From: Tim Last (packtmon@yahoo.com)
Date: Fri May 21 2004 - 16:55:55 GMT-3
Danny,
I tend to agree with you as far as usually getting what you pay for. However, in this case, I think that common adage isn't true.
I don't have first hand experience with the NMC workbook but about a month ago, when I was considering which workbook to get, I spoke to a buddy of mine (who is now a ccie after about 5 attempts) and asked him about the NMC workbook which he had purchased.
(BTW, I had bought the IPExpert workbook and wasn't happy with that for several reasons. They were full of mistakes, they didn't include a Solution Guide, and their support was almost non-existent)
He told me he was disappointed with the NMC workbook for 2 primary reasons:
a) They had far too many mistakes and compared to the real lab
b) They seemed to have an unrealistic focus on weird and convoluted redistribution problems.
So, I got the IE workbook and it's fantastic. Based on my own experience taking the real lab, IE's practice labs are very comparable in the level of difficulty of the real lab and the type of problems one can expect to see, Their Solution Guide is a work of ART, and there are very few errors of any sort. So far, I've only come across a few minor typo's but nothing that like the errors that were in the IPExpert workbook which had busloads of logic errors.
In addition, IE's support site actually provides support. If you take a look at it, you'll see how often Brian McGahan (and sometimes Brian Dennis) has responded to questions with answers that actually answer people's questions.
Then, if you consider how much you'll learn compared to how much you have to invest, $200, I think it's the best deal available today by far.
Again, I can't say anything about NMC from personal experience, but having suffered through the lack of support from IPExpert and the huge volumes of errors in their workbook, I can tell you, those 2 problems combined make for a horrorable experience. Remember that when someone is trying to figure stuff out and trying to master this technology, when there's a logic problem, it's hard as hell to know, at first, if the problem is a result of not understanding the technology or how the commands actually work or because there are inconsistancies between the task you're trying to do and the solution.
Then, if you add the fact that IPExpert doesn't provide decent support, the result is that you end up wasting huge amounts of time and not learning the material and understanding what the networking problems are and what you need to do to solve them.
Anyway, that's my 2 cents worth.
Tim
"Andaluz, Danilo" <danny.andaluz@hp.com> wrote:
Tim,
Without giving us a value as far as what so many dollars to spend means, I answered based on what I thought was the best book. I have seen some of Internetwork Experts book and I think its pretty good, but I like NMCs book a little more. Their book cost more, but they also add more to support their users. Let me also say that I am not affiliated with NMC at all, just a customer.
I tend to believe that you get what you pay for.
Just my opinion.
Danny
---------------------------------
From: Tim Last [mailto:packtmon@yahoo.com]
Sent: Friday, May 21, 2004 1:13 PM
To: Andaluz, Danilo; Patrick Torney; ccielab@groupstudy.com
Subject: RE: which workbook?
Hey Danny,
Have you seen the IE workbook and Solution Guide? It's just $200
"Andaluz, Danilo" <danny.andaluz@hp.com> wrote:
I used NMC. I thought they were the best.
Danny
-----Original Message-----
From: nobody@groupstudy.com [mailto:nobody@groupstudy.com] On Behalf Of
Patrick Torney
Sent: Friday, May 21, 2004 12:34 PM
To: ccielab@groupstudy.com
Subject: which workbook?
Hi all:
I'd like to get the current pulse of the community on which workbook is
the
best? I've heard some good things about ipexpert v6 but that it also has
issues while I'm hearing glowing things about netmaster's "do it"
workbook?
What about Internetwork Expert vs. these?
Help!!! I've only got so many $$$ to spend and want them to count. Any
advice
would be most appreciated.
Thanks.
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