10-22-2024, 05:36 PM
Posting this here because no one else in my life will understand how thrilled how I was to ace this test. Even my wife just shrugged and said cool lol.
To preface, I’m previously Network+ and CCNA certified and use networking frequently in my day job so I do consider networking to be a very strong subject for me. However I would not have done nearly as well, maybe even failed, if I had not read the TESU suggested Networking Basics book. There’s just so many outdated terms in there and specific ways of explaining things that I had not encountered in my previous networking studies. Network+/CCNA will give you a great foundation for OSI, IPv4 addressing and subnetting, common port numbers, basic understanding of TCP/UDP, DNS, DHCP, and similar foundation protocols. They will likely NOT mention Manchester Encoding, Zigbee, distributed queue dual bus, thicknet vs thinnet these and a bunch of other random topics seem to be specific textbook. I suppose they were popular at some point but too out of date to be mentioned in a lot of newer networking materials.
The nerd in me did kind of enjoy reading so much history about how we arrived at our modern standards but practically speaking I think I’m very unlikely to need know many of those terms outside of this TECEP exam.
Still for like $200ish for 3 upper level RA credits it was very worth it for me. If you want to give yourself the best chance of passing definitely go through the recommended book. I felt the test matched to that most closely. I watched all the recommended videos and didn’t find them to be too relevant to the test. Those videos try to dumb down networking too much with analogies to the point where you don’t really get the understanding you need IMO. I did look for some 3G/4G GSM, CDMA, LTE YouTube videos because the recommended video is no longer available. I will say I got a couple questions on this topic so that was worth it. There’s not much on that topic in the book. There’s 3-4 pages in the book describing 802 standards. Definitely take notes on those pages in particular.
Cheers and happy studying
To preface, I’m previously Network+ and CCNA certified and use networking frequently in my day job so I do consider networking to be a very strong subject for me. However I would not have done nearly as well, maybe even failed, if I had not read the TESU suggested Networking Basics book. There’s just so many outdated terms in there and specific ways of explaining things that I had not encountered in my previous networking studies. Network+/CCNA will give you a great foundation for OSI, IPv4 addressing and subnetting, common port numbers, basic understanding of TCP/UDP, DNS, DHCP, and similar foundation protocols. They will likely NOT mention Manchester Encoding, Zigbee, distributed queue dual bus, thicknet vs thinnet these and a bunch of other random topics seem to be specific textbook. I suppose they were popular at some point but too out of date to be mentioned in a lot of newer networking materials.
The nerd in me did kind of enjoy reading so much history about how we arrived at our modern standards but practically speaking I think I’m very unlikely to need know many of those terms outside of this TECEP exam.
Still for like $200ish for 3 upper level RA credits it was very worth it for me. If you want to give yourself the best chance of passing definitely go through the recommended book. I felt the test matched to that most closely. I watched all the recommended videos and didn’t find them to be too relevant to the test. Those videos try to dumb down networking too much with analogies to the point where you don’t really get the understanding you need IMO. I did look for some 3G/4G GSM, CDMA, LTE YouTube videos because the recommended video is no longer available. I will say I got a couple questions on this topic so that was worth it. There’s not much on that topic in the book. There’s 3-4 pages in the book describing 802 standards. Definitely take notes on those pages in particular.
Cheers and happy studying
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