Customer Reviews

Linux+ Exam Cram

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

 

 

First off, I found this an excellent reference book. I read
it cover-to-cover and found it dense and full of useful
information. I intend to keep it at work for reference.

However, this book was NOT useful for the Linux+ exam. I used
SelfTestSoftware.com's Linux+ material and this book and missed
the minimum passing score by two questions.

I have four years UNIX admin experience (none on Linux) and
an MS in Computer Science. What I don't have is a hardware
background, and that's what they're looking for here. There
are a lot of references on the Internet to how many hardware
questions there are on this test - believe it. This test
really seems meant for hardware tech guys and unless you're
willing to study A+ certification books or have a bunch of
Linux experience I'd recommend going for a "Linux" certification
through one of the other companies, rather then this hybrid
certification that is only considered a "low-level entry Linux
certification."

If you're a Linux guru, then this test WILL give you the "feel" of the exam -- which is all I wanted. With over 7 years of heavy, product Linux integration, I was able to pull an 850/900 after studying for only 4 hours with this book. The book has gross inadequacies in many areas -- e.g., NIS/NFS -- and the exam is dead wrong on answers in areas (I bet I missed a couple because of this book's errata -- although knowing the format probably saved me on others).

If you're not Linux experienced, don't attempt the Cram book. Get another which will probably be more complete -- again, this one is lacking in areas.

If you're half-way UNIX/Linux knowledgable, the current passing score is 655 (2002 June). That's low enough if you read and understand this book cover to cover, and use some basic test taking elimination techniques, you should pass or come close. Again, some topics won't be covered though -- especially stuff like NIS/NFS that most Linux people who've only done Apache/Samba never touch. It's not good to skip such details where many newer Linux admins are more "weak."

I have 5 years of Unix experience, and several years of Linux experience. I bought this book...on sale. It's not worth the full price...

Reading the book was pretty easy. Most examples are clear, the book is small and easy to read on the train.

However, the downside to this book is the number of errors. Simple typos are forgivable, but there were problems with practice test questions, diagrams that contained errors, etc.

What's even more frustrating is that Informit/Coriolis doesn't provide any Errata on their website, so I can't find a good explanation for some of their test questions.

This book was great! It covered most of the topics that I saw on the exam. While it didn't cover the questions like a braindump, no book does that anymore. I studied this book for a week, and made sure I understood all of the topics covered by each question and each of the answers. I got an 805 (out of 900) on the exam, and most of it was because of what was covered in the book. But don't just memorize the questions and the answers. Practice what you see in this book on a real Linux computer.

I am not an avid reader, even for certifications. I hardly read books, usually skim them over briefly, and do practice tests. This is the first book I have read cover to cover. The problem with most certification books is a) length, b) boring. Michael appears to have taken both of these into account, making the book around 300 pages, and very easy to read. I was able to sit down and read 50-60 pages at a time with ease. None of the chapters were too confusing, or too long. They all fit perfectly. The book flowed amazingly well, especially for a book covering a topic such as Linux. Even the practice test questions were easy to understand, and fit perfectly with the material. The explanations were also very easy to read, and fully explained how to solve the problem correctly. Michael did a great job making a book that is easy to read, enjoyable, and overall very effective. I was able to pass the test with ease, with only a week of real studying.

The purpose of these types of books (Exam Crams and Passports) are to provide a means for a quick review before taking a cert test. That said, this book accomplishes the goal. I read this book a week out before taking my Linux+ test which further provided me more example questions to go through. However, they are still not quite indicative of the questons found on the Linux+ exam. However, they better than the ones typically provided with other Linux+ study books. The cram sheet is always useful to look over just before entering the test room. Use this book in addition to other resources.

If you are going to take the Linux Plus this book is way out of date and does not cover any of the topics on the exam in much depth. I would not even consider this useful for cramming. The questions were simplistic and designed to instill a false sense of confidence as the questions on the actual exam were much more difficult.

I used this book as my only study guide for the exam and passed easily. I had several years experience running Linux at home so I needed only a quick refresher for the exam.

I've used Exam Cram books to study for a handful of certifications before so I knew what to expect but I'm afraid this book falls short. I took the Linux+ exam today and passed by a good amount but I'm not exactly sure how much of it was due to this book. If I had to quantify it, I would say this book helped me out on 10% of the exam. The other 90% came from my experience.

Certainly I didn't expect this book to cover everything on the exam, it's just a "refresher" of sorts, but even then it was marginal at best. Experience should always be the most important part of the certification preparation process but for this book to provide so little help on top of that is disappointing. I wish I could get my money back. The review questions are very misleading and can give a person false confidence; expect considerably harder ones on the exam. There were several errors throughout but there always seems to be with Coriolis books. As of today, there are no "errata" listings on the publisher's website.

I don't think I can responsibly recommend this book to anyone.

This book was great! It covered most of the topics that I saw on the exam. While it didn't cover the questions like a braindump, no book does that anymore. I studied this book for a week, and made sure I understood all of the topics covered by each question and each of the answers. I got an 805 (out of 900) on the exam, and most of it was because of what was covered in the book. But don't just memorize the questions and the answers. Practice what you see in this book on a real Linux computer.