How to Study the Book
There are several keys to studying this book
- Reading chapters once will not be enough. You will need to
really study the chapters.
- Slow down for the tough parts. Some sections will be fairly
easy; others difficult. Too many students study the harder
stuff at the same speed they use to study the easier stuff.
- When you finish studying a section, do the Test Your
Understanding questions immediately. If you don’t get one
of the questions, go back over the text. Networking is
strongly cumulative, and if you skim over one section, you will
have problems with other sections later. Multiple-choice
questions in the test item file are taken entirely from the
Test Your Understanding questions and the End-of-Chapter
questions.
- Later, in groups, go over the Test Your Understanding
questions to see if you got the correct answers.
- Study the figures. Nearly every key point in the chapter is
covered in the figures. If there is something in a figure you
don’t understand, you need to study that section.
- If several concepts—for instance, different network
technologies—are presented in a section or chapter, do not
just study them individually. Your need to know
which one to use in a particular situation, and that skill
requires compare/contrast knowledge. Study figures that
compare concepts, and make your own if the book does not
have them.
- Study the Synopsis at the end of the chapter. The Synopsis
summarizes the core concepts in the chapter. Be very sure
you know them well. You might even study them before the
chapter to get a broad understanding of the material.
Chapter 1 An Introduction to Networking
Chapter 2 Network Standards
Chapter 3 Physical Layer Propagation: UTP and Optical Fiber
Chapter 4 Ethernet LANs
Chapter 5 Wireless LANs (WLANs)
Chapter 6 Telecommunications
Chapter 7 Wide Area Networks (WANs)
Chapter 8 TCP/IP Internetworking
Chapter 9 Security
Chapter 10 Network Management
Chapter 11 Networked Applications
Module A More on TCP and IP
Module B More on Modulation
Module C More on Telecommunications