Plain and simple, some of the question are outdated. I hate having to go through unneccessary questions to study for this exam. It's bad enough that there is a ton of material that I need to know.

I used this along with Wendell Odom's CCNA Cert Library (for exam 640-801) and Boson's Netsim to pass the CCNA exam on the first try. This is worth the money as a useful tool to help you drill, but is a little bit dated (lots of questions about Cisco 1950 switches which are no longer on the exam) and is annoyingly produced - not all the tear-out flash card or study pages are actually perforated.

So I found it annoying and dated, but I also found it a really useful study tool. It definitely helped and was a time saver - I still made a couple dozen of my own flash cards but was thankful that I didn't need to make hundreds. And my self-study plan with the above materials was about $2000 less than a good class.

As I wrote in my review of the CCNA Cert Library the only real weakness I felt in my knowledge after having taken the exam was with troubleshooting. It is key that you know what show and debug commands to use and where to look for information about problems with routing configuration across multiple routers. And that you can do this quickly. Still that is not what these flash cards are meant to help with; and for the details of terms, definitions and such they are really useful.

I purchased this pack primarily so that I could load the flash cards onto my PocketPC (Dell Axim) and study "on the run". Despite the claim that it would work with "Most Pocket PC handheld devices", it really doesn't. This claim may have been true in late 2002 when the content was developed but it certainly does not work right with the 2003 PocketPC OS. It requires the eMbedded Visual Basic Runtime which isn't supported on the latest revision of the OS. My personal experience was that once I loaded it up I had to hard-reset my Axim to get anything to work right.

Be advised.

I'm giving this kit 2 out of 5 stars simply because these type of "child's play" questions constitute, at max, about 40% of the exam. There are two key topics this book virtually ignores that are vital to the CCNA test...Subnetting and Troubleshooting IP Routing Protocols. One must know class B and C subnets and their addressing schemes inside and out. You must be able to troubleshoot connectivity issues for a few routers that are running one of the following...RIP, IGRP, EIGRP or OSPF. Also, the chapters on Frame Relay and IP Access Lists lack depth. All in all this is a good book but the way it is marketed one could easily be misled.

The CCNA Flash Card and Exam Practice Pack is just what it's advertised as -- a late-phase add on to ensure all the nitty gritty details necessary for the CCNA are locked into your anxiety-filled mind come test day. While the flash card style is handy for quickly flipping through the information, there is a large amount of information in this book not covered in the CCNA objectives. As someone who took the 801 exam, I can't speak on the usefulness of having a separate INTRO and ICND section in the book... you'll have to determine that for yourself. Simulations on the CD were simplistic, but you can create a practice exam of just simulation questions, allowing you to become very familiar with maneuvering a router and switch, ensuring you have the basics down before you get hit with the real sims. As a late stage supplement to Lammle's Sybex book and CertSim simulations, this book is decent, but nowhere near a primary study guide or proper exam simulation tool.