Review CCDA Quick Reference Sheets: Exam 640-863 (Digital Short Cut)

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CCDA Quick Reference Sheets: Exam 640-863 (Digital Short Cut)

Author: Kevin Wallace
Format: Digital Short Cut (eBook), 70 pages
Publisher: Cisco Press, 1st Edition (May 15, 2007)
ISBN-10: 1-58705-311-X
ISBN-13: 978-1-58705-311-5

Review by James Pyles
June 25, 2007

Not only is the topic of this digital eBook high tech but so is the book itself. Not a mere PDF that you can open with Adobe Reader, this one requires that you download and install Adobe DRM. If you are a Linux person, you will be disappointed to know that you'll need a .NET Passport (a Hotmail account will do) to login at Adobe and use the DRM Activator. It's a pretty simple process and takes only a few minutes. Once done, you can purchase the Digital Short Cut version of CCDA Quick Reference Sheets, open it in Adobe Digital Editions, and you're on your way.

I suppose I'm doing this backwards since I've yet to write a review on the CCDA Official Exam Certification Guide (3rd Edition) which would be the main resource you'd use in studying for this certification. The Quick Reference Sheets is to be utilized as the last step in your study regime, right before sitting the test. In that sense, compared to the full-sized study guide, the content of the "Quick Sheets" seems pretty simple.

Don't take that the wrong way...the Digital Short Cut is only 70 pages long for a reason. The material is only there to keep the high points fresh in the mind of the test candidate. Think of it as a traditional Cisco Press book, full of laser precision facts and illuminating graphics and diagrams, only compressed down to the bare minimum of the full scale material. Of course, unless you want to print out the eBook, you'll need to be sitting at your computer to review the material.

The Quick Reference Sheets package is divided up into 8 chapters and each chapter is anywhere between four and twelve pages long. Strategic and Modular Network Design are handled in the first two chapters, followed by classic data center and campus network models. Remote Connectivity, IP Addressing, Security, Voice, and Wireless make up the remainder of the material and none of it will seem particular challenging assuming that you already know your stuff. If you don't, it's a whirlwind tour through an unknown land.

Traditional print-based publications could provide more detail and some students of the CCDA might prefer it that way, but dealing with 70 pages of material rather than two or three hundred may be all that you need. Certainly, if you've dilegently studied the "Official Exam Certification Guide" and you've spent at least some time working with Cisco hardware, IOS, and hopefully practicing network design, then this digital short cut should just be the icing on the cake. If you don't have those experiences in your background, don't try and "fake it" by just using this single resource. Put in your time and pay your dues. Do the foot work before you ever think of buying this product. When you are ready, "CCDA Quick Reference Sheets" will be the last step you'll take prior to showing up at the testing center on exam day. Good studying and good luck.