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Introduction: Overview of
Certification and How to Succeed

Professional certifications have been an important part of the computing industry for many years and will
continue to become more important. Many reasons exist for these certifications, but the most popularly cited
reason is that of credibility. All other considerations held equal, the certified employee/consultant/job candi-
date is considered more valuable than one who is not.

Objectives and Methods

The most important and somewhat obvious objective of this book is to help you pass the CCNA exam
(640-507). In fact, if the primary objective of this book was different, then the book's title would be mis-
leading; however, the methods used in this book to help you pass the CCNA exam are designed to also make
you much more knowledgeable about how to do your job. While this book and the accompanying CD
together have more than 500 questions, the method in which they are used is not to simply make you mem-
orize as many questions and answers as you possibly can.

One key methodology used in this book is to help you discover the exam topics about which you need more
review, to help you fully understand and remember those details, and to help you prove to yourself that you
have retained your knowledge of those topics. So, this book does not try to help you pass by memorization,
but by helping you truly learn and understand the topics. The CCNA exam is the foundation for many of the
Cisco professional certifications, and it would be a disservice to you if this guide did not help you truly learn
the material. So, this book will help you pass the CCNA exam by using the following methods:

· Helping you discover which test topics you have not mastered

· Providing explanations and information to fill in your knowledge gaps

· Supplying exercises and scenarios that enhance your ability to recall and deduce the answers to test

questions

· Providing practice exercises on the topics and the testing process via test questions on the CD

Who Should Read This Book?

This book is not designed to be a general networking topics book, although it can be used for that purpose.
This book is intended to tremendously increase your chances of passing the CCNA exam. Although other
objectives can be achieved from using this book, the book is written with one goal in mind: to help you pass
the exam.

So why should you want to pass the CCNA exam? To get a raise. To show your manager you are working
hard to increase your skills. To fulfill a requirement from your manager before he will spend money on
another course. To enhance your résumé. To please your reseller-employer, who needs more certified
employees for a higher discount from Cisco. To prove that you know the topic, if you learned via on-the-job
training (OJT) rather than from taking the prerequisite classes. Or, one of many other reasons.

Others who might want to use this book are those considering skipping Cisco's Interconnecting Cisco Net-
work Devices (ICND) course to take Cisco's Building Scalable Cisco Networks (BSCN) or Building Cisco

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