| In case you're preparing for the 642-821 certification exam for the first time, we've structured the topics in this book to build upon one another. Therefore, the topics covered in later chapters might refer to previous discussions in earlier chapters. We suggest you read this book from front to back. You won't be wasting your time because nothing we've written is a guess about an unknown exam. We've had to explain certain underlying information on such a regular basis that we've included those explanations here. Once you've read the book, you can brush up on a certain area by using the index or the table of contents to go straight to the topics and questions you want to reexamine. We've used the headings and subheadings to provide outline information about each given topic. After you've been certified, we think you'll find this book useful as a tightly focused reference and an essential foundation of IOS understanding. Chapter Formats Each Exam Cram 2 chapter follows a regular structure, along with graphical cues about especially important or useful material. The structure of a typical chapter is as follows: Opening hotlists Each chapter begins with lists of the terms you'll need to understand and the concepts you'll need to master before you can be fully conversant with the chapter's subject matter. We follow the hotlists with a few introductory paragraphs, setting the stage for the rest of the chapter. Topical coverage After the opening hotlists, each chapter covers the topics related to the chapter's subject. Exam Alerts Throughout the topical coverage section, we highlight material most likely to appear on the exam by using a special Exam Alert layout that looks like this:  | This is what an Exam Alert looks like. An Exam Alert stresses concepts, terms, software, or activities that will most likely appear in one or more certification exam questions. For that reason, we think any information offset in Exam Alert format is worthy of unusual attentiveness on your part. |
Even if material isn't flagged as an Exam Alert, all the content in this book is associated in some way with test-related material. What appears in the chapter content is critical knowledge. Notes This book is an overall examination of networking. As such, we dip into many aspects of networks. Where a body of knowledge is deeper than the scope of the book, we use notes to indicate areas of concern or specialty training.  | Cramming for an exam will get you through a test, but it won't make you a competent IT professional. Although you can memorize just the facts you need to become certified, your daily work in the field will rapidly put you in water over your head if you don't know the underlying principles of application development. |
Tips We provide tips that will help you build a better foundation of knowledge or focus your attention on an important concept that will reappear later in the book. Tips provide a helpful way to remind you of the context surrounding a particular area of a topic under discussion.  | You should also read Chapter 1, "CCNP Certification Exams," for helpful strategies for taking a test. The introduction to "Practice Exam 1" in Chapter 14 contains additional tips on how to figure out the correct response to a question and what to do if you draw a complete blank. |
Practice questions This section presents a short list of test questions related to the specific chapter topic. Each question has an explanation of both correct and incorrect answers. The practice questions highlight the areas we found to be most important on the exam. Need to Know More? Every chapter ends with a section titled "Need to Know More?" This section provides pointers to resources that we found to be helpful in offering further details on the chapter's subject matter. If you find a resource you like in this collection, use it, but don't feel compelled to use them all. We use this section to recommend resources that we have used on a regular basis, so none of the recommendations will be a waste of your time or money. These resources might go out of print or be taken down (in the case of Web sites), so we've tried to reference widely accepted resources.
The bulk of the book follows this chapter structure, but we would like to point out a few other elements : Practice Exams The practice exams, which appear in Chapters 14 and 16 (with answer keys in Chapters 15 and 17), are very close approximations of the types of questions you are likely to see on the current 642-821 exam. Answer keys These keys provide the answers to the sample tests, complete with explanations of both the correct responses and the incorrect responses. Glossary This chapter is an extensive glossary of important terms used in this book. The Cram Sheet This sheet appears as a tear-away sheet inside the front cover of this Exam Cram 2 book. It is a valuable tool that represents a collection of the most difficult-to-remember facts and numbers we think you should memorize before taking the test. Remember, you can dump this information out of your head onto a piece of paper as soon as you enter the testing room. These items are usually facts that we've found require brute-force memorization. You only need to remember this information long enough to write it down when you walk into the test room. Be advised that you will be asked to surrender all personal belongings before you enter the exam room itself. You might want to look at the Cram Sheet in your car or in the lobby of the testing center just before you walk into the testing center. The Cram Sheet is divided under headings, so you can review the appropriate parts just before each test. The CD The CD includes many helpful code samples that demonstrate all the topics on the exam. If you work through the samples on the CD, you'll understand the techniques that you're likely to be tested on. The CD also contains the PrepLogic Practice Exams, Preview Edition exam-simulation software. The Preview Edition exhibits most of the full functionality of the Premium Edition but offers only enough questions for one practice exam. To get the complete set of practice questions and exam functionality, visit http://www.preplogic.com.
Code and Commands The limitations of printed pages, many times, required us to write output with smaller margins than you might see in practice. In some cases, the margins forced us to introduce line continuations into output that's automatically generated by a Cisco device, even though you won't see those continuations when you recreate the output on your own device. Contacting the Author We've tried to create a real-world tool that you can use to prepare for and pass the 642-821 BCRAN certification exam. We're interested in any feedback you would care to share about the book, especially if you have ideas about how we can improve it for future test-takers. We'll consider everything you say carefully and respond to all reasonable suggestions and comments. You can reach us via email through the publisher at feedback@quepublishing.com. Let us know whether you found this book to be helpful in your preparation efforts. We'd also like to know how you felt about your chances of passing the exam before you read the book and then after you read the book. Of course, we'd love to hear that you passed the exam and even if you just want to share your triumph, we'd be happy to hear from you. Thanks for choosing us as your personal trainers, and enjoy the book. We would wish you luck on the exam, but we know that if you read through all the chapters and work with the product, you won't need luck; you'll pass the test on the strength of real knowledge! |
