Customer Reviews

MCTS Self-Paced Training Kit (Exam 70-431): Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Implementation and Maintenance (Pro-Certification)

5 star:		(23)
4 star:		(15)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

Taking the test which this study guide is focus to is a very important step before give any content's feedback (i'm still preparing myself for the test) But i will give my 1st impression about the book anyway.

Pros:
Very well organized book. Chapters and content are divided in small chunks of information (lessons). For busy people (like me) or those which like to do self study at own pace this is a big aid.

I like the writing style also. Not boring, not too technical altought you should have a previous SQL 2000 background if you want to take full advantage of this book.

I did like chapter 11, the backup and restore processes. This is a must for every SQL admin. and it is well covered. The same for the Maintenance Plan and Job topics (Ch 14)

The 15% off in the test price is a good bonus. You should consider this if you're in a low budget.


Cons or critics:
The test engine is an added value but... i don't know ... after taking a few custom tests ... i am not pretty sure about their content's difficulty. I mean, IMO, questions seems too easy for me. I've took a lot of Microsoft tests before (i'm MCSA) and i've never seen easy questions like these in most of them. You must read a lot and think well before mark an answer and i don't feel that when i'm taking this book's test engine. Do not misunderstand what i'm saying, a free Test Engine is a nice bonus, i just want to give a non parcial review. I'm a customer too and we must rely in good study sources to avoid test failures.

Chapter 5: just a brief T-SQL review; use a Sybex SQL 2000 Design book for better preparation or buy the Ben Forta book instead (ISBN: 0672325675), you won't regret and it will help you a lot.

Chapter 12: hey! what happened with the pics here? ... too much words and just a few pics for this topic. Fragmentation concepts are easier to understand when you see how they works; here's when drawings and pics enter into action.

Final comment.
Currently, this is the only book for this test in the market. Sybex and the others are still in press, so there are not much choices either but overall, is a good election anyway; easy to read and very well organized. Find a good PC or laptop, VMWARE or Virtual PC and that's all you need for your study track (SQL 2005 evaluation version is included)

Need extra info? Try SQL 2005 Stanek pocket book ...

UPDATED 7/26/2006:
I already have the new Sybex book for this test. And 'till now, what i've read so far ... i've not found it better than Solid's book. Some Sybex chapters are just a re impression of their old 70-228 book. I keep you informed ...

I just passed 70-431. I'm a DBA w/ experience on SQL 2005 and SQL 2000. This book and the accompanying CD were the only tools I used to study. I read the book cover to cover, although I skipped the actual practices. (I would only recommend skipping the practices if you have a lot of real world experience with the product.) Then I moved on to the practice tests on CD, and had pretty mediocre passing scores on three practice tests in certification mode (45 questions, answers scored at end). Finally, I used the practice test in study mode, where you could review your answers as you went to drill down into areas that I needed more work on. Having the accompanying practice test (295 questions) makes this kit a great value. I felt as though I learned a lot during all of this and wasn't just "studying for the test". One word on the test format itself -- there were plenty of simulations to do -- everything was not multiple choice.

These 2 extras alone is worth more than the price of this book: First, there is the 15% discount on MCP exams. This translates to about $15. Then, there is the practice test software with 295 questions which is very similar to other commercial practice tests (cost at least $59). NOTE: I bought this book from other site because this book was already available there a week earlier than here at Amazon. The price of this book in Amazon is about $8 lower.

This is a hard bound book (I'm very impressed of the cover design). The papers are white and of high quality.

The contents are organized by exam objectives (there is also a card you can tear from the book that outlines the exam objectives and tells you what chapter and lesson you will find the objective discussed in the book). Every lesson has its summary and review questions. Reading some lessons and browsing through the pages of the book, I believe this is a comprehensive study guide for this exam and is, by itself, sufficient to prepare you to pass the exam.

I installed the evaluation edition of SQL Server that came with the book. Then I went through the book, read every page, did every sample test and more than half of the practice items (many were redundant).

Then I went to take the test and I was shocked. Many, many questions were not covered by the material in this book! I have a very good memory, and read the book while laid off so it only took me two weeks to get through it, so my memory is not the issue here. Microsoft produced a book and represents it's purpose as prep for the test, but it doesn't cover all the material the test does!

Most of the questions were covered so it is possible to pass from this book, but I couldn't.

One particularly galling question on the exam involved a port number that was not in the book, I checked.

