Customer Reviews

The Real MCTS SQL Server 2008 Exam 70-433 Prep Kit: Database Design

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

 

 

As of May 23, 2009, the description of the "kit" on Amazon, which is copied directly from that on the publisher's website, indicates that "The Prep Kit offers an exam-prep guide book, practice exams and a test engine, access to a searchable e-book, and podcasts and PowerPoints for exam-day review." Be advised that the book includes access to none of these supplemental materials. The book does not come with any electronic media, such as a CD-ROM, and the companion website includes only two appendices to the book, in PDF format. After much frustration, I learned from the publisher that there are no plans to offer access to a test engine, e-book, podcasts, or PowerPoints, in association with this book. On the plus side, I was informed that their website will be updated to remove the erroneous information to the contrary.

The book itself is fairly well written, and each chapter concludes with 20 self-test questions. The questions seem to cover a good cross section of what might appear on the real exam. Judged on its own merits, I would likely give this book 4 stars, but since I was seeking a more comprehensive "prep kit", it fell far short of my expectations. I plan to just stick with Microsoft Press for my certification preparation in the future.

I bought this book because I found the Microsoft test kit to be full of missing information compared to the practice questions.

This book helped a lot, but only got me about 70% of the way to what i needed to know. It's actually a very good book to basically cover all over SQL Server 2008 even if you have no experience with previous versions either. However, to actually pass the exam, it's not quite enough. There are some sections missing that are covered in the Microsoft book but not in the "Real" test kit (service broker for example).

I would recommend it if you are taking the exam - in fact I would probably get this first, then maybe the Microsoft book.

Like Horninger's 70-432 book, this book also has so many inaccuracies that you cannot rely on it as a single-source for exam prep. The only reason that I'm reading the 70-433 book is because its free for me through my company's Skillport/books24x7 account. I use this along with other 'free-to-me' books to prepare.

I've been reading this for about a week now and have to keep going to the internet to verify things in almost every section. Although this 'verification' further enhances my understanding, it would be nice to be able to just read the book and trust it. Today I was taking the Chapter 6 practice exam and one of the 'correct' answers/ explanation was so blatantly wrong that I was prompted to write this review after verifying the mistruth myself. The book states "[wrong answer] uses a named transaction, which cannot be used when rolling back." Yes Mr. Horninger, named trasactions CAN be rolled back. FAIL again.

Doesn't anyone peer review these books before they get published??

I have previously reviewed the 'other' book - the MS exam kit for 70-433 and given it a damning review. Naturally I was very interested to compare the MS effort with this book. If, like me, you are refugee from the horrible MS book then you will be greatly relieved when you read this. The explanations are good, the examples well thought out, the range of topics covered is much much more comprehensive.

So why does it get such a poor rating on here? It seems that the publisher has given it a misleading title and buyers are expecting a kit containing sample exam software. The publishers have really shot themselves in the foot here. If they had been honest and described it as a book then I believe it would get better reviews. On the subject of test exams, in this book at the end of each chapter there are 20 test questions. I have found these questions to be well thought out and the explanations for the answers (and the wrong answers) at the end of the book to be almost enough to teach you the topic! I actually preferred the 20 question approach in this book to the badly designed and vaguely worded questions in the MS sample exam.

So why have I given it 3 stars rather than 5? Sorry to put this so bluntly my esteemed authors, but your explanation of isolation levels is a complete word salad. The literature and the web abound with bad explanations of this delicate topic, but yours wins hands down as the worst explanation I have ever read. Of anything! Also, whoever wrote chapter 9 on Link Servers: please put down your pen and move away from the table NOW. Do not attempt to instruct students on anything more technically complex than how to tie their shoelaces. I'm thinking of entering your answers to questions 3 and 4 of the self-test to a puzzle competition. That's the answers mind you, not the questions. Chapter 9 needs to be dumped or completely rewritten by someone who speaks English as their first language.

My advice to potential purchasers: buy this book, don't worry about the lack of a sample exam as the one in the MS book ain't worth having anyway. Oh, and make sure you skip the section on isolation levels - look for another explanation on the web - there is a very good one on YouTube from BrianESwan.

The "practice exams" on the companion site are merely appendices. The book is a useful supplement to the Microsoft book at least, but if you're specifically after a practice exam, don't bother.

The companion site is here: [...]

The material is presented in a clear and structured format, but there are several grammar and content errors that should have been caught during editing. The errors do not detract from the intent, and I would recommend this book for anyone looking to take the 70-433 test or just learn about SQL Server fundamentals. Important concepts are highlighted, and it is a straightforward read. I am not all the way through, but the more advanced topics look like they are going to be very good.

I studied this book for 6 months, took all of the practice exams until I knew the answer to every one - and did not pass the certification. This book simply does not cover everything that is on the test. I would say that maybe 10% of what's on the practice exams is actually on the certification exam. I'm going to try the Microsoft recommended book - I suggest you do the same.

[ This is an excerpt from my blog post about this book: [..]


I am planning to take the MCTS 70-433 Certification Exam. If and when is that going to happen, I am not sure yet. I am not sure when but I hope it will be in the near future. MCITP 70-451 is also in my to-do list for the last quarter of this year (or first quarter of 2011) that is why it is quite important for me to nail this 70-433 exam the soonest I can.

I am not using the MCTS 70-433 Self-Paced Training Kit in my preparation. Instead, I am using The Real MCTS SQL Server 2008 Exam 70-433 Prep Kit from Syngress. Judging from my positive experience taking the 70-431 exam few months ago, I can very well say that the Real MCTS 70-433 Prep Kit will get the job done. I like the features of this prep book. I love the fact that the answer keys of the self test questions are found right after the questions. Some of the other features of the book I love are:

- List Of Exam Objectives in every chapter
- "Configuring & Implementing" and "Head of the class" boxes that highlight important notes about particular features of SQL Server 2008
- Exam Warnings that contain information on some gotchas that may be critical when taking the exam
- Test Day Tips which highlight useful, well, tips to take note of.
- Step-By-Step Exercises
- FAQ that reinforces what you have gone over in the chapter
- And of course the usual Introduction and Summary in each chapter.

The only things that I miss from the MS Press Self-Paced Training Kit are the Practice Exam CD and the tear-out Study Guide. But those should not be problems as I have an access to a development environment that I can play with in preparation for this exam; and I created my own customized 70-433 study guide (with highlights on each objectives and check boxes) based on the Microsoft Learning website . I have made my customized study guide available for everybody. You can download it [from my blog]:[..] or email me at mribunal [at] gmail [dot] com

My real success or failure ultimately depends on how much effort I am willing to exert in studying for this exam and not merely on any books or study materials.