Customer Reviews

Mike Meyers' MCSE Windows(R) XP Professional Certification Passport (Exam 70-270)

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I like this book a lot, but you're kidding yourself if you think you can pass the exam with this book alone. I read the Windows XP Exam Prep, did the Learnkey CBT, read the Exam Cram AND this book. When I did a Transcender practice test, I failed with a 500 out of a possible 1000. Transcender gave me the ultimate reality check and let me know that I'm still not ready to take the test. I'm just going to keep working on my Transcender CD until I get it nailed. Good luck!

It would have been the best book if the author added about 100 pages with more information and more sample questions. Considering its size, neverthless, it's packed with all the valuable lessons along with which is more important than which. This book alone will not guarantee pass on the exam nor be sufficient. It might go very well with the book from Microsoft press which has most that can show up on the exam, but at the same time, it's somewhat boring to read and contains quite a few unnecessary lessons. However, you would know what to focus on after reading Mike Meyer's book.

I picked up this book because I had read the Mike Meyers book on A+ Certification, and found that book to be excellent as far as information, and it was also not at all boring to read. I can say that this book continues that trend, even improving upon it. I found this to be very informative as a test prep book, and it actually had me laughing in parts. Haven't seen many computer books reference Nigel Tufnel before. Oh, and I passed the exam on the first try.

This is a small book but it packs it in. I'd hate to have to slug my way through an uncondensed course book. I read this cover to cover over three weeks on the train to and from work.

Even in the condensed form this course requires persistence to pound your way through it.

Brain's writting style makes the course an easier read with plenty of signposting and summaries to emphasise those areas that you will be likely to be tested hardest on.

Each chapter has a review section and ten or so questions to help you guage whether you have grasped the topic or not.

The book is aimed at those with previous exposure to windows and networking environments but even still some areas do get a little tedious if you are well versed in such an area.

Brian expects that you will be able to get some hands on access to practice some areas. I guess it would be a little rude to say your certified in an OS that you've never actually had hands on experience with... but hey, if you can pass the test...

The software that comes on the CD with the book is pretty poor. That said it still acheives the desired result. The software exam is 60 questions. You can do the exam in two modes - one with answers and explanations, the other only tells you your results for each area and works to give you a guide to your weeknesses and strengths.

Mike Meyers is an insightful author and is extremely knowledgeable of the topics that are discussed in the text. The book covers all of the outlined Microsoft objectives in condensed format, assuming that the reader has sufficient knowledge of, and experience with, WindowsXP. I would recommend using this text in conjunction with a reputable study guide when pursuing the WindowsXP certification. I purchased the book with the single objective of introducing myself to the enhanced features of the XP operating system and I am confident that the book accomplished this objective.

The Mike Meyers Passport series is excellent for certification prep. This is my third certification I've passed using these books, the other two being A+ and Network+. I took the 70-270 two times before realizing there was a Passport book for the test. I failed the test both times. Then I discovered this book, bought it, read it, and passed it the third time around. Passing is what matters the most, however I didn't get as high of a score as I wanted. I received a score of 715, with a passing score of 700 for this test, which means I barely passed. I believe the reason this happened is because the book has not been updated to include anything about Service Pack 2, or Bluetooth technology (yes, the test asks about Bluetooth). Also, the book seems to center around Windows XP Pro in a workgroup environment. However, the actual test mostly centers around XP Pro in a corporate domain environment. This book will still help you understand XP Pro since most of what is covered is still valid, but the test has changed since the book was published. I recommend this book only if you combine it with sample test questions from Testking.com. The questions provided by them are word-for-word from the actual 70-270 exam for both the questions and the answers that are given (I question the legality of the study guides provided by them, but obviously they must be legal since they have not been shut down by Microsoft or any of the many other testing companies they provide study guides for). If you get the questions and answers memorized, you will speed through the test while passing it with flying colors. I used the Testking materials myself, but didn't read all of it because I decided I'd rely mostly on this Mike Meyers book like I did with the CompTIA tests, though I now wish I had read the Testking study guide all the way through. The Microsoft tests are much more difficult than anything by CompTIA. In all fairness, I still passed and could not have done it without this book, so I give it 3 stars.

Mike Meyers is an insightful author and is extremely knowledgeable of the topics that are discussed in the text. The book covers all of the outlined Microsoft objectives in condensed format, assuming that the reader has sufficient knowledge of, and experience with, WindowsXP. I would recommend using this text in conjunction with a reputable study guide when pursuing the WindowsXP certification. I purchased the book with the single objective of introducing myself to the enhanced features of the XP operating system and I am confident that the book accomplished this objective.

I estimate that book covers 90% of the exam. I believe the only other resources cover the other 10% is experience and plenty of time on microsoft.com. I will also say that this is by far the toughest Microsoft exam that I have taken (12 of them and counting). If you know this book well and you are a good test taker, you will pass this exam.

This book is a good resource for day to day XP administration but doesn't go into sufficient detail to be the only study guide for taking the 70-270 exam. Many questions on the exam are not even hinted at in this book. This should be studied first and followed up with more comprehensive exam prep material.

Out of all the books I looked at for the 70-270 exam, this was the most accurate. I bought the Exam-Cram series book, and thought it was poorly writen, loaded with irrelevant information, and the practice test included with it was horrible. The Mike meyers book was well writen, informative, had a good practice test, and overall was a great study guide. But even with both books, it took me two tests to pass the 70-270. Mike Myers book isn't all you'll need for test day, but it's the best study guide on the market. The thing about Microsoft's tests is that the questions can be broad, and require hands on experience to anwser them.