Customer Reviews

Exchange Server 5.5 MCSE Study Guide

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

 

 

After much success using the MCSE Windows NT Study guide by Alan Carter from IDG Books, I decided to purchase this one from IDG books also. After reading through it, I feel that it did not cover the subject well enough to help you pass. I recently purchased the Official MSPress Exchange Training Kit, it easily beat this book hands down.

It's a good book to study before exam. It gives some good points which other books doesn't mention.

Lack necessary information need for the exam. Very redundant. okay for beginners, but don't waste your time reading more than the first three chapters. Do not use this as primary preparation for the exam. I passed with a 554, but thats all thanks to the transcender corp. Bottom line: exchange is huge and this book leaves out important CHAPTERS of information. Any book that claims to prepare for an exam should have some sort of discussion all topics that you will tested on, whether it be detailed or brief. This book did not do that. I've used IDG publications to study for other tests and liked them but they really disappointed me with this one.

This book is moderately easy to read but requires a decent working knowledge of the Windows NT platform. The book covers the startup and installation process very well but lacks greatly in other areas such as configuration of the client services. If you are really good at remembering many different abbreviations and acronyms then you should have no problem weeding your way through this book because it is full of them. For every new term that is in the book there is also an abbreviation that will go along with it that you will need to remember throughout the entire book. I would also suggest that you understand a little about exchange and that you work with it while reading this book or you will soon become very lost in the reading and most of it really won't come together until that last few chapters. If you're having troubles with your current configuration of Exchange and you need some help with troubleshooting, I would definitely suggest this book because the last three chapters focus on different problems that may occur throughout the design and implementation of Exchange Server 5.5.

I found this book to be both consise and relevant a rarity in many certification books of the kind. The material covered all appeared to be relevant and when information was missing it suggested other resources

The book misses some critical areas that are tested heavily. Most obvious area: TCP/IP Ports and firewalls. MS tests that! This book ignores it. It is also a little weak in areas such as trusting relationships, ES admin permissions, and backup strategies.

The NT 4.0 (For Server, Enterprise, and WS) book from this series (Author: Carter) was one of the best MCSE book made, so this one was a dissapointment.

I bought this book because I got discount on it. It does not cover TCP port at all. I read it for more than a week and then sat for exam. Luckily, I just passed the exam at score 494. If you rely on this book for the exam, you might have a great chance to get failed.