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Title: MCSE Self-Paced Training Kit: Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Core Requirements, Exams 70-290, 70-291, 70-293, 70-294 by Dan Holme, Orin Thomas, Zacler. Craig, J.C. MacKin, Ian McLean, Microsoft Corporation ISBN: 0-7356-1953-0 Publisher: Microsoft Press Pub. Date: 10 September, 2003 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $199.99 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.45 (11 reviews)
Rating: 3
Summary: Quite a bit different from professional reviewers opinion
Comment: I really wonder if the people who have reviewed a few hundred books and wrote a review of this even read the books. I was shocked to go back after purchasing this bookset to reread the reviews that led me to purchase this set. When I read the reviews I also noticed how many other books some of these people read. I thought wow, they must read all day. Their reviews were nothing but glowing.
A friend of mine claims this book set is designed to force people into taking classes, I must agree with him. The chapter reviews contain questions that were not presented in the section. The companion CD has test questions that also contain questions that are not covered in these books. Every time I found these questions I had to question my own abilities. I asked others to prove me right. To further compound the difficulties were the format of the questions. In some questions the correct answer(s) was the "best practice(s)", this would exclude some answers as being not proper even though correct. Other questions had just the opposite and required any possible even though not a "best practice" response.
My point is that if you have only these books to help you pass the expensive tests then you might consider some classes. I don't feel that this set will allow you to pass the tests without a lot of other studying. I would hate to think that some people pass the test by learning the question pool instead of learning the subject matter. I claim to be no expert in any subject. I am sure I can get trained and certified despite the curves thrown to me with this set with a lot of extra effort and training matter. Thank you for your time.
Rating: 5
Summary: Self Study Kit - Buy this, you will need it.
Comment: You will need this kit. The Evaluation 2003 Server installation alone is critical to your success. The books themselves are quite long, have a technical tone, and aren't light reading. That being said, they are extremely valuable and filled with good information. If you are an entry level student, plan on spending many quiet hours with the study kit. Make sure you install the 2003 Server Eval. copy. Make sure you do all the exercises, whether you feel like it or not. When you are reading you will want to follow along on your test machine, even when you are not instructed to do so. I have found that the only reliable way to learn the material is by repetition of performing tasks, as much as necessary until it becomes second nature.
Read at least one more book from another author before taking the test. Using multiple books is a must in my opinion. Different books provide different points of view on the test material. Its the difference between seeing a statue, and taking a walk around a statue.
Don't be too hard on yourself if you don't pass your first test. I didn't pass my first test and I remember feeling pretty disappointed as well. Most people don't pass their first test, even the 'experts.' The Windows 2000 tests were harder than the NT tests, and from what I can tell the Windows 2003 tests seem to be harder than the 2000 tests. It should be some comfort to consider that the difficulty of test is going to have an effect on the number of people that get certified. Simply put, you are starting to realize how valuable the MCSE certification will be when you get it.
A warning; in the introduction you are told that these books and this certification are for IT Professionals with an extended period of on the job experience. Its easy to gloss over this, but they aren't kidding. You should probably have a CompTIA A+ level of PC knowledge or the equivalent. Without breaking my MS confidentiality agreement, I can say that you will be expected to have a strong foundation in networking and systems administration. You will need to be able to troubleshoot networked environments and you will need to have, at least in the beginning, an understanding of subnetting. Lets be honest, you can't talk about troubleshooting a networked environment for very long at all without touching some aspect of subnetting and routing.
Also, and this is important, the MS Books don't like to repeat themselves. If they tell you how to do something, they don't like to tell you again. You may find yourself in Chapter 10 and being told to perform a complex operation that you learned about in Chapter 2. Basically, if you don't have the prerequisite knowledge, they aren't going to help you find it. You won't have your hand held through the learning process. But keep in mind, these books have a target audience; experienced and employed Windows Technicians.
Its seems like I have been highly critical of the MS Press study kit, but really I'm just trying to convey that the target audience is very narrow. If you take the books for what they are, I think you will find them exceptionally usefull.
The question is not whether or not you will need the Study Kit: you will certainly need it. The question is whether or not you are prepared to commit to the certification challenge.
Rating: 2
Summary: Software
Comment: The only good thing about Microsoft Press is the trial software provided. It gives you the opportunity to get some hands on practice on your home computer.
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