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Recently went to the CWNP 802.11n roadshow in Fort Lauderdale and received a complementary copy of the second edition CWNA book.

I???¡é?¡é?????¡é???¡ém in the same boat as you with respect to the changes. I Read over the first edition many, many times whilst recovering from spinal injuries. Could almost quote each page !! Felt really comfortable with the questions and was just waiting so that I can physically sit through the exam without getting up, then suddenly, all this new material.

Decided that I would have to see if there was an efficient method of studying just the additions.

STEP 1

After a bit of poking around, I came across this document:
http://www.cwnp.com/exams/pw0104_differences.pdf

It illustrates the differences between the two exams, nicely highlighted in yellow.

I have printed this out and it used it as a reference.

This has formed my starting point.

It does not say ???¡é?¡é?????¡­?¡°this new material can be found on pages 112, 137, 234 etc., but we can overcome that.

STEP 2

Next thing: excluding the two extra chapters, how much time will I have to spend learning the new material ? Even though there is a fair amount of new material, it???¡é?¡é?????¡é???¡és manageable. The one thing I do NOT want to do is to read the whole book from cover to cover.Using the reference guide, and having both books open on a counter top to the same Contents page, I make a note of any obvious differences.

For example, let???¡é?¡é?????¡é???¡és take chapter 5 [ IEEE 802.11 Standards ]. Comparing the contents, I can see some small differences first. For example, in the new edition, there are references to 802.11 y,z and aa. Straight away, I head to those sections and read them. Once I have read and understood them, I have to check to see if there are any other changes which have not been mentioned in the Table Of Contents. Keeping the two books on a counter top, I turn each one to the first page and ???¡é?¡é?????¡­?¡°skim???¡é?¡é????????. You may have to learn this technique. I involves standing back from both and ???¡é?¡é?????¡­?¡°scanning your eyes???¡é?¡é???????? over both pages to ???¡é?¡é?????¡­?¡°catch???¡é?¡é???????? any differences. Once you learn how to do this, it can be very effective. Use a clear plastic ruler to ???¡é?¡é?????¡­?¡°hold???¡é?¡é???????? the pages down. I do one to two chapters each day in this way, and have given myself the goal of getting through the chapters in two weeks. Once this has been done, go to the questions at the end of the chapter, and using the same ???¡é?¡é?????¡­?¡°skimming method???¡é?¡é????????, mark any questions that are different between the two editions.

Next go to the questions section on the CD and have them up on your screen all day long. Scroll through to find the questions you haven???¡é?¡é?????¡é???¡ét answered before and work on them all day long whenever you have the chance. Do them again and again.

STEP 3

Two new chapters. Some time ago I found the two new chapters [ POE and 802.11n ] on this website and printed them out and read them. If you go to ???¡é?¡é?????¡­?¡°My Account???¡é?¡é????????, you should see them under 2009 CWNA Study Guide Updates.

STEP 4

As you are doing the above mentioned steps, go to the Exam Changes document [ given in the link above ] and mark page or chapter numbers. For example, Under ???¡é?¡é?????¡­?¡°Radio Frequency [RF] Technologies 1.3 RF Signal and Antenna Concepts you will see highlighted ???¡é?¡é?????¡­?¡°MIMO Diversity???¡é?¡é???????? and ???¡é?¡é?????¡­?¡°Radio Chains???¡é?¡é????????. These come from Chapter 18 [ High Throughput and 802.11n ]. Mark the chapter number [ and page number if you can ] beside the appropriate section.

This method is not foolproof but will give you a good starting point. It will remove the ???¡é?¡é?????¡­?¡°Oh ! @#$ where do I start with this???¡é?¡é???????? from the equation.

I???¡é?¡é?????¡é???¡ém a SATCOM engineer and have used this method many times when comparing new Intelsat standards with old ones [ hundreds of pages !! ]

Dave