Customer Reviews

MCTS Self-Paced Training Kit (Exam 70-632): Managing Projects with Microsoft Office Project 2007

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I used this book to prepare for the MCTS: 70-632 and passed it on my first try using this book and years of experience with Microsoft Project 2003 and recently Microsoft Project 2007. The practice exam on the CD was pretty good - there were about 5 questions out of 200 where I and even the other Microsoft Project 2007 did not agree with the author. If you are studying for the certification, go through every page, chapter test and the CD. Also, you will need to understand a lot Task Type and Effort Driven Scheduling (predict durations, work calculations and overall impact to your WBS), Resourcing Project Plans (forecasting time-phase generic skills, using resource pools.

I estimated about 50 percent was technical (using Project 2007) and 50 percent knowledge on Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK).

This book is really great if want to get prepared for to the exam. I used it and passed the exam on my first try. The only problem that I exeperienced was that the real exam questions were different than in this book and in the training simulator that comes with the book. First of all there are 55 questions on the exam not 45. Secondly the questions are (or were for me) tougher than these in the book. It is better while preparing for the exam to combine this book with the other set of exam questions (i.e. IT Exams King - which Microsoft recommends on its web site).

I have prepared for/taken/passed over 12 certification exams from Microsoft, Sun, and PMI, so I have read my share of exam guides. Having successfully passed this exam, I would comfortably rate this as one of the best out of all that I have read in terms of quality and accuracy.

The exercises and questions at the end of each chapter are extremely effective in helping you learn to use Project 2007. The software simulator (provided by MeasureUp) is quite good and runs very smoothly.

Overall: Highly recommended!

This is a well-organized, step-by-step guide to preparing for the exam, but the practice Q&A and the exam simulator need some work. On many questions, the book neglects to tell you how many answers it is looking for, while the actual MCP exams are always very specific (Select one, Select #, Select all that apply). Some of the questions are also poorly worded: "You want to use Project's standard working times for tasks with defined start and finish dates but not defined times. Which two options offer a place where can you [sic] make all the changes?" The word "its" or "the" being omitted prior to "defined times" makes this question confusing if not unintelligible. (Frankly, I didn't notice the "can you" until typing this just now).

The exam simulator, for concentrating on specific objectives, doesn't work well either. The provided objectives don't map directly to the book, so if you want to review the material from a specific chapter, you're out of luck.

A plus is where the book specifically highlights differences between MSP 2007 and 2003, which, as an expert MSP user, is the main reason I selected this book.

I just passed the exam using this book only. To those who plan to take the exam, prepare to be shocked when you see the real exam questions. They are totally different!In the exam, there are 46 questions in 130 minutes. Some of the test areas are not explained in the book at all. But most of them are covered in the book. You need to study hard and use the questions and training kit to test yourself whether you really understand the concepts if they are tested in a different way. I feel that the explanations of answers in the book and training kit are not quite to the points sometime. Also in the book I found some typos and mistakes. In real exam, there is no "Show Exhibit" button. Actually the exam will show the chart or table as a picture together with the question.

The first edition of this book has some errors that are not yet covered by the errata from August.

The book helps a person prepare for the certificate exam, but the practice tests on the included CD are not aligned with the Chapters.

There are good exam tips included, but the flow of the text needs to be reviewed and edited for the perspective of someone learning MS Project in-depth by verifying that the steps for the user to follow are correct.

The study guide is organized along the lines of PMBOK process (initiating, planning, executing, reporting & controlling, executing). An outcome of this organization is that some of the lessons are very long - 2-3 hours in some cases. By the way, the lessons total 20 hours and 30 minutes in estimated time. Your experience may vary.

The MS Project 2007 trial software installed without incident, as did the exam software. However, I had a problem with running the exam software and was totally stuck, until I did a search on the Windows error code presented. I then learned that it was due to the .NET framework not being present on the notebook PC I was using for this course. Once I installed the .NET framework, the software ran OK.

I'm still preparing for the exam, so check others' comments on the book's efficacy. I will say that it has corrected and improved my knowledge of MS Project.

Excellent book with all the material and practice test formats to prepare you for your certification for Microsoft exam 70-632. Well worth the money considering if used right, it almost assures that you pass the exam. I recommend this over any of the other alternatives out there which are mostly more expensive and you don't know what you are getting until you get it.

The book is exactly what I need. It is the perfect combination between certification prep and experience to manage Projects in Project 2007.
Furthermore, the book is written with the best practices of PMI.
I really recommend it.

This book is excelent as an orientation for the test. And the CD brings to you several tools to help you to prepare for the certification.