CCNP Routing Exam Cram (Exam: 640-503)

• Exam Crams are not primary sources of reference by which to study.
• Exam Crams are not a place to start if this topic is new to you.
• Exam Crams are supposed to be refreshers; ideally, they're the heavily highlighted and dog-eared book that you bring into the exam waiting room to study while you await your turn to take the test.

There! Now that we've said that and feel better, let's ask the question: Does this particular Exam Cram serve as a good last-minute cram book?

The answer: Mostly. It's full of good, high-level overviews, explains most concepts well, and in general will serve quite nicely for anyone who's "got it" mostly, but needs that critical push to get over the hump. Unfortunately, the test questions are astonishingly weak for what normally is a series that sports some of the toughest questions around; the book offers little advice in the way of troubleshooting; and the explanation of one of the more commonly confused and commonly tested topics--BGP and EGP--is lacking.

First, let's go over the good news. The CCNP Routing Exam Cram sports some of the snappiest writing ever to grace an Exam Cram book--which is good, because routing concepts are tricky little devils that you just can't memorize. You need to internalize how each of the various protocols works, and not just snarf down some list of functions. The explanations for the reason that each protocol (RIP, OSPF, EIGRP, BGP) was developed and how it's implemented are well written and concise. The occasional spot illustration helps flesh out your knowledge of how routers share information under each protocol. If you've been a trifle unclear on what the precise differences are between the various routing approaches, this is where all will be revealed. Later sections of the book deal with traffic management and routing updates, and do it well, mixing a bit of real-world experience with lectures to give a well-rounded approach. Sadly, information on actual router configuration is fairly spotty, so probably you'll want to write down some additional cheat sheets for the actual configuration commands.

The bad news is twofold. First of all, the sample test questions are among the easiest we've ever encountered. Most of them can be answered correctly after merely skimming a chapter (and we tried this, just to make sure), or doped out from the context. If you're the sort of person who passes certification quizzes by taking sample exams over and over again, as many do, you're bound to be disappointed. Between that and a distinct lack of "Exam Alerts" to tell you what to watch out for, you might wind up wondering exactly what the core topics are that you absolutely must have down cold to pass.

The second problem is more serious. One of the more hotly tested topics, the Border Gateway Protocol (BGP), is graced with a fairly confusing presentation. While it's possible to understand what the Exam Cram has to say about BGP after a couple of rereadings, the three BGP chapters lack the smartness and clarity of the rest of this book, which leads to needless confusion on the reader's end. Admittedly, BGP is a fairly hard subject for many CCNP candidates to comprehend, but that only compounds the problem; if BGP is the final hurdle that you must cross to get that passing exam score, the Cram could fail you as a last-minute refresher.

With these two drawbacks in mind, this is otherwise a fine book that does an excellent job of clearing away the mist of confusion that surrounds many routing concepts. And, at $29.99 (cheap by Cisco certification standards), it's a worthwhile addition to your library. --William Steinmetz