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As with most other books in the Exam Cram series, this one is definitely not an introductory, or even a mid-level, book. What the series attempts to do is give a very concise collection of all of the facts that you'll need to remember to pass the test, which becomes far trickier when going into the CCIE; a large portion of the exam questions deal with elaborate and complex scenarios that are near impossible to "cram" into someone's brain at the last moment.
Read our lips: If you're not at least 80% prepared already, this book won't help you. And a lot of the experience that you'd need to pass the CCIE won't come from any book--only hands-on work and extensive real-world preparation will help you.
But, if you're close, and looking to clarify all of those skulking confusions that lurk in every test-taker's mind, this book will get you over the hump. In short, this is the most concise edition of line-level networking protocol information that you could have.
The book is organized in a mostly linear fashion, moving from basic networking theory and going all the way to WAN technologies and security configuration. The writing is extremely dense, but concise (a hallmark of the series), and walks you through the various protocols and configuration information very clearly, sometimes going bit-by-bit through how information gets put on the wire. The reasons behind some of the decisions that are used to decide between two competing protocols--like, say, RIP and EIGRP--are covered briefly.
The CCIE Exam Cram even seems to know that it's too small a book to provide the lowdown on complex interactions; most of the time, it even doesn't pretend that these topics will come up by themselves as a question--if Exam Alerts and Tips is anything to judge by, anyway. It seems to be aimed towards providing you with a gut-level knowledge that'll give you the tools to differentiate between two close calls and troubleshooting the source of some seemingly bizarre conflict; in that, it does a fine job. Intense amounts of information are given here for you to memorize, all of which is critical for the grueling CCIE exam. Nothing can substitute for experience, but the information that's provided here might give you the critical edge that you need. Using this as your last-minute refresher after poring over all of the Cisco official guides and lab exercises would be a good idea, too.
The sample questions tend to be fairly easy, giving readers a choice between simple configuration questions and questions on what protocol is suited for a particular task; not heavyweights, by any measure, but helpful in reinforcing knowledge.
In short, as a final run-through before you actually step into the lab, this book is unparalleled. But, if you haven't done your homework, prepare to be walloped. --William Steinmetz