Needless to say, I am disappointed. I hope that if I need another certification the kit is more representative of the exam content.

Outstanding technical book. It covers many areas of a very rich and complex product, and covers almost all of these areas well. The writing style and presentation is excellent. It will be useful to DBA's whether or not they go for the Microsoft certification. The extremely thorough chapter on XML is particularly impressive.

I am a SQL Server developer and instructor for Microsoft SQL Server 2000/2005 certification courses, and recommend this text to students who plan to take MCTS cert exam 70-431.

I recommend reading the book straight through, performing practice labs as desired, then using the Transcender practice exam to reveal your weak areas. If you set yourself a goal of 20-30 pages a day (hard to absorb much more), you'll finish in a month or two.

I passed the MCTS exam with a high grade, but thanks only in part to the practice exam that comes with this text. The text's one weakness is that the practice questions are not at all like those on the real cert exam; they are more like flash-card type questions. Even the Transcender exam was not up to their usual standards, but it is much better than what is included with the book.

The quality of the book itself, however, aside from the practice questions, is excellent. Highly recommended.

Not especially well written and contains many errors, including some questions at the end of each lesson. All the errors were very frustrating and really slowed down my speed in getting through the material.

I believe the worst what a Exam preparation book can do to you is not containing all the topics needed to pass the exam. The book does contain all topics but there is something else why I was not able to give more then 3 points for the book and that is the fact that the examples in the - specially code examples for XML and SQL - are wwwwwaaaaayyy to complicated to understand that them. Also there will be no code examples that complicated at the exam either. When you are new to XML as I was then there is no way that you understand the examples. I got an additional book to learn the XML basics and after I was done I went back to the code examples and I still couldn't figure them out.

I passed the exam already and if you decide to work with this book you can rely on the fact that you covered all the topics you will see in the exam but do not get hung up on the complicated SQL and XML examples in the book. You do not understand them as me and you still can easily pass the exam

This thick, hefty book is very thorough and covers MOST of the bases you'll need for the 70-431 exam. There are still some useful details from the SQL Books Online (SQL Server's "help" files) that you should know, but this book gives a good starting point. Reading through each chapter thoroughly and doing every practice lesson will put you well on the road for success at the exam.

Where this book fails completely is the practice test that comes on CD with the book. The questions were very poorly written (sometimes missing vital information required to even discern what area of SQL server the question is supposed to be addressing) and were very dissimilar to the questions on the actual exam.

If you're looking for useful practice for the exam, use another book (like ExamCram) or buy a worthwhile practice test. Or, just take the test itself as practice - it's almost the same price as some of the practice exams on the web. But don't rely on the practice exam in this book - it's a terrible gauge of what the real deal is like.

The exam is half Q&A, half simulation. I passed the exam (960/1000) using only this book, and several web blogs that discussed this exam and it's simulation questions.

You must practice with SSMS if you want any hope to pass the sims. My office is still SS 2000, so here is what I did to prepare:
1. spent $500 on parts from New Egg to build a test box (quad core, 4 gig memory)
2. installed VMware ESXi v4.0 hypervisor (it's free) ... the MS hyperV product is crap!
3. created 4 separate virtual servers
4. installed Windows 2003 (I am MSDN so easy for me) & SS 2005 (free with this book) on all 4 servers
5. installed AdventureWorks
6. backed up the template so I could restore a server to 'fresh & clean' in 5 minutes
7. worked most of the examples in the book, includng Mirroring, Clustering, Alerts, Log Shipping, Linked Servers, etc.

The questions on the CD are excellent practices for the real exam.

For the SSMS simulation:
1. know how to configure Linked Servers (especially the different security models)
2. know how to set up backup & restore operations
3. *NOTE* MS Best-Practices - if you change from Full recovery to Bulk-Logged, set TORN_PAGE_DETECTION ... not mentioned in the book, but found the hint on a blog.
4. know how to read Activity Monitor

Outside of the hands-on skills you need, this book is the only material you need to study. I found it lively and entertaining ... quite exciting to read. The 70-444 book will put you to sleep!

I don't know what edtion this is, but the first edition has lots of mistakes in them. When I came accross the index chapter I kept banging my head against the wall since the example didn't make sense, sure enough, it was a typo...
Go online and find the list of typos in this book. The link is on the CD what comes with the book.
I found it easy to read though.