Customer Reviews

MCAD/MCSD Self-Paced Training Kit: Developing Web Applications with Microsoft® Visual Basic® .NET and Microsoft Visual C#® .NET, Second Edition (Pro-Certification)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

Microsoft approaches certification exams the same way that the Educational Testing Service approaches SAT, GMAT and GRE college entrance exams.

ETS discourages people from using SAT preparation classes and books and, rather, encourages people to just work on their verbal and quantitative skills. They suggest that doing so is enough to do well on the exams. We all know better.

Microsoft takes the approach that, if you have a good mastery of the subject being tested then that is all you need to pass the certs. The Microsoft Self-Paced Training Kits (known as the "redbooks") do a reasonable job of teaching you the concepts of ASP.NET (and WinForms and the VB.NET/C# language and other tested topics), but they do a poor job of preparing you for the certs.

It's true that, if you review vocabulary words a lot and practice intermediate algebra and 10th grade geometry problems in the weeks preceding your SATs you may improve your score by 3 or 4%. But if you use that time to review sample test questions and analyze the structure and logic behind SAT questions using Princeton Review or Kaplan etc., then you will improve your score by considerably more than a few percentage points. The same goes for Microsoft certs. If you master the topic being tested (in this case, Web apps, ASP.NET), you may still pass the exam or, at least, slightly increase your score. But knowing the topic is not enough. You must know the exam, as well. This thinking goes against Microsoft's view of their own certification exams. Microsoft's thinking and point-of-view is reflected in their "redbooks."

Therefore, if all you want is to learn ASP.NET using either of the dialects of the VB.NET/C# language, then this book is OK (if a bit pricey compared to other "cert prep" books). But if you are looking for certification preparation (as opposed to just learning the topic), then a combination of one of the cert prep products such as TestKing or Transcender along with a book like Kalani (ISBN: 0789728222) is a much better approach. These tools will help you pass the exam. Kalani, in particualr, will help you master the topic AS WELL AS prepare you for the exam. TestKing and/or Transcender will give you practice with close-to-actual exam questions. No, they don't repeat real questions but they do give you examples of the TYPES of question to expect and give you practice with the nuances, languages and tricks that are part of the cert exam questions.

You can't pass the certs without understanding the topics (and I would never hire anyone who passed the exam by memorizing questions -- believe me, I can tell). But knowing the topics alone is usually not enough. The "redbooks" teach the concepts and prepare you for using the ASP.NET tools, but the "redbooks" do not prepare you for the exams.

If the books were cheaper (or if you can share with 2 or 3 friends), and your goal was just to learn how to program (but not necessarily pass a cert) then I would recommend this book for learning the topic. For cert preparation, however, use something else.

I just passed the exam with a pretty nice score 1.5 hours ago, and relied solely on this book for preparing for the exam for 10 days. I have solid background in Web development and use of C#. That said, here is my very personal comment:

- The quality of this book is beyond my doubt. The book might have two errors that I think I saw when I read it the 2nd time, though I wasn't 100% sure. Other than that, I didn't find any errors/typos/mistakes in it. Many subtle issues are explained in the book in a way very easy to understand.

- looking back, I believe that if one wants to pass the exam with ease by using this book, one'd be much better off by doing and studying all the questions that come with the CD. I'm a bit regretful that I didn't finish up most of the electronic practice questions.

- I don't know any other book on the same subject. But looking back, I feel the book (including all the materials included with it) was perfect to help me pass the exam. I have no doubt that without the help of this book (or similar), I wouldn't have been able to pass the exam.


Overall: the paper book alone may or may not be enough for anyone to rely on for passing the cert exam, but if you have taken advantage of all the materials that come with the book and if you have *FULLY* understood what is covered in the book, you'll be almost quaranteed to pass the exam on your very first try. I may be wrong on this because different people have different backgrounds, but that's what I believe while looking back.

