it does not cover MAJOR areas of the exam. Anyone who reads this book and passes the test is LUCKY. My friend bought this book, read it and failed the test! (and this friend is no dummy)... I borrowed and read this book cover-to-cover and was doing terrible on the test simulators (Boson). I went out and purchased the Cisco Press "CCDA Exam Certification Guide, (ISBN# 0735700745)" and read IT cover to cover. Immediately, the questions on the simulators started making sense. I then took the test and passed with flying colors. I gave the Cisco book to my friend who read it and passed the exam. We both agree that having read both books, this one was a complete waste of time. Best of luck to you,
Joel Helgeson
CCNA, CCDA, CQS, MCSE +I, Network+ & A+
Rating: 
Summary: Easy to read, but not complete materials
Review: I just passed CCDA with my first try (score 902). I like the cases in this book. Definitely be familiar with them. I got almost idenfical case in the exam (of course, different questions). But this book will not prepare you fully for this exam if you are new to network, like me. I also read CCDA book from Cisco press (by Kim). Another suggestion is getting your CCNA first. I read Todd Lammle's CCNA book (that one is good) before, and found out that half of the CCDA book are exactly the same as the CCNA one(even the jokes are the same). So if you already have the CCNA book from Lammle, please don't buy this one. Buy the Cisco one.
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