Using the Old Books to Study for the New Exams

 In 200-301 V1 CCC No Category on Purpose, News, Study Tips

The choice to move up to the new and improved Cisco exams for #CCENT and #CCNA seems to be a great option. However, you may have already spent all the $$ in your study budget on materials for the old exam. While many people will want to move away from those truly old exams, the budget may not allow all new study materials. This post discusses some options, along with a reading plan for using the old Cisco Press Cert Guides to study for the new exams.

When to Use the Details Listed in this Post, and When to Ignore them

Before going another step, to keep you from starting down the wrong path, let me be perfectly clear on the purpose of the details in this post. You have the books for the old exams. You want to study for the new exams.

If that’s not you… never mind! But if that is you, and you really want to move up to the new exams, using the old books as much as possible, read on!

Strategy to Learn the New Topics on the New Exams

The old books, for the exams that begin with “640”, do not cover all the topics in the new exams. (See several blog posts in this blog for more details on what has changed.)

The best option to prepare for the new exams is of course to get a copy of the new books, and use only those books. The new books have removed topics, added new topics, gone through a major re-write, with all router examples based on 15.2 IOS.

However, I’m not writing this post to just say, “Buy the new books”. You may not want to spend the $$ for the new books. Or, maybe you would rather finish reading the old, since you have already read a lot, and fill in the holes of knowledge about new topics in the new exam. This post can help you fill in the holes, whether by using the new books, or doing searches at cisco.com for all the new topics.

Undecided? Register your existing books at ciscopress.com. Click yes to receive their marketing messages. They will likely put the eBook versions of the new books on sale from time to time during this transition period. Food for thought.

The rest of this post assumes you will use the old books as the primary reading source for the new exams, and you will then look elsewhere to learn the new topics. That elsewhere will either be online or from the new Cisco Press books.

Quick Reference: the Old Books

Just to throw another slant on the discussion, it turns out that there are two editions of the ICND1 Official Cert Guide, and two editions of the ICND2 Official Cert Guide, that apply to the old 640 series exams. To know which you have, look in the front to the copyright date, and find the edition number as follows:

  • Edition 2: Copyright 2008; title includes “Second Edition”
  • Edition 3: Copyright 2012; title includes “Third Edition”

The 2nd and 3rd editions of both the ICND1 Official Cert Guide and the ICND2 Official Cert Guide have different chapter numbers for different topics. So, the details listed in the upcoming tables are different depending on the edition you have in hand.

Interpreting the Reading Plans

The rest of the post links to six different PDFs. Each gives a reading plan depending on the books you are using (2nd or 3rd edition), and whether you are studying for the ICND1 100-101, ICND2 200-101, or CCNA 200-120 exam.

Note that the reading plan breaks down the topics by chapter. I am not attempting to be more granular than per-chapter reading. For instance, the old edition 3 covers RIP in chapter 20, as well as static and connected routes. RIP is not in the new exams. However, because you still need to know about static and connected routes, the reading plan tells you to read chapter 20. Why? These plans don’t detail the specific headings, but just which chapters apply.

Here’s a sample image from one of the reading plans. The links below the figure link to the six PDFs.

 

Old Edition 3, Studying for ICND1 100-101 Exam

Old Edition 3, Studying for ICND2 200-101 Exam

Old Edition 3, Studying for CCNA 200-120 Exam

Old Edition 2, Studying for ICND1 100-101 Exam

Old Edition 2, Studying for ICND2 200-101 Exam

Old Edition 2, Studying for CCNA 200-120 Exam

 

 

 

 

 

Cisco Moved My Cheese #3: Sticking w/ Cisco, Just NOT R/S
Sim Options for the New Exams
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Shahin

Good morning Wendell,

Before anything, let me take the opportunity and just say this that you have done a great job as to informing the community in regard to the sudden shift of tides for new CCNA & CCENT exams. I am just starting my career down the Cisco path and recently had a chance to purchase the 3rd edition “Cert library, Simulator edition”. I am contemplating to return this and wait a month to get my hands on the new edition which covers the outline for new exams. Your posting today shaded some light as to the options I have in order to use my existing library (and not returning them) and study for a new test. My concerns are the simulator and the old exercises (and the new ones) that covers or needs to cover. Realizing that the new Cisco press simulator is not going to come out until November 2013 then (a) Does the new lite simulator accompanying with your 4th edition covers ALL the exercise objectives for new ICND 1 &2? (b) Since the older simulator is based on IOS 12.x vs. new one which will incorporate new commands covering IOS 15.x, how relevant is the old sim for studying for new tests? And (c) What other options (short of getting hands on the real hardware) are or will be available until November time frame? Thanks and god blesses you 😉

Jean-Pierre

Hi Wendel,
Thanks a lot for the time you are spending to help us save on books. It is quite rare to see an author doing this.
My question is to know if you can assure us that we can pass the exam using your ICND1 Version 2 Ebook, bearing in mind that I have your 3rd edition bundle?
I am asking you this because I find it too far to wait for the November simulator.
God bless.
Jean-Pierre

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