Customer Reviews

MCSE Fast Track: Win NT Server

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

 

 

If you want a really great book that covers the information needed to pass the NT Server 4.0 Exam, then this is the one (along with a good study guide and practice question book, I used Sam's MCSE NT Server 4 book along with MS Readiness Review). I scored an 833 on the test.

I have never seen so much information packed into so small a package. This book was everything it claimed to be - and it contains every salient point that can be found in book sets costing 10 times as much. What it lacks is the miscellaneous information you skip past anyway when studying for an exam - think of it as the Reader's Digest Condensed version of any large study guide.

I thought I knew enough to pass the new adaptive exam, but bought the Exam Cram book just in case. After failing the exam, I realized I needed some decent study materials. I bought this book and brushed up on topics I was short in in less than a night and took the exam again the next day. I would not have passed had I not spent the night with this book...

This book is JUST okay as an exam prep/review book. Some subjects are glossed over quickly and some are covered in detail. The fact that this book covers the browsing service whereas the Exam Cram one doesn't gives this book an excuse for existing. Again, not too bad...

The book cost 1/5th of an exam, and I was able to pass the exam first time out just by studying this book, so I reason that makes the book worth 5 times the money.

At the same time, there are a few typos to be aware of. I contacted the author, and found an errata sheet. Without the errata sheet, its a bit frustrating. If the typos would have been corrected, there would be nothing stopping me from giving this five stars.

Being recently "right-sized" out of an administrator's position I held for the last 8 years, I found that the job market wants MCSEs first and experience second. I had and have the experience - what I did not have was the piece of paper to get me past the HR department.

Anyone who has been "right-sized" probably can understand that the money wasn't flowing in after the fact the way it was before. I wanted a self-study solution that would not talk down to me and teach me things I did not know even though I had daily contact with the product.

I bought and returned two other self-study NT books before buying this one. They were so full of fluff and errors that I got a headache just trying to read them.

I won't be returning this one, but I will be returning to the site to buy the other books I need from this series.

Given the choice between reading 1200 pages of Tolstoy's "War and Peace" and reading a 300 page condensed version to pass a college exam, I'd always pick the 300 page version if I knew I could get the same A+.

SO, when it came time to study for this exam because our manager told 5 of us that the company now wanted MCSEs, I compared the 1200 page NT books to this 300 page book. I bought this one while the other four guys bought bigger ones.

Guess what? I passed the exam, got the A+ and am studying for the next test while my colleagues are still studying for this one!