Customer Reviews

MCTS Self-Paced Training Kit (Exam 70-526): Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 Windows-Based Client Development

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

The purpose of the book is to prepare you for the certification exam. For me it didn't meet that requirement.

The book does have a section for each of the objectives Microsoft has defined for the exam. But is FULL of errors (typos and concepts too!!), lacking good examples, concepts are defined vaguely and there is A LOT left out.

I took the exam and passed but I don't feel it was because of the book. I had to do additional research on each topic because the book wasn't enough. And in the exam there is definitely much more than the book covers.

The 2 stars are because:

1. The CD that comes with the book. The practice tests are very helpful to prepare for the exam, not only because they are exam-like questions but because you see some topics that weren't even mentioned on the book.
2. Considering is the only preparation guide for this exam, it at least guides you very briefly on the topics of the exam.

I purchased this kit (book and sample tests) primarily as a study guide to prepare for the 70-526 exam. After studying the book and taking numerous practice tests, I was able to pass the exam on my first attempt, with room to spare. I recommend this product to anyone preparing for the 70-526 exam.

MS Press books are the only ones that are available in the market right now (12/06) to prepare for MCTS 70-526 exam apart from Measureup, Transcender Practice exam and online material. For that the authors have done a great job. This book not only helps in preparing for the exam but also can be used to get some hands on experience. It has couple of omissions (Ex., missing a file or so in one or two labs in data access). But, I think by now that should also be available in their support website. This book comes with 300 practice test questions. After having gone through other pratcice exam material, I think this fares much better (only a couple of repetitions or errors). MCTS exam covers various areas and is a test of nerves. If we put our mind to it we can do it. I used this book, and Measureup practice test and passed the exam in my first attempt.

I'm puzzled why this book has a 4.5 star rating and the 70-536 book has only three stars. The biggest criticism of the 70-536 was the amount of errors, however this 70-526 book also has many errors, including many that are not on the errata sheet.

Anyway, this book will get you pointed in the right direction. If you are a C# developer, you will may notice the sample C# code has some interesting characters - this is because they have intermingled VB.NET syntax in the C# code. Not a big deal to me, but some people may find this distracting.

You may want to be aware that another book exists that provides comprehensive coverage and is a better read, although there are no labs or sample questions:

Windows Forms 2.0 Programming, by Chris Sells and Michael Weinhardt
http://www.amazon.com/Windows-Forms-Programming-Microsoft-Development/dp/0321267966

This book covers *everything* - really detailed and thorough, best book I've been able to find that offers really comprehensive exam prep. The case studies and troubleshooting scenarios are outstanding.

This is an excellent study guide for the 70-526 exam; between the discussion in the text and the hands-on labs, you will definitely be prepared for the test. Highly recommended!

Once again the microsoft manuals do not cover the work required.It's ridiculous.
Hours have to be wasted on the research of missing classes,and trawling the MSDN website.What is the point of selling a manual if it does not even cover your own test excercises?
The exercises in the cd are full of errors.It's unbelievable that are not reviewed and checked.
There is no expiry date given for the course either in the manual, by shear coincidence I have discovered that NET 2.0 courses are expiring in June of this year(2011),a trap for the unwary.
The sample code, only shows the most basic examples.The deployment chapter samples are really very poor.
The only good feature of this manual is that is has good clarity and can be used for quick references.

Having passed Exam 70-536 using the Self paced training kit, I have attempted the same with exam 70-526. Unfortunately, this book is terrible.

First off, there is not enough detail to be a training kit. It seems to me that the book was rushed when it was being written. There are many errors in the examples provided, typos, etc...For example, in the MDI lesson it say to set the mdiparent member to true, but that member is not a boolean value.

I'm taking the practice tests provided with the book side by side with the book and the questions based off the book's contents contain questions which are not covered in the book. How can the questions on the CD accompanied with the book reference a lesson when no mention of the question is in the lesson?

Only three helpful things come from this book: the objective card, the CD, and the 15% discount on the exam.

This book is an easy read, but I found 3 errors in the first 50 pages :(.
Not very good in my opinion

Excellent tool for your exam 70-526 but in the real world you will need more.