A very good colection towards certification
I purchased this book for Microsoft certification guidance. (As there aren't many good books in portuguese).
I'd rate it 4 starts, because it's a really good book.
They usually start with easy³ stuff, as adding forms and stuff like that.
But they go deeper as you read the book.
I do recommend it.
Horrible cert books
I bought the 3 pack of books. I knew each book inside and out, could ace their practice exams. These are NOT good certification books. Most of the questions on the exam are not covered in these books. Maybe it is deliberate that Microsoft wants experience to be how you know the answers because you certainly will be ill prepared if you rely on the contents of these Microsoft Press books and tests to prepare you. I did pass 528 and 536 and I'd say maybe 6 questions were related to the reading material and the rest were just things I already knew. The 528 book was probably the best of the 3 with 537 seriously lacking and 547 being horribly inadequate.
This has got to be one of the worst study guides that I have bought...
I'm amazed that Microsoft let this book leave the press. I have never seen such a disconnect between what the book teaches and what is on the actual test. Not only that, but on the practice exams provided by the book, there are questions that are NEVER covered by the book, and questions where the book tells you one way, and the test tells you it's wrong and to do it another way. The book is riddled with inconsistencies, typos, and code errors. I have bought other Study Guides from Microsoft and have been very happy with them. This one is not worth the money, and should be re-written. If you can find another study guide for the 70-547, then do so. Or at least wait until the second edition of this book comes out.
Better than first impressions
At first, while skimming through the pages I thought this was a much lower quality product than some of the O'Reilly books I had read.
But after reading and doing the exercises I realized that Microsoft is spot on.
They have a good approach to teaching which is going by: "Understanding rather than Knowing" and by giving you the opportunity to manually test everything yourself to integrate the concepts. I believe this is the only right way to teaching stuff.
Plus, it allows to do the certifications at a tenth of the price the courses would costs.
Good book, Helps put you on the right path.
I used this book as my primary study guide for the exam.
I passed 1st go with score of 875. So it definitely pointed me in the right direction.
The self-test software is really REALLY useful to test how ready you are.
Though you have to remember that this exam is intended for people with working experience, you can't expect to pass just by reading a book.
(8 reviews)
