For most people starting Cisco’s entry tier, the best CCST books are the Cisco Press Official Cert Guides. The publisher writes them against the official Cisco exam topics and bundles a practice test you can drill until the weak domains stop being weak. The Sybex study guides are the second opinion worth buying when one set of explanations doesn’t land for you.
This list covers six books across all three Cisco Certified Support Technician exams: CCST Networking (100-150), CCST Cybersecurity (100-160) and CCST IT Support (100-140). We checked every edition, page count and Amazon US listing, plus the official Cisco exam pages, in October 2026 on Amazon and cisco.com.
Which CCST book should you buy first?
Buy the Official Cert Guide for the CCST exam you’re actually booking, then add a second book only if a domain keeps tripping you up in the practice tests. Each exam has one clear first pick, and the extras below exist for a specific reason rather than to pad the list:
- Best for CCST Networking: the Networking 100-150 Official Cert Guide by Russ White, the only CCST book here that also ships with video lessons.
- Best second opinion for Networking: the Sybex CCST Networking Study Guide by Todd Lammle and Donald Robb, with a year of online test bank access.
- Best for the final month: 31 Days Before Your CCST Networking Exam, a day-by-day review plan by Allan Johnson.
- Best for CCST Cybersecurity: the Cybersecurity 100-160 Official Cert Guide from Raymond Lacoste and Shane Sexton.
- Best value for Cybersecurity: the Sybex CCST Cybersecurity Study Guide, the newest book on this list (April 2025).
- Best for CCST IT Support: the IT Support 100-140 Official Cert Guide, which is also the only print guide for that exam from an established certification publisher.
If you’re sitting only one exam, you need one book from that list. Two books for the same exam make sense when you are on a tight timeline and want a second explanation of the topics you missed, not as a default.
How do the CCST books compare?
The table puts the decision specs side by side. Page count tells you how long the read is, and the extras column matters more than it looks, because practice questions are where most of the passing happens on a 50-minute exam.
| Book | Exam | Pages | Published | Study extras | Price band |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Networking Official Cert Guide | 100-150 | 608 | Nov 2023 | 200+ practice questions, 5+ hours of video, flash cards, study planner | about $35 to $50 |
| Sybex Networking Study Guide | 100-150 | 464 | Nov 2023 | 1 year online test bank, practice exam, 100 flashcards, glossary | about $34 to $50 |
| 31 Days Before Your CCST Networking Exam | 100-150 | 336 | Apr 2024 | 31 daily review sessions with study resources | about $40 |
| Cybersecurity Official Cert Guide | 100-160 | 384 | Feb 2024 | 200+ practice questions, flash cards, study planner | about $53 |
| Sybex Cybersecurity Study Guide | 100-160 | 496 | Apr 2025 | 1 year online access, practice exam, 100 flashcards, glossary | about $19 to $53 |
| IT Support Official Cert Guide | 100-140 | 320 | Jan 2025 | Pearson Test Prep practice test, flash cards, study planner | about $41 to $50 |
Prices are the Amazon US range on our check date and they move weekly, so check the live price before you buy. The Sybex Cybersecurity guide was selling at $18.99 against a $53 list price when we looked, which is a discount that rarely lasts. Both Sybex titles also showed limited stock.
How did we pick these CCST books?
We did not sit the exams for this list, so nothing here claims a pass rate. Instead, every pick had to clear the same checks against primary sources, and anything that failed one was left out:
- The book targets a current CCST exam code (100-150, 100-160 or 100-140) by name.
- The publisher page lists its page count, edition and the study tools it bundles.
- The Amazon US listing is a new print copy that’s in stock, and its ISBN matches the edition shown on the cover.
- The author or publisher has a track record with Cisco certification material.
That last check removed several self-published CCST titles that appeared on Amazon during 2026. Some may be fine, but none had a publisher record we could check, and a cheap question bank that teaches a wrong answer costs you more than the $30 you saved. We also skipped the Cisco Networking Essentials companion guide, which is a 976-page Networking Academy course book selling above $100 rather than an exam guide.