What I liked about this book is that it presents concepts and major subject areas quite clearly and without the verbose tedium that characterizes a lot of programming books. Also, the code samples exemplify what each chapter is talking about without a lot of extranneous junk to sort through. I skipped most of the exercises at the end of each chapter 'cause I think I learn more - and have more fun - just making up little apps that do the same things. But the exercises I looked at seemed OK.

What I didn't like about the book is that the areas that it emphasizes aren't necessarily what was emphasized in the exam. I didn't even go through the practice exam on the CD because the MS practice exams on the three other MCSD exams I've taken were so unlike the real exams that I don't think they're worth spending any time on.

The book did help me pass the exam. But, it is not what I would consider to be a good study guide. From what I've seen, this is pretty typical of MS study guides. They usually have some good information but don't seem to focus on the areas that the exams emphasize. Like other reviewers, I had to use other sources of information to get prepared. I don't mean that I expect to be soon-fed all the answers, or even that all the details should necessarily be spelled out. I just think a study guide should be fairly accurate in terms of telling you what you need to know. That's why I only giver this book two stars.

Read book, passed test, got job, can't complain.

This book does focus more on teaching ASP.NET than passing the test. I think that's a good thing, but I realize there are different opinions on that subject.

The book is good if it is used as a review tool before the exam. I learned using Wrox's Professional ASP.NET and MSDN. I bought this book to give me hints on what to brush up on. Used like that, it works well.
There are a few hassles- e.g. there is a paragraph on tracing which suggests that pageOutput has to be false for tracing info to go into trace.axd (it doesn't matter, true or false). There are only 100 practice questions on the CD for the 2nd Ed, not 150.
P.s. MeasureUp practice Qs are the best ones, harder than the exam.

This book was somewhat dissapointing to me. First, there are too many mistakes (yes there is a website that corrects some of them, but not even half of the mistakes). Second, after taking the first test from Transcender, I ran into at least five questions who's subjects were not even mentioned in the book, meaning I failed the test just on those points. While I wouldn't expect the book to go into detail on everything, I would expect that all relavent subjects be introduced. Since reading this book, I have noticed that the book on this subject written by "Amit Kalani" has gotten good reader marks.

Good points: I liked the "game" test at the end. I also liked the labs. And to be fair, nothing in that this book covered was a waste. It just doesn't present everything necessary to prepare for the test which is what I would expect this book to do.

Please note that these review books are not for learning the material from scratch or only learning "just enough to pass" the test. I think that you would be better served by getting a full book on the topic.
I learn the material from daily work and from MSDN walkthroughs and subject material from full books on the topic. Then I have used the MS Press books to review, backing them up with MSDN. I like the MS Press books better at that point because they are more like an elaborated outline. I can get all of the material and then hit MSDN as needed. Then I use Measureup.com over the last six weeks before the test to evaluate myself (I don't use the included tests in either book). If you are looking for practice tests, they are almost always inferior.
Now about this book. It was good, but not as good as the MS Press MCAD review book for Windows. The section on saving state was very incomplete - contained info heavy on client side state such as query strings. Virtually nothing on different settings for maintaining session state(inproc, state server, sql server). I had to hit MSDN for alot more of the background knowledge for my review.

The book is well structured to cover the exam topics. It does, however, omit certain details in some topics which would be unclear from just the book alone if I didn't already know them or didn't find some better explanations elsewhere online. You'll need some additional resource, including .NET class library online reference and online tutorials to fully understand certain topics.

This isn't an introductory book for ASP.Net. You must have a solid understanding of the .Net Framework. It does however provide you with a solid preparation for the exam. If you are not a beginner and have experience with VB.Net or C# then get this book, it will for sure prepare you very well for the exam.

I've not finished reading this book yet, nor have I completed all exercises. Already having a fair bit of experience with .NET and ASP.NET I can see that this book covers only the basics, though it seems to cover them quite well. I have, however, found a few code errors in the examples, which I feel detracts a fair bit from the overall quality of the book.