Customer Reviews

SAS Certification Prep Guide: Base Programming

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

 

 

I have >3 years experience in SAS, computer science training, got 90% in exam.

The main aim of this book is to prepare you for the SAS Base Programming Certification and I feel that this book did a good job at meeting this objective. It took me 2 weeks to read this book, 2 weeks to revise selected topics and do the practice exam (not part of the book) then sat the real exam. I highly recommend purchasing the "practice exam" in addition to this book which helps you get your 'eye-in' on how the questions in the exam are structured.

For the beginners, i think you'll find this book is one of the best and cheapest tools for learning SAS quickly. It's a must buy.

For the experienced, you may find this book rather frustrating at times. A lot of information is repeated and it jumps around a bit. The quizes at the end of each chapter are sometimes ambiguous. Don't worry, the exam questions are clear. A trivial example is Chapter 1, questions 3 and 4 - the questions show a contents of a dataset in what looks to be an html table, and apparently we are able to tell whether a variable is character or numeric by looking at the variables content! The questions should have stated something like "Assuming that no formats have been permanently stored with the variables.....". Sometimes the author forgets to include _ERROR_ when displaying the contents of the Program Data Vector. The book sometimes refers to version specific information but doesn't inform the reader that the information is version specific. e.g. page 193, the book states that the maximum length of the format name in a PROC FORMAT is 8 characters. The on-line SAS Doc states under "What's New in SAS 9.0, 9.1, 9.1.2, and 9.1.3".... "The maximum length for character format names is increased to 31. The maximum length for numeric format names is increased to 32.". The authors were using version 9 of SAS for some parts of the book, eg page 162. All anomalies i found in this book were trivial.

So, if you want a cheap but very effective tool for preparing for the Base exam then buy this book. If you want to boost your exam confidence then i recommend purchasing the practice exam from SAS. If you're using SAS regularly then you should also become familiar with using the SAS on-line help.

This book delivers on its objective to provide the reader w/ an adequate review of the SAS BASE exam content. The quizzes at the conclusion of each chapter give the reader a good sense of where they are deficient and, more importantly, how the questions are framed on the exam. What is not advertised, however, is what the book also does well: serve as a reference. I appreciated the discussion on how SAS "thinks" (e.g. processes data) as well as the chapters on ARRAYs, INPUTting data, and using PROC REPORT. This book is a must-have for any SAS user seeking to validate their skill set and will also serve as a valuable adjunct to their SAS library.

I have recently purchased this book for preparing myself for the SAS base programmers test. I find the book very helpful in strengthening my SAS fundamentals. As I haven't written the test yet, I cannot comment on its usefulness for the test prep.

The book also comes with a CD-ROM containing SAS examples. But I did not find it very interesting as they don't motivate you to work on the programs or assignments. They are just examples, as good as the examples in the text.

The book is not perfect only because of the CD-ROM feature, else it would get my *****.

I read the book, did all the examples and quizzes. Then I read the book did all the quizzes again. And on the day of the exam I ran all the example code and did all the quizzes and I passed the SAS Base Certification exam with 80% overall. I have to add that this is more detailed and comprehensive than "The Little SAS Book' and I recommend this book highly for the reader who wants to know how SAS really works rather than a simplistic view of SAS programming.

This book is best for clearing the Base SAS Certification exam, as it covers all the syllabus for the exam. Every thing that comes in the Exam is covered by this book. The best part is that it improves your concept of PDV(Program Data Vector)i.e. it tells you how SAS processes the programs in the back end. This is the best book for beginners and I recomend that they should start with this book only.

I read this book three times and cleared my SAS Certification.
Best of luck to you!

Took the Base SAS Certification exam 2 weeks back and got through it successfully. Regarding test preparation me and my friend went through the concepts of this book once and revised the book 3 times. We spent 2 weeks for reading and one week for revising.

It doesn't matter how many times you read the book, but I strongly recommend to write and practice the programs given in the book. By doing this, not only comfortable with the logic and also can able to apply so many concepts already encountered in this book.

Don't just browse the book, try to read and understand each and every line in the book, since I personally feel that it will be helpful in exam. Many think that going through the book again and again will enough, but taking practice exams will make the task much easier. Because applying the concepts and logic are more crucial than reading. Try to take as many exams as possible, try out to get(buy) questions from some of the certification websites. If possible try to read the Little SAS Book to gain more information.

I took SAS Base Certification 8, but it is valid only through 12/31/2006. As far as I know, the only difference between SAS Base 8 and Base 9 is they added some more functions like CATX function in Chapter 14. Good luck in preparing for the Base SAS Exam.

Bought the Prep Guide (SAS9) two months ago, read it twice and did

all quizes after each chapter. Then, reviewed the book contents and

all problems again. The information is massive, you got to put them

in an organized way so that you are able to retrieve them easily and

fast when you are taking test. Answering 70 questions in 2 hrs, there

is a plenty of time. Good luck!

Good book and good examples. Would like an overall quiz for the end. That is the only think holding me back from 5 stars.

It is useful in preparing me for the SAS Certification Exam. It goes over the things, one by one, that we need to know.

helps you get started on SAS even if you have absolutely no background. Might need to read others books to clear the base SAS exam though. I would recommend this book to any starter.