Customer Reviews

MCSD: Access 95 Study Guide

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

 

 

This book had (has?) the potential to be great. The text content is pretty comprehensive and reasonably easy to comprehend. Its content scope and level of detail is stong. The Notes, Tips, and Warnings are very helpful.

The example code is sorely in need of editorial review. The accompanying Errata on the CD came nowhere near correcting all the mistakes. In one case, I couldn't see how the example code supported its accompanying text at all. I developed the impression the example code was written by students to support the authors with little or no testing.

The review questions were fair, although incorrect in a couple of cases, even in direct contradiction to the chapter text. The actual exam questions involved more detail and complexity not reflected by the authors' questions.

The testing engine on the CD didn't even work as installed due to incompatibility with an existing DLL on my system from Visual Basic 6. Sybex Technical Support was informative, prompt, and courteous in providing a substitute DLL by e-mail. Even then, the engine couldn't correctly compute my scores, and it mirrored the mistakes of the printed questions in the book.

Summation - There are lots of very negative reviews of this book due to its errors. It seems like a lot of bitterness from people, who as technical professionals should know to challenge facts and accept human error. If it got 5-10% of the facts wrong (and it probably did), it still got 90-95% of them right. That is quite an accomplishment for so technical a book. Yes, there are many mistakes, and you have to read with a cynical eye ready to challenge the usually obvious errors. A good editorial revision would make this a "Gem". I passed the 70-069 test yesterday thanks to this book. It explained technical issues much more thoroughly and filled a lot of gaps left by Microsofts' one week instuctor led course (#1200).

My friends, if you are a fairly inexperienced Access user who is trying to use this book to learn Access in any way, please do not look here for enlightenment. Along with a friend of mine, I am trying to learn sufficient information about Acess to pass the MSCD. After reading this book from cover to cover, I feel that this book has all too frequently served more to confuse than to inform. There are many outright errors in this book, and even more vague and out of context examples of code.

For a seasoned programmer, this might work. For myself, I strongly question whether the 80 or so hours that I have put into this book are worth it. Chapters 5, 7, and 8 are particularly dangerous chapters to pursue. You have been warned by somebody who sorely wishes they could recommend any book directed to passing the MSCD exam. Read at your own risk.

I participate in an MCSD study group out here in the Washington, DC Metro Area and we have been using this book, as well as the first New Riders' Book published. While this book does not contain as many errors as the New Rider's book - it contains so many that my group gave up on trying to prepare an errata sheet to send in to Sybex. Imagine Chapter 6 stating that it will discuss transactions in Chapter 7 and Chapter 7 saying only "see Chapter 6 for more information on transactions". This is not a typo error, or incorrect code - it is blatantly incomplete. If you wish to study for the Access exam, I suggest the following - take the Transcender simulation tests and use other non-test books as your textbooks such as Access Developer's Handbook and Building Applications with Microsoft Access. Better yet if you live in the Washington, D.C. Metro area, join our study group - it is free and you will be in the midst of some strong developers.

I have the 70-069 in two weeks and this book is driving me insane. There are typos, as well as wrong answers on the cd. The exercises rarely work typed in the way the book has them. You'll need to figure out most of the debugging yourself. Bad book, don't buy it.

too much typos in the text book. too many bugs in the test engine. unrealistic review questions (too shallow compared to the real exam)

OK, here's the deal: I used Howard Hawhee's book and passed the VB5.0 test in 3 weeks. Moving right along, I tried this book next. Second chapter exam has 3 errors (Peter, see modulus, Property Get, e.g., and PLEASE correct!). Nevertheless, the text portion of the book is good, not difficult to understand, and head-and-shoulders above the other Access 95 book, from New Riders, which I also purchased and immediately shelved.

well,I passed #70-69 and this book certainly does its part.The whole concept of database design is brought up in a way that is easy to understand. TIPS inserted everywhere is also very helpful and interesting. The bad side is,a few times I found to be lost following instructions for examples;expecially in chapters for OLE & distribution.

I read this book from cover to cover and found so many errors it wasn't funny, thats pathetic. It does teach you about Access but it has not been proof read, certain questions in the book and on the CD are blatently incorrect and are also contradictory. After averaging above 98% on the practice exam on the CD, I thought I was ready for the real thing but ended up failing. I bought another Access book and studied a bit more and then passed, no thanks to this guide. If you don't mind studying material and answers which are wrong then buy this book.

DO NOT BUY THIS BOOK!!!!!!!!

The book and CD both contain errors to numerous to mention. Typos and incorrect information are rampant throughout the book. The CD has a barely functional testing engine with incorrect answers, it also can't seem to calculate simple percentages.

How this book ever got past an editor has to be a story in itself.

I've found more than a half-dozen errors in the first 100 or so pages, including code that fails. I think all code in a study guide should have been tested and proved correct prior to publishing.