Customer Reviews

The Real MCTS SQL Server 2008 Exam 70-432 Prep Kit: Database Implementation and Maintenance

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

 

 

I will start with the positive things I can say about this book:

One: It covers the whole range of topics in the exam in some depth.
Two: If you read and study this book you are likely to pass the exam despite the serious problems of accuracy in the material.

The sections of this book were written by several different authors. Some of the sections are quite good, others are acceptable and some have been written by authors who simply did not know their subject. The lead authors are well known in the SQL Server world and certainly understand their material. I suspect that they may have been a bit embarassed by the overall quality of this book when they saw the finished product.

If you have any experience with SQL Server you will find many things stated in this book that you know are just not true. The problem is that when an author tells you something that is patently false, you have to call in question all the new things you might have learned in that section of the book. Uncertainty about the facts is not something you want to take into the exam room with you.

Each section has a 20 question quiz, but for answers you are given only the number of the question and the letter of the multiple choice answer, e.g. 1. A, 2. C, 3. B, etc. To get an explanation of right and wrong answers (which is the heart of any exam prep book) you have to download a pdf file from the publisher's website. The PDF has the same problem of uneven accuracy as the text.

To add to the uneven quality of the writing, editing and proofreading are virtually non-existant. There are obvious typos sprinkled throughout. There are sentences that make absolutely no sense.

This is not an inexpensive book. You can do better.

Last year I took the Exam for SQL 2005 after using the MS Self Paced Training kit. After my test taking experience I was not at all pleased with the MS Press Self Paced Kit. I would say 80% of that book had nothing to do with the actual test.

Now that I'm on MSSQL 2008 and I am getting ready for the 2008 test I started shopping for test prep material again. With no faith whatsoever in the MS Press book I decided to give this one a try.

I can't say what the 2008 test will be like, I haven't taken it yet. But I do know that based on my experience with the 2005 test. This book is much more focused on the actual exam and preparing you for such. Don't get me wrong... this book wasn't written by a bunch of brain dump hacks attempting to regurgitate every thing they remember when they took the test (and half the time mislead the reader). This book is for learning concepts not simply memorizing questions and answers... but at the same time it doesn't get too deep when there is no need. The writing style boils it down nicely and has helped me be a better DBA whether I take the test or not.

I'll post a follow up after I take the exam but as of this point I am extremely pleased with my purchase and have found the book a great test prep.

My first read through of the book excited me on some of the cross-subject points that I never found on other books. But yes when I read it in details there're errors scattered around. Some of them are not just typo.

But it really helped me to pass the exam.

Wanted to give a try (always used Microsoft books for exams).

The content of the book is good, have not taken the exam yet.

Easy to read and makes lots of points about exam so useful for answering the question.

But there is no trial exam to install and try it out.

Will post the review again after taking the exam.

I am now at Chapter 4. I started of with being disappointed with the print errors but this is just a poor quality book. There was clearly no QA. Example is pages 150-151: Exercise 4.8 gives you the exercise but the steps were left out. You can find the solution in books-online but you really have to know what you are doing to find it. On the same page, is a section titled "The SQL Server Configuration Manager" where you are reminded that Surface Area Configuration tool is replaced by Configuration Manager and it sort of describes how to get to facets. This is inaccurate. To get to facets, you start from the *Management Studio*. I am amazed at the poor quality. I sure hope I can still pass the test.

This book is extremely poorly written. A lot of time wasting side materials, but important subjects are incomplete. Images are excessive but blurry. Code examples often not working because they are plain wrong. Very hectic sequence and the subjects grouping. I've found many typos and errors evident even for beginners. Avoid this book or you'll never pass the exam.

The number of errors both gramatically and syntactical are too many to count and site. The grammar is poor to the point of not being able to understand what the author is suggesting in a few places. The practice questions are ambiguously worded, making it impossible to know the purported correct answer. Unfortunately, I waited too late to return the book.

The author and editor should be noted as incredulous.

This book covers a great breadth of topics in administering SQL Server 2008. However, it doesn't have a whole lot of depth on each topic, probably just enough to cover you for the exam. So if you're looking to pass the exam and learn a little bit about a lot of topics, this is the book for you. If you're looking to become an expert DBA and know everything there is to know, this probably is not the book for you.

I'm only through Chapter 5 so far, but there are many editing errors and the final 2 practice test questions in Chapter 5 on EKM - Extensible Key Management - cover material that isn't in the text! In fact, there are several "review" questions throughout the book that question your knowledge about material that isn't covered in the chapter it purports to review. I'm just treating the tests now as an addendum to the chapter with additional information. It is making me nervous about how comprehensive the book is...buyer beware

I've managed to work my way through Chapter 9, and this one is the worst so far. As others have pointed out, the book is full of technical errors as well as grammatical errors so bad that it's difficult to figure out what the author is trying to say.

At this point, I'm giving up on this book and will find another one.