Customer Reviews

MCSE SQL Server 2000 Database Design Exam Cram (Exam: 70-229)

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

 

 

I bought this book because the Exam Cram on 70-175 was excellent. However, I found this book almost useless. A lot of topics in the exam are not covered at all or enough by this book. You are very likely to fail the exam if you only rely on this book. The practical questions are stupid and too simple, you will be shocked when you do the real questions. To prepare the 70-229 exam, I highly recommend 'Professional SQL SERVER 2000 Programming' by Robert Vieira. That book covers everything you need to pass.

I passed the exam but only because I got rid of this book and studied from MSDN a week before. The book covers most of the topics as if they were in a high school curriculum. I'd say if you are preparing for the MCSE/MCSD/MCP exam then DO NOT go by this book. But is fairly ok if you'd want an introduction to SQL Server 2000 before digging deeper into another detailed exam material.

I gave this one star for effort. Everything else gets lost in the number of errors and the superficial coverage. There are more typing errors than my usual first draft, and the number of technical errors is completely unacceptable. In addition, since Coriolis is out of business, there is no errata information available (although downloading 400 Gig of corrections is not my idea of fun).
The IDEA of the book is good, and the CONCEPT of the test questions is very good, but the final product is probably not worth your time -- unless, of course, you want to use it as a testing system to see if you too can find the 3 or more errors on every page!!

The Osborne press "MCDBA SQL Server 2000 Database Design Study Guide" 0-07-212693-0 is a much better book (although it has SOME errors).

The Microsoft Press "SQL Server 2000 database design and implementation" book is excellent, and the errors found in rev 1 are already corrected in rev 2 of the book!! But, it is a 'learning' book, andt a 'cram' book.

Good luck on your exam.

I bought this book a couple months ago and I'm really disappointed because I found several wrong answers on it, not forgetting to mention the fact that several parts of this book are made from "topics". That's it. But... if I need to study by topics I'll go straight to Books Online, and not for this certification book, right?
My opinion: Look for another book. There must be other better than this.

I think the author did good but it all went to pot at the proofreaders. A typo, error, or omission in 1 out of 15 pages. I had to write stuff in and cross stuff out. It would throw the novice SQL person off on XML alone because of the thouroughly botched job between XML auto and XML raw and claiming that the ELEMENT phrase can be used with XML RAW which it can not. One of many errors. Buy the MS training book, read BOL, get transcenders, but stay clear of this unless you are a seasoned pro that can pick out the mistakes from the good stuff

Of all the technical books I have read, this is probably by far the worst. There are many typos; errors where the book uses the wrong word and throws you off; and inconsistencies where the text says something then the answer to the practice question says something different. But additionally, the book covers some materials insufficiently to be at all useful, in other words it is too condensed. This book is not enough to pass the exam.

It's a good study guide in the sense that it tells you what might be on the test - but it doesn't go into detail. A lot of wasted words on the different types of tests.... but when it comes to the actual questions, often it says " there will be several questions about .... review the technical reference to prepare youself." Like, HELLO?!?! that's why I bought this book. But it does give you a list of what to know. Definitely not worth the price!

After reading this book I passed the exam without any difficulty. The book is concise, not like the Resource Kit or any other SQL Server manuals (encyclopedias).

Well, I was learning MS SQL with this book after I had some development experience with MySQL. This actually was the right book for me and I was able to quickly study those aspects of MS SQL that are different from MySQL. I was not only able to pass the exam but also acquired skills that I am currenty using on my job.

You know, I noticed that my fellow developers are trying to programm all database transactions with SELECT, UPDATE, INSERT and DELETE only. When they need to delete a record and all other records that are referenced from it they create a long list of quieries, which works, but is actully a time spent in vain because you can create a better, easier and FASTER solution by implementing only one feature available in MS SQL. So study this book and you will know how to deal with MS SQL Server correctly.