Customer Reviews

MCDST 70-272 Exam Cram 2: Supporting Users & Troubleshooting Desktop Applications on a Windows XP Operating System

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

 

 

I read the book over the weekend to brush up on my skills and to get an idea of what the test would be like. As I went through the book I also did the quizzes at the end of each chapter and missed only 3-4 questions out of the entire book (100+ questions) so I was feeling pretty confident.

I then installed the CD and took the test and failed with a 60%! The CD has a lot of questions that are in a different format than that of the actual test. (At least according to what I have read in the Microsoft MCDST newsgroup). A person literally has to memorize the steps and pull-down menus of applications to pass the disk based test. The CD is provided by MeasureUp so the questions are entirely different than what is found in the book.

I took the exam and passed with flying colors! However there were a number of topics on the test that were NOT in this book including: VPN error messages, and some Word and Excel stuff.

(I give it 4 stars because of the CD).

I will say that I am a fan of ExamCram2 Series of Study Guides, and that is what they are: "Study Guides". I was disappointed about the lack of material in this guide, do not rely on this book to pass the 70-272 Exam. If you pass the test just by reading this book you may have all ready had enough knowledge to pass. This book does not cover all the material in the exam by any means. The MeasureUp testing software is nice to get you use to the way some of the exam questions are. I would use this book to just go over questions and answers before you do a final write. I highly suggest to get Microsoft 70-272 Training Kit if you are new to alot of the material covered by this exam.

My IT background: ten years as a Unix admin, pursuing a Master's degree in Telecom. Extensive familiarity with desktop OS's and apps both as a user and LAN admin.

Newcomers to IT hoping to use this book as a primary study source will be disappointed.

I scored a 754 on 70-272 (700 is passing). The Exam Cram helped a bit in focusing which aspects of the Office, Outlook, and IE GUIs with which to become familiar. However, entire topics on the exam were completely unaddressed by this book ("Security Center", GPOs). Moreover, The book was apparently written before XP SP2 was released; the test requires knowledge of SP2 features.

I recently became involved in a project to setup a course for the 2 new MCDST exam, 70-271 and 70-272. These new exams appear to give you an entry in the Microsoft arena with out requiring a full blown MCSE track. The book takes the finer points of the objectives and breaks it down in to 9 chapters.

The 70-272 exam is focused on the application side of XP and with that this book shows you a lot of customizing, optimizing, configuration and troubleshooting. You'll cover XP, email, Office and the internet and the book includes 2 complete practice exams.

The book has a cd rom with the Measure UP testing engine, but there should be more questions included. Overall this should be on the list of material to use in the study process.

The book had a lot of useful information, however it did not really go indepth on any of the subjects. I wish the book had given more examples or details on the topic. It provided only 145 questions, compared to other books for the test that provided over 300. I gave the book 3 stars because it is a useful study guide that can fit into my purse so I can take it everywhere. I would suggest reading something more in depth first.

This book provides a good high level overview of the material. The main shortcoming is that it makes statements like "make sure you know this or that" but doesn't explain or provide examples. I took the test and passed, but don't think this book contributed a lot to my success. This book is worth a read, but don't rely on it.

I am throughly disappointed! I have never received this item. I paid for the entire order and I have yet to hear from or receive any correspondence from this seller. I made an attemp to reach out to the seller via email with no reply. I will never use Amazon again!

Sherry Battle