Customer Reviews

MCSA/MCSE 70-290 Exam Cram: Managing and Maintaining a Windows Server 2003 Environment (2nd Edition)

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

As the title of the book says, this is an Exam Cram book. Its intent, it's sole intent, is to teach you how to pass the Exam 70-290 test on Windows Server 2003 Environment. It is probably best suited for a person with some experience running Server 2003 already but who wants to pick up all the messy little details that are going to be asked on the exam.

To help you along, there are two practice exams, with answers and explanations. The book also has a Registration Key so you can go on line to MeasureUp and go through their on line questions as well. If you then want to take their test on line, there is a 20% discount off of the price.

Don't start here if you've never worked with Server before, it isn't enough of reference book to do that, it's purely an exam cram, just like it says.

But if you know Server 2003 pretty well, and just want to make sure that you have the test down pat, this is definitely the book for you. It's well written, clear, concise and down to the point.

ExamCRAM 2 for the MS 70-290 test has been an excellent resource. It is well organized and has good illustrations. The questions at the end of the chapters are very helpful. The book has been an excellent supplement to the other study materials I have been using. I haven't taken the 70-290 test yet but feel confident that this book will be a key to getting a passing score.

This book works well for people who have passed the 70-270 exam, but is not for beginners. It is best used as a final review to make sure you have covered all of the important material before the exam.

I'm a big fan of the Exam Cram series because frankly, if your goal is to pass the test because you are confident you sufficiently know the material, there really are no better study guides. They will hit you with all of the information they can to pass each test. 70-290 is one of the hardest exams I've taken, but it was one of two I need to take in order to get MCSA before the end of the year. I admit, I did not sufficiently study this book, because I ran out of time with all of the work tasks I had to do. I just BARELY passed the test. Here's the problem.

I study with the practice exams, not reading a bunch of text. For me the practice exams stick a lot better, because if I miss it, then I go back and try it again until I can go through every practice exam 100% without the book. It's how I got past the A+ exam. Problem is that the Microsoft exams are designed to stump you. They will give you multiple answers where two are obviously wrong, but the other two could be right depending on the circumstance. Microsoft wants the "by the book" answer...and thus, this guide was born, because it gives you only that...the "by the book" answers to managing Server 2003. If you did nothing else but familiarize yourself with the contents of this book front-to-back, you would ace the test.

That said, I will forewarn you that this test makes use of simulations, not just multiple choice, so even though you know the answer to something you also need to understand the components. For example, one might tell you that a user is locked due to a forgotten password and ask you to make sure he can get access back. Here is where hands-on experience is of great value: It's more than just resetting the password. You would need to go to a different area to make sure to unlock them, possibly even refresh the user if it doesn't work, etc. All of that stuff matters. The book will give you that knowledge.

I had to knock a star off for one reason and it's been spoken to by others more forgiving than I: The MeasureUp exam code is likely expired by the time you get the book. It would have been of tremendous help to me, because using paper practice exams doesn't quite work for me. IN lieu of the MeasureUp you can go to Accelerated Ideas, where they have some slightly older practice exams for just about everything you can imagine - just DON'T rely on them as a study tool. Use it in conjunction with this book and you'll do fine.

I'd combine it with other resources available. Personally I used this in conjunction with MS Press book on 70-290 and the Sybex book. Using all 3 you can;t go wrong. Exam Cram is good up to a point, do all the quizzes at the end of each chapter, it'll help reinforce what you should've learned from the first two. I used this one last to round off my learning. Can't say enough about study study study. It'll pay off in the end.

This purchase was great. while it said used the book was in new shape.
great tool right to the point for the subject.

I haven't quite finished reading through this book yet, but so far I think its good. Covers a good amount of material in compact-form, exactly the reason I buy the Exam Cram books to study with. Its much easier reading compared to the Microsoft book for this exam. The last Microsoft exam I took, I only studied from the Exam Cram book and Sybex book and passed. I'd avoid the Microsoft books because they have to much junk and extra unnessesary garbage in them that makes it insanely boring to read. That and the Exam Cram book has more Practice questions than the Microsoft book. The ONLY upside to buying the Microsoft book for this exam is that it comes with a free trial copy of Server 2003, so I actually baught both books. Overall I'd choose this book over the Microsoft book as far as the reading content goes, much easier to read.

This is a great book. I just passed the test. It is not for junior admins. If you are trying to learn Server 2003. Look else were. If you have a lot of hands on experience with it at work, and are looking for a book that will get you by the test. Here is the way to go!

I've passed a number of Microsoft and Comptia exams, and Exam Cram has usually been one of my resources. The books have always come with a CD and so when I read "See the Inside Back Cover for Exclusive Access to 70-290 Practice Questions and Simulations!" I assumed this is what it meant. No. What's included is a coupon to purchase MeasureUp tests, and a voucher for 45 days access to the "Safari" website version of the book but you have to register with a credit card to get it, so you'll get billed if you forget to cancel. 45 days isn't a sufficient amount of time to pass the exam, so you're looking at spending a lot of extra $$ after purchasing this book. Without the electronic resources, this is only good for bathroom reading material. I highly recommend Sybex or Microsoft Press. The Sybex book for this exam includes a CD with the questions and a PDF version of the book, and that's what I used to STUDY and PASS the exam.

Exam crams should never be used by someone who doesn't already have experience with the product and this is no exception. If you have used Windows 2003 server and want to take the exam this is a great book.

This book was perfect for me and it was pretty easy to read and follow. I have a home lab so that made it easy to bring up Windows 2003 when I couldn't already visualize what the book was talking about. Perhaps a few more photos would be nice but it did have a lot.

The book includes 50 practice questions from Measureup.com which are good. However be aware they expire after a short amount of time. I took 5 questions on the site, then got sick for a week and went back only to find the measureup.com site had expired. I called them and they re-enabled the questions and gave me an additional number of questions. Thank you Measureup.com!

I am currently a MCSE in NT4 and Windows 2000. Read the book in about 2 weeks and passed the exam with a score of 880. I had a very busy few weeks and wasn't able to study properly but still passed easily. Learned a number of things from this book and reinforced a number of items I had forgotten.

This is a good book to read after you complete the Microsoft Press self-paced 70-290 book. The ExamCram book seemed to really bring everything together for me and tied up any loose questions I had from the labs in the MS 70-290 self-paced book.

I would not suggest you use this book as your only source. Honestly I have yet to find a single source book for any IT exam! But if you are planning on taking the 70-290 exam, this book is a must.