CCDA: Cisco Certified Design Associate Study Guide, 2nd Edition (640-861)

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Summary: MBECKHAM, Ashburn, VA. CCNA/CCDA - Excellent Book!
Review: I passed the CCDA two weeks ago on first try. It was challenging. You must know the information and be able to apply it to the case studies. Plain and simple If you don't know it you won't pass. I'm not a fan necessarily of Todd Lammle, but of good study guides. Regardless of who publishes them. Todd lays it out for you. You have to go get it! This is an excellent book. This was my main source, but I also used CISCO, A beginners guide, MASONTECH web site and the CISCO web site. I'm not just looking for some quickie cert, but build a solid foundation in order o become a great CCIE. Be a student of CISCO, don't look for some quick fix. There aren't any! Use all of your resources for exam preparation and you will do fine.

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Summary: Most of book is taken straight from CCNA book
Review: This book did not cover even 10% of the exam I took. It might work fine for the old version of the exam, but not for the new version of the CCDA exam(started a week ago). Things like ATM devices to use in certain situations, gigabit ethernet, ISDN specifics not covered and LANE and it's components were not covered near enough to consider this book of any use towards the exam. Use the Cisco book and look up these topics on their website for better preparation. Also, there were a large number of technical mistakes in the book! By the way, DS0 stands for Digital Signal 0 not Digital Stream and the private ip address ranges start with 10., 172., and '192.', not 198.

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Summary: In Depth, but needed?
Review: I studied this book beginning about a month out from my CCDA test. It goes IN DEPTH, but it's organized very well in my opinion. DO THE CASE STUDIES. You've got to be able to apply this knowledge, because the test won't ask you directly about split horizon explicitly, but it is assumed you will be able to apply what you've learned out of this book. You may not see a lot of the things from this book on the test, but you need to learn 'em anyway. No paper certs for me! This book will be with me throughout my career. Well done.

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Summary: Know this book and you will pass the test!
Review: If you take your time and read this book completely you will pass the exam. This was my first Cisco exam and this book was the only resource I used to pass the test. There was only few items that were surprises on the exam. You must not only read this book, but understand the concepts and theories...because this exam is no joke!

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Summary: Why buy anything else
Review: Bought this on the advice posted below, and I can't say I'm disappointed. Studied this book for about 3 weeks and passed this afternoon with a wide margin. However, spend some time on the Cisco web site covering this books (few) deficiencies, ie, X.25, ISDN, Product Quick Reference Guide.

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Summary: The Latest News on the Test - 27th Jan
Review: I have just finished doing the test 3hrs ago. All I studied was the book, nothing else. However I would say that it is of course not possible to pass the exam without prior experience of networking. As for the book having "all you need to pass," well it is all I studied and I passed but be prepared for a very tricky exam - it is easily more difficult than any MCP. One more thing. I was given 150 mins not 90 mins as the book said I would.

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Summary: This book prepares you fully for the current CCDA exam.
Review: Don Porter and myself did not skip anything when working on this book together. However, you must understand that this is a difficult exam. If you skim the book, you wil probably fail the exam. If you really read this book and go through every practice exam question, then you will pass. Don and I have taken the exam dozens of times each to make sure that we have not missed any subjects, and I assure you, we have not. The best way to prepare for this exam is to first pass the CCNA exam. If you can also take the ACRC exam, you'll be better off. Why? Because the exam covers material from the CCNA and ACRC courseware. Study hard, practice on routers if possible, and pass. Everything you need to learn about to pass the current CCDA exam is in this book. Read, study and pass!

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Summary: This book helped.
Review: This book is a good source of additional practice questions on design scenarios. Try to review it with Cisco's DCN kit if you can have one. Having both reviewers and good study discipline should prepare you. A CCNA belt and exposure to real life network designs would make your review a bit simpler.

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Summary: Very good book to get a passing score.
Review: I just passed the CCDA exam about 1 hour ago with an 802. This book covers all that is needed for the exam, but you MUST pay attention while you are reading it. I was a little shocked to notice fill in the blanks on this exam covering ALL aspects of ALL protocols. Digest this book and you will do fine on the test.

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Summary: Worth the money
Review: I used this book alone to study for the CCDA test. The material covered in the book is very comprehensive and allowed me to easily pass the exam. There were some areas where the book only briefly discussed a topic, and yet the exam had several questions about it. As you read the book, pay attention to all of the details (e.g., terminology, acronyms), as you will be tested on everything.