What do the CCST exams cover?
Each CCST exam is a single 50-minute test that costs US$125, has no formal prerequisites, and is offered in seven languages according to the Cisco exam pages. What changes between the three is the job they prepare you for, and that should decide which book you open first:
| Exam | Code | Topic domains (from the Cisco Press guides) | Where Cisco says it leads |
|---|---|---|---|
| CCST Networking | 100-150 | Standards and concepts, addressing and subnet formats, endpoints and media types, infrastructure, diagnosing problems, security | A first step toward CCNA |
| CCST Cybersecurity | 100-160 | Essential security principles, basic network security, endpoint security, vulnerability assessment and risk management, incident handling | A first step toward Cisco’s associate cybersecurity certification |
| CCST IT Support | 100-140 | Job tasks and responsibilities, hardware, connectivity and resource access, OS and application issues, common threats, job tools | Help desk and end-user support roles |
One detail changed in 2025 and most older guides still get it wrong. Cisco’s CCST program page says certifications earned on or after July 15, 2025 are valid for five years, while anything earned before that date stays valid for life. You recertify by passing any CCST, associate, professional or expert exam, so a CCST that leads into CCNA within five years renews itself.
1. CCST Networking 100-150 Official Cert Guide
The Russ White guide is the default pick for 100-150 because it covers all six exam domains and comes with more study tools than anything else on the shelf.
At 608 pages it’s the longest book here, and the length is mostly explanation rather than filler. Across its five parts it covers standards and concepts, addressing and subnet formats, endpoints and media, infrastructure, diagnosing problems and security. Readers coming from zero networking background get the slower ramp they need. The bundle is what earns it the top spot:
- The Pearson Test Prep engine includes more than 200 practice exam questions.
- Over five hours of author video cover the trickier topics.
- Online flash cards and a study planner sit on the companion site, and review exercises close each chapter.
Pass on it if you already work with switches and IP addressing every day, because a 608-page read will feel slow and the 31 Days book below covers the same ground faster. The Amazon price was around $35 against a $49.99 list price when we checked; check the current price before ordering.
2. CCST Cisco Certified Support Technician Study Guide: Networking Exam
Todd Lammle has written Cisco study guides for decades, and this Sybex title with Donald Robb is the best alternative when the Cisco Press voice does not click for you.
It runs 464 pages, so it is noticeably tighter than the Official Cert Guide, and the writing is more conversational. The study tools live in the Wiley online learning environment rather than in the book, which matters because the access lasts one year from activation. The purchase includes these tools:
- An online test bank with hundreds of practice questions and a practice exam.
- 100 electronic flashcards and a searchable glossary of key terms.
- One year of free access after you activate the code in the book.
Do not buy it as your only Networking book if you want video, because there is not any. A used copy is also a risk, since the online access code may already be spent. The new copy sat around $34 against a $50 list price with limited stock when we checked, so check the current price and seller.
3. 31 Days Before Your CCST Networking Exam
Allan Johnson built the 31 Days series as a revision plan, not a first read, and this edition does the same job for 100-150 that his CCNA version does for 200-301.
Each of the 31 days takes one exam topic, lists its key topics, summarizes them in a few pages and points you to study resources for anything that still feels shaky. Day 31 starts with networking models, Day 21 walks through subnetting in four steps, and Day 16 configures network access on Windows, Linux, macOS and mobile devices. At 336 pages that is about ten pages a day, which fits around a full-time job. The book works best when you can tick these off:
- You have already finished one full study guide or course for 100-150.
- Your exam date is booked about a month out.
- You want a checklist that tells you what to review each day.
Leave it on the shelf if you are starting from nothing, because the daily summaries assume you’ve already met the concepts once. It listed at about $40 on Amazon when we checked; check the current price before you order.
4. CCST Cybersecurity 100-160 Official Cert Guide
Raymond Lacoste and Shane Sexton wrote the Cisco Press guide for 100-160, and it is the pick when you want the question bank from the same publisher behind your study.
