Very Ordinary Indeed
Firstly, I don't know where the 800 pages are in this book! I ordered this exact book from this exact web page, and my copy has 593 pages including all the Que Publishing adverts at the back.
I'm not quite at the end of chapter 2 in this book and I've just ordered the Sybex equivalent to work from instead. The writing style of the author/s is unclear and leaves a lot to presumption of the reader. The layout of the book is hard to follow, with exam tips and important notes displayed in boxes in the left and right margins, instead of being placed amongst the main paragraphs where the information is relevant to what you are reading at the time.
Added to that there have been numerous typos and errors already (up to page 87), including vital errors that can leave you very confused. An example being: The book states at one stage that 255.255.224.0 is a 27 bit subnet mask when in fact it's a 19 bit subnet mask. This statement causes great confusion when you are right in the middle of learning IP addressing and VSLM's. To me, this kind of error is inexcusable.
Although the Sybex books aren't perfect (have used 70-290 & 70-210) I've found so far that they are much easier to follow, better laid out and a little less prone to errors. These mixed with the Exam Cram 2 books seem to be the best route I've found so far.
The only reason I tried this particular book was because I was so impressed with Que Publishing's Exam Cram 2 series that I thought their Core Training Guide's would be equally as good. I was wrong.
With a lot of study and some hands on experience, you can pass the exams. The less hands on experience you have, the more you have to study. The hardest part is finding the right literature to study from. Good luck!
A review of the reviews
Interesting that so far all the reviews for this 800-page study guide were posted within a month after the book's publication date; all give glowing, five-star endorsements; and all are written in a very similar writing style.
Can't get much better than this.
I looked through a couple of other books at my local bookseller and decided on this one as the winner. Ordered it and it came a few days later from Amazon. This book is great, I can't really put it any simpler than that. It's concise and straight to the point, but still gives you some extra information above and beyond the exam that makes it a good read and a good reference. This was my second MCP exam (I took 70-290 a few weeks ago) and it was a painless experience thanks to the great material in this book. Thanks guys, you rock!
#1 Test Prep Resource
An outstanding certification guide. Lots of examples and thoroughly goes over every topic in the 70-291 exam. Moves over each topic clearly and in a way that is easy to understand and implement. A must have for anyone preparing to test.
The *must have* book.
Quite simply, I was blown away at the quality and structure of this title! The authors & editors have created more than a great study guide for 70-291. Easy to read, lots of good hands on labs and real world advise. Because it is such and easy read, it susprised me how much data was packed in. Further if an area of specific interest isn't covered well enough for a particular reader, it has great references for further study.
The bottom line is this is more than a study guide. It is also a great reference work as well as a good way to learn Windows 2003. I strongly encourage professional of *any* level who need to know TCP/IP or Windows 2003 to get this book and keep it close by at all times. Candidates for CompTIA A+ and Network+ would be well advised to at least read the book. The coverage of TCP/IP is done with amazing simplicity for such a complex topic.
(8 reviews)
