Customer Reviews

MCSE Self-Paced Training Kit (Exams 70-290, 70-291, 70-293, 70-294): Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Core Requirements (Book and CD-ROM)

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Craig Zacker is a fantastic technical writer. He presents his materials in a clear, concise and straightforward manner. He wrote two different text books for this course, this one and also the Microsoft Official Academic Course: Planning And Maintaining A Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Network Infrastructure (70-293). I actually used both to prepare for this exam. I left my program at school early to take a job. This is the second course that I have completed in self-study. Zacker's books were a great asset.

This book goes into much greater depth and has more exercises than the other book by Zacker for the same exam. This book is intended for use if you're already in IT and are preparing for the exam. One of the great advantages of this series is that the self study method is much cheaper and you can work at your own pace.

Zacker is an excellent writer and a clear communicator. His books are always a pleasure to read and a joy to use.

I bought these books to prepare for the 2003 exams. I can't believe how shallow, and poorly written these books are. The practice exams are a joke, the material and the technical coverage of the books are for novices. If you don't know how to create a user or a group in AD, then these books are for you. But, don't expect to sit the exam and pass based on these books. If you think you can use these books as reference, then think again.

Earlier editions of the Microsoft Training Kits were not particularly thorough, well written, or real world. The three volumes I've used in these new editions, though, 290, 291, 294, are 100% IMPROVED. First, they are EXCELLENT as learning tools (I really wonder why others believe that they're too brief. And they include real-world case studies that did not exist in the earlier editions. But the best part of this new series is the extras, especially the exam practice and test prep information, READINESS REVEIW. This gives you the value of a "study guide" plus an entire "exam cram" type book. With the 10% exam discount vouchers and the eval software,this is a great package!

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.

The usfulness of this libary has beaten my expectations. As i ordered this libary, i thought that this books is extremely technical and that the topics are discussed more difficult that they really are, so that i would be more confused instead of trained after reading. I thought first that i therfore would use it only as a reference instead of a training kit in the case that i can't find the answer to a technical question in other books.

After i read a few pages in these books, i was suprised of the high quality as a training book. The different, rather difficult topics are explained in a very easy, good understandable and easy to follow manner. The learning process is very well-balanced. After i've realized that, i had used this books as my primary training kit and successfully passed the exams mainly with the help of this books.

I can highly recommend this libary to anyone who is learning for the MCSE Server 2003. Of course, to sucessfully pass the exams, there is also the need for a lot of practical experience. You cannot just read the books and then think that you can pass the exams without problems if you do not have the appropriate experience.

For me, this libary was one of the key parts to successfully pass the exams. And if i can do it - you can do it too.

After passing both Comptia criteria electives, MCSE was next in line. I chose these books for the 6 month evaluation copy of Server 2003 which is indubitably essential 'hands on' before the required examinations.

Unfortunately these books are full of intellectual goobledegook - not geekspeak. I believe this was a deliberate attempt to confuse the reader. 2003's nature is an intuitive NOS - not that complicated.

To be fair it is stated that you need over 12 months experience of installing maintaining Windows in order to start this course: yet from the start the authors fall short of any explanations of the "what's and why's" of 2003 environment; instead they compiled a short list of facts.

In comparison the previous Windows 2000 server manuals [by microsoft] demand the same credentials yet are packed with charts details and easy to understand explanations. I contrasted each chapter of Windows manuals, ONLY the 2000 manuals are self explanatory.

Note: 2003 is just a souped up version of 2000...

This is given 3 stars, for its evaluations cd - 6 months of hands on will prepare me for the Windows Server 2003 exams. Also its logical step by step instructions covering all areas from setup and advanced configurations.

I will need other books before taking the MCSE though...

Like all the other books from MS Press, they do their best to let you fail the exam. The topic covered in the book usually not well balanced or deep enough to gain knowledge.

Buy some publishedr book which is well target for certificate exam.

They just can't call it self-preparement guides - maybe exam-review or something like that. I saw many self-prep guides, these are the worst. For example, 70-290 is ~350 pages long. Book is split onto two parts. Only half of the book has been dedicated to well structured but very brief concepts. Another half is just hardcopy of the same questions that included in the CD. This is what I cant understand. Seems like somebody was so lazy that day and just wanted to puff up the book's size, fill it with something. Although test quesions is ok and there are some nice case studies, the overall picture is poor.

The test if pretty hard and you'll never pass it only with this book - you'll have to buy something additional or spend time and tons of paper finding and printing appropriate topics from help and Technet - keep it in mind when buying these books.

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.

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.