Its 384 pages cover the five 100-160 domains, from security principles and network security through endpoint security, vulnerability assessment and incident handling. The companion site carries the tools you’ll lean on in the last two weeks:
- More than 200 practice questions in the Pearson Test Prep engine.
- Online flash cards and a study planner.
- Review exercises at the end of every chapter.
Unlike the Networking guide, the publisher lists no video course with this one. It was also the most expensive book on our list at about $53 when we checked, while the Sybex guide below was a third of that price. If budget decides it, start with Sybex and add this one only if you want a second question bank. Check the current price first.
5. CCST Cisco Certified Support Technician Study Guide: Cybersecurity Exam
The Sybex Cybersecurity guide is the newest book here, published in April 2025, and four authors share it: Todd Lammle, Jon Buhagiar, Donald Robb and Todd Montgomery.
At 496 pages it is longer than the Cisco Press guide for the same exam, so it explains more and assumes less. That suits a reader moving into security from help desk work who has not read about risk management or incident response before. The online package mirrors the Networking edition:
- A custom practice exam in Wiley’s online learning environment.
- 100 electronic flashcards and a searchable key term glossary.
- One year of access, counted from the day you activate it.
The price swings more than any other book here. It was $18.99 against a $53 list price with limited stock when we checked, so that low price may not last. As with the Networking edition, buy new if you want the online tools. Check the current price and seller before you order.
6. CCST IT Support 100-140 Official Cert Guide
For 100-140 the decision is short, because this Cisco Press guide by Mark Smith, David Bayne and John Pickard is the only print guide for 100-140 from an established certification publisher.
It is also the shortest guide here at 320 pages. That fits an exam that tests support habits as much as technology: ticket queues and time management, documentation, hardware faults, OS and application issues, and the tools a help desk uses. Published in January 2025, it is the most recent Cisco Press book on this list. It ships with these tools:
- A Pearson Test Prep practice test.
- Online flash cards for the key terms.
- A study planner to pace the six domains.
There is no second publisher-backed book to cross-check it against, so a gap in its coverage stays a gap in yours. Pair it with hands-on time on a real PC and with a broader help desk text such as one of the CompTIA A+ books, which cover much of the same hardware and OS ground. It was about $41 against a $49.99 list price when we checked; check the current price before ordering.
Should you take CCST before CCNA?
Take CCST Networking first if you are new to networking and want a cheaper, shorter checkpoint before committing to CCNA. Skip it and go straight to CCNA if you already subnet without a calculator and have configured a switch, because CCST won’t teach you anything new and Cisco does not require it.
The overlap is real: addressing, subnetting, cabling and the OSI model all carry straight into CCNA, so none of the CCST reading is wasted. These are good signs you are ready to move up:
- You can split a /24 into subnets on paper, which our subnetting cheat sheet lets you check.
- You score well on a set of CCNA practice questions without looking anything up.
- You’ve worked through a few hands-on CCNA labs and can read the output of the common IOS show commands.
When those feel easy, move to the best CCNA 200-301 books. If you are still choosing between vendors rather than levels, our CCNA vs CompTIA Network+ comparison covers that decision, and the Network+ book list is the vendor-neutral alternative to CCST Networking.
How do you study for CCST with these books?
A CCST book on its own will not get you through, because the 50-minute exam rewards recall speed more than reading. This order works for any of the three exams, and every step has something you can check:
- Download the exam topics from Cisco’s CCST Networking exam page (the other two exams have matching pages) and confirm the chapters in your book cover every domain.
- Activate the online practice test or test bank on day one, before the year of access or the code gets forgotten.
- Take one practice exam cold and write down the two weakest domains.
- Read the Official Cert Guide chapters for those domains first, then the rest in order.
- Use the flash cards daily for ports, protocols and terms until you answer them without hesitating.
- Book your exam once your practice scores hold steady above your target across two full runs.
For cybersecurity candidates comparing certification bodies, the ISC2 CC books cover a similar entry level from a governance angle, and some people pair the two. Whichever exam you pick, the book is the map and the practice questions are the training, so spend at least as many hours in the question bank as you do reading.
