Customer Reviews

Microsoft SQL Server Trainig (Microsoft Training Product)

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I found the two books to be lacking in subject depth. Many times there would be a statement of fact which I knew meant nothing, but instead of following the statement of inference with the underlying facts the author would just go merrily on his way with the next subject. This collection of two books and a CD was worth about $19.95 instead of the $160 required to find out it's uslessness. If I could get my money back I would and if someone other than the authors immediate family had written in a review I would have never bought this kit. I think Microsoft Press should either rewrite this kit or take it off the market.

Before I picked up this package I hadn't touched SQL Server or SQL in any depth at all. In about four weeks with the help of this guide I got through the exam (OK maybe I overdid the studying a bit!). But I couln't rely on this material alone. I found 'Inside SQL Server 6.5' by Ron Soukup excellent for fleshing out a topic where the self-paced material was a little light (he has a brilliant in depth discussion of cursors), and the Transcender exams in conjunction with Books online covered just about everything. Three further observations I would make, first that a very small amount of the material in the chapters stated as required for exam 70-027 although very interesting was not necessary, second that if you are studying for 70-027 the software requirements can be fulfilled with NT4 Workstation and SQL Server 6.5 Workstation versions (same as the one that comes with Visual Studio 97), and not necessarily the "server" versions mentioned on the box, and finally I found the accompanying CD a bit dated, compared with what you get with Microsoft's "Mastering VB5". Overall I would say good value for money.

I had never touched SQL Server before looking at these books and I barely even new what it was. But this training got me up to a competent level where I can administer the server and write SQL code. It's not super detailed so I'm not sure if it would suit the advanced user who's trying to be an expert. It is very good for the beginner to intermediate user.

This training kit is good enough for you to pass the SQL Server 6.5 Exam (70-027). However, I would suggest people who want to use this training kit as study material to prepare for exam that better buy transcender practice exam because it's impossible for me to study this training kit once and pass. You need to know your weak spot in the exam so you can come back to this training kit to study more.

Sometimes, this book does not give you very good explaination of some topics such as the fillfactor of index. I would also suggest readers to buy another SQL Server book as reference if you really want to dig into some topics.

Eventually, this training kit is good enough for you to prepare for the exam. Everything you need to know is within this training kit. This is the very important point becuase you don't want to buy something that does not prepare you every topic you need to know to pass the exam.

The difficulty I found is that you better get your hands dirty for those hands-on exercise in the training kit. It's kind of overwhaming for me and it does take me a lot of time on those hands-on exercise.

FYI, I prepared the exam with the help of transcender simulated exam. With this two weapon together, you won't miss any thing. I passed the exam last week with the score of 82.4 percent in my FIRST trial. I would suggest readers better study this training kit more than once before you step into the test center.

This is a good study guide for Microsoft SQL Server 6.5 MCSE exams. If you are looking for an elective to complete your MCSE, and you choose this one, be prepared to spend a lot of hours getting to know the technical content in this book. In the front of the book there is a chart that specifies which chapters to read depending on the exam you would like to take. I found 3 questions on the exam which were not covered in the chapters listed. If you are going to take both SQL Server tests, I recommend reading it all (900+ pages) and then taking both exams.