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Started reading my DP 250 book.  90% done and find out the test and book have been updated.

No big deal....right?

Ordered the new 302 book.  Just came in today.  What is this?  Is this like the Cliff Notes version for the PW0-250 book or something???

I could read this thing in a day!  Is this the new standard for CWNP Study Guides?

Skimming through it....it's missing a ton of detail.  Again, no big deal, but I have to ask/wonder - does the missing detail also translate into missing questions on the DP test?

Should I use BOTH books to study or should the 302 Study Guide be sufficient?

The new study guide is sufficient for the exam. However, you can never go wrong by learning more from multiple resources.

Tom

Thanks, Tom.

I'll continue studying and finishing the 250 book, regardless.  Lots of good info in there.

I guess my MAIN concern is whether or not I *can* then prepare for test questions based solely on the 302 guide...

If so, then I'll use the 250 guide to broaden my knowledge on these topics, but purely for test taking preparation, I'll focus on the 302 guide content.

Sound fair?

Fully agree with your comments. I am running regularly CWDP (Wireless Design training), this week as well,

but focus on the best design practices and many hands-on with enterprise level tools as many people have 

never seen them in real life.

Sybex books (actually that count for all CWNP modules) have much more detail in it and lot of good WiFi related

stuff ( however the CD-ROMS are good to study terminologies, but not sufficient to pass the exams).

Certitrek books are focused on exams.  In addition Globeron provides online training (www.globeron.com/onlinetraining)

with additional material for students to understand Wireless LAN design and pass the exams.  Follow on twitter @Globeron

to see customer feedback and their passing scores.  Last group of CWDP students all passed their exams.

To study for CWDP also our customers fed back that both books are useful and also replied

that the practice tests online at www.cwnp.com have 2x pools:

     1. Pool aligned with the Sybex CWNP book

     2. Pool aligned with the Certitrek book.

CWDP gives you the "ingredients", but after passing it is still hard to do WLAN design, some called it "how to bake the cake" you still need to have experience

Initiatives: WLAN Design Standard / Metrics

Together with many industry recognized WiFi/WLAN professionals we are working on a Wireless LAN Design Standard as that does not exist in the industry and exploring a WLAN Assessment Board (WLAN AB).  

Also I am driving that with the BICSI (Building Industry Consulting International Inc.) organisation who are developing an In-building Wireless design standards  (I can give you access to some recent presentations done at BICSI Las Vegas,USA, BICSI Dubai, MEA and upcoming BICSI Sydney, Australia "South Pacific", BICSI Europe (London,UK) by Alan Blake  and BICSI South East Asia  (Bangkok, Thailand + Manila, The Philippines)

People are volunteering and are welcome to contribute to these standards from different regions globally.  If you want to have more detail, join this community (send me an e-mail at ronald@globeron.com) and we give you access to "Google drive" and "Slack" and weekly discussions building the WLAN Design Standard.

Ronald CWNE #108

So a quick update...

Took the test today and passed....easily.  

Have to say that this was by far the easiest of the test I've taken in the series (NA, SP).  A little TOO easy.  Not necessarily a good thing in my mind.

I think the only questions I might have missed were ones that were poorly phrased and I was only able to narrow it down to two possible answers that might have gone either way...depending on interpretation.  I KNOW the material.  I work in the industry.

Next, I need to find out what the deal is with the CWAP study guide.  I see that this test has changed just recently as well, but I don't see an updated study guide listed.

Byt3me,

I know this is an old post, but what did you find with the CWAP study guide and exam?

1) Is the study guide any good for teaching relevant content for the real-world?

2) Is the study guide enough to pass the exam if you have some real world experience to go along with it?

I am currently prepping for the CWDP and plan to sit for it in the next couple weeks, but plan to move onto the CWAP next as you did.

Thanks in advance.

I ended up using the previous CWAP book as the primary source...and then read the newer book looking for updates and made sure that I had everything down according to the new test topic requirements.

For real world use, yes - The content is detailed enough for probably 90%+ of what you would ever need to be looking up.  The book can't cover 100% - it would be another 2 inches thick!

But for the test, I think if you fully understand all the covered concepts and memorized the necessary sections, it would be sufficient to pass.  CWAP can be a really tricky test if you don't know the material really well though.  There's also lots of detailed memorization that you have to prepare for...even though you might only need to recall 10% of it for the test.  You just have to memorize it all though since you don't know which parts you'll need to be able to answer a question. :)

Take your time with the CWAP.  In my mind, this is where you take the head off the engine and actually start playing with the guts of the motor.  It's fun and you really get to start seeing how everything you've learned until then fits together, but it is very detailed.

Thank you very much for the insight and the advice... and I like the automotive analogy you used... I can certainly relate to that :-)

I have to agree wholeheartedly with this post, the CWDP 302 official study guide is very light and fairly poor. I am re-certifying and have been working with wi-fi for a number of years, so no big deal but for anyone new to design and this certification, it would not be very good. Poorly laid out, poorly written, poorly edited.

For instance, the section on real time protocols from page 36 onwards is sooooo bad - mostly just a rehash of the RFCs with no explanation and certainly nothing to guide anyone on how to translate this to a wireless LAN design. To cap it off on page 57 it says ' regardless of the side of the argument you take, you must understand the basics of both protocols for the CTP+ exam.' How did a reference to CTP+ get in to a book on CWDP?