Customer Reviews

MCSA/MCSE Managing and Maintaining a Windows Server 2003 Environment: Exam 70-290 Study Guide and DVD Training System

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

 

 

I purchased this book based on the strength of its recommendations here. Now that I've taken the test, I'm disappointed.

The book appears to be out of date as several topics that were on the exam are NOT covered in the book.

Microsoft has added things on Software Update Services, Distributed File Sharing, and Scripting to the exam that are nowhere to be found in the pages of this 977 page tome.

In addition, I found several things that conflict with other study guides, Microsoft's published materials (MDSN, TechNet), and the Windows Server 2003 help files.

Although the book has a set of practice questions at the end of each chapter, in many cases their "correct" answer was wrong (based on additional research and conversations with other MCSA/MCSE's).

When I wrote Syngress asking for an explanation about the discrepancies (twice), I never received a response.

I'd recommend you look elsewhere if you hope to pass.

I was really frustrated because there are no good books for this exam, which is really complicated.

No book will cover all the information required, but definitely the best book is this one.
What is interesting is a section with FAQ in each chapter.
Most of the questions are really nice.

What is missing in this book for the exam ?
- More information about SUS
- More information about AD
- More information about Group Policies
- More information about VB scripts for automation
- It would be nice if the questions were similar than the exam.

Anyway, this one was my favourite book for the exam.
I passed it with 887/1000 and I did not have to much experience on win2k3 servers.

The book is written pretty well and is easy to read. The subject matter is appropriate for the book. I feel that I should be able to face the certification test after reading this book and a little practice with the exam simulations. My one problem with this book is the DVD. The DVD feature is one of the main reasons I was swayed to purchase this book instead of others in the category. The DVD leaves a lot to be desired. The DVD is basically the instructor going over the book material while flipping through power point slides. You can get the same information in more detail from the book. If the vendors really wanted to make this a 5 star product they would include the exercises from the book on the DVD. Give us something more than we can get from the book. If you guys just wanted to play with DVD authoring, do it at home! Anyway, that's my 2 cents.

I've read all of Shinder's ISA/MS Security books over the past couple of years, and thought they were excellent. I was psyched to see they were writing all of these MCSE 03 books. I just passed the 70-290 exam after using this book as my only study guide. The test is really hard, and you definitely can't just pass by reading a book (you really need experience as well), but you do need a great study guide and this is the one. The level of detail in this book is absolutely incredible, and you can tell that the authors have actually tested all of this stuff. I also really like the feature at the end of the book where they show all of the test questions with the answer choices and explanations of correct and incorrect answers all in one place. This makes it very easy to review your responses to figure out what you got wrong and more importantly why. I've got all the other books in the series to prepare for the rest of the exams.

This is a very good book for the 70-290 test. The complaints about subjects being left out of the book are valid, but Microsoft is careful to tell all test takers that some material on the test will come from the Microsoft Knowledgebase and from TechNet articles. If you are concerned about the coverage of material, go to the Microsoft certification web site, print out the test objectives for the test you are studying for, and make sure that you study something on each of the test objectives. There is no one book that can or will cover the entire depth and breadth of this test, but this one comes close. It is written for someone that has little or no experience with Windows Server 2003, and covers each topic rather completely. Some more advanced users will object to that, saying that it is too basic or too wordy. They should use a "test prep" book (something from Exam Cram series, for example) rather than this book. If you are starting from near zero, this is a good book for you. The videos are helpful, but I wish they were podcasts so that I could listen to them while I am driving.

If you don't have this book, get it! I passed the exam with flying colors using it and the practice questions. Like most books, there are a few minor mistakes. However, this study guide is laid out clearly, and it doesn't go too far into things that have no bearing on the exam. Once again, you should get this book.

Not even getting out of the second chapter I've run across more than a dozen typos and other errors. If I had known there were so many I would have marked them all and sent them to the publisher. Some topics are not even covered. I have thrown this book away and bought the Sybex 70-290 study guide instead...Sybex Study Guides are the best I've found.

If you want to learn this information correctly, do NOT use this book. Their technical editor should be fired.

This is a wonderful addition to any study guide library, high recommended.

I received prompt communications and delivery and plan to purchase additional books in my quest for MCSE certification.