Customer Reviews

MCSE Exchange 2000 Administration Exam Prep (Exam: 70-224)

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

 

 

I just passed the 70-224 test today and it was not because of this book. The first half of this book is all about the history of email, exchange business practices, and every acronym you can imagine (most were not even real acronyms). None of this pertains to the actual test and it will do nothing but fill your head with useless information. There are hardly any diagrams or references, and the practice exam program that came with the book asked me questions on customizing MMC consoles :( I have been a steady fan of Syngress study guides and so far I have used them to pass my CCNA, CCDA, the 4 core MCSE tests and now the 70-224. Btw ... the publisher of Exam Cram and Exam Prep books is now out of business ... I'm sure you can figure out why :)

I've just gone through 4 chapters, I'm 25% through the book and I'm two chapters away from installing the software.. Come on... The authors take a long time to get to actually using the software and I'm losing confidence they really ever worked on it at all. The book reads like one made for Exchange in general, questions were bolted to the end of the chapters then glossed as an MCSE book with a CD to the back for good measure. Chapter section headings and layout in general could be a lot better, and they are so verbose. God, I think I've read the same ROI / TCO sentence a thousand times. It's taking a lot of time to go back through the chapters and find specific points because the book is organized so badly, Chapter 4 in particular. I passed the Exchange 5.5 test a while back and this one just doesn't seem to have the technical focus of the books I used for that test (Teach Yourself MSX 5.5 and the 5.5 Exam Cram book).

I'll probably buy another book to do 70-224. I can't afford the time to spend reading a book that is likely to waste the $125 testing fee, and my time. It's too bad because I relied on the same series for SQL Server 7 and it was excellent.

I'm a big fan of Amazon's customer peer review comments and don't like to see poor reviews that unfairly trash a book, unfortunately I have to agree with the previous poster. Don't buy this book for 70-224.