Customer Reviews

MCSA/MCSE Implementing and Managing Exchange Server 2003 Exam Cram 2 (Exam Cram 70-284)

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4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
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1 star:		(1)

 

 

This book covers, in condensed format, the material tested on the Exchange 2003 exam. I wouldn't recommend this book to someone who had no experience with Exchange 2003. All books in the Cram series are for people who either have other study materials and need some sort of summary document, or for people that have extensive experience with the actual product. In my own case I had experience with Exchange 2000 and had read a few of the Exchange 2003 documents available on technet, so this guide was perfect for my preparation.

I did some research into the competition, it is interesting to note that one of the authors of this book Schmied also wrote the competing Sybex book on Exchange 2003 exam (ISBN: 0782143385). Also interesting is that one of the technical editors on this title, Willis wrote the offering from Microsoft on the Exchange 2003 exam (ISBN: 0735618992).

The accompanying CD-ROM full of practice questions are helpful in preparing for this exam. I recommend that if you do have some experience with Exchange 2003 (or have significant Exchange 2000 experience) you'll find this book pretty useful. If you are coming to this topic unprepared, you may have some success with other more indepth titles that aren't "Crams", but even with longer books you are going to struggle on test day.

ExamCram books have gotten a well-deserved reputation for being lightweight and insufficient as a primary study guide. This book is an exception to that rule, however; it is much thicker (almost 500 pages) than most in its series and more comprehensive. I attribute much of that to co-author Orin Thomas, who also co-authored the Microsoft 70-292/70-296 and 70-299 Training Kits, two of the best study guides I've used yet.

This book has well-defined chapters, ~10 practice questions at the end of each chapter, two 60-question practice exams at the back of the book and a third more-detailed practice exam on CD. All practice questions have detailed explanations of why the right answer is right and why the wrong answers are wrong.

I highly recommend this book for the 70-284 exam. Don't let the fact that it's an ExamCram book scare you away, as this is a big cut above the rest of the books in that series.

I'm a skilled I.T. professional who finally decided to finally get off his !@#$%^! and get his MCSE. Out of all of the books I got to study with, this one supplied the least amount of help. I like the way the ExamCram books flow, however this one was seriously lacking in a lot of the information that was on the MCSE test. I failed the 70-284 test *twice* using this as my only study material.

Oh, and it helps if there weren't so many errors (spelling *and* content) in the book as well...

For 70-284? Stick with Microsoft Press. A PAINFUL read, but the content is solid...

Other Exam Cram books are pretty good, but this book is the exception. It is far too general and seems copied from help files. The index is limited, e.g. only one reference for global catalog, and the over author's knowledge seemed questionable when he documents requirements for a global catalog and a domain controller (page 17) and fails to realize a global catalog is a domain controller.

The quiz questions are far too generic and simplistic, e.g. what tool do you use to enable mailboxes? On the real MCSE exam, they delve into infrastructure design including routing groups vs. Active Directory site, and far reaching questions.

I couldn't really recommend this book, especially after being spoiled by official Microsoft material, such the one by Orin Thomas (ISBN 0-7356-2136-5).

Used this book and practice exam software to pass the test first time - the material is concise and well-ordered. It also helps if you can install the eval of Exchange 2003 version in a VM to step through the procedures outlined in the book.

This was the only book I read before taking Exam 70-284 to become MCSA: Messaging 2003 certified, and I scored an 850. The book covers the essentials that you _need_ to know, and it was helpful to go through the scenarios and actually play with the server in a Virtual PC session.

Beefs:
* not enough exam questions. This book comes with end of chapter, then end of text questions, which are at least as difficult as the exam will be -- so you better answer them correct most of the time. The CD only includes 60 questions, it would have been helpful to have more, however you can give PrepLogic money and they will give you more practice exams.
* Not enough emphasis on routing; the exam I wrote had 6 out of 30 questions on this topic.
* numerous factually incorrect situations in the text: sometimes as simple as the proof-readers missing the change from Windows 2000 -> 2003 (DOH).

All in all if you just want to pass the exam and buy just one book, get this one. If you really want to learn the software inside and out, don't count on this book as your sole source.