Good book, but ditch the practice exam
This thick, hefty book is very thorough and covers MOST of the bases you'll need for the 70-431 exam. There are still some useful details from the SQL Books Online (SQL Server's "help" files) that you should know, but this book gives a good starting point. Reading through each chapter thoroughly and doing every practice lesson will put you well on the road for success at the exam.
Where this book fails completely is the practice test that comes on CD with the book. The questions were very poorly written (sometimes missing vital information required to even discern what area of SQL server the question is supposed to be addressing) and were very dissimilar to the questions on the actual exam.
If you're looking for useful practice for the exam, use another book (like ExamCram) or buy a worthwhile practice test. Or, just take the test itself as practice - it's almost the same price as some of the practice exams on the web. But don't rely on the practice exam in this book - it's a terrible gauge of what the real deal is like.
Extra Content
I passed the 70-431 Exam using this book and a few others. I really like Murach's stuff better though.
Philip
www.SQLDataBasics.com
not a good book to use for a job
I had to use this book for a class. It has many mistakes and the quizzes at the end of the chapters ask questions that weren't even covered. Everyone in my class including the instructor agreed that this was not a good book. It either barely discusses or doesn't even cover things that the quizzes ask you about. I am going to find another book to study from before I even think about taking the test. The labs were terrible also, some of them couldn't even be completed as set up by the book. I wouldn't even waste my money on this.
Useful for experienced SQL Server users
I'm about 1/3 of the way through this book. As a moderately experienced SQL Server developer, I find the book useful as an exam prep beause it briefly reviews and previews the information, although it relies on the reader already being somewhat familiar with the subject.
For example, the text explanations and code snippets are good, but there are very few screenshots or other figures.
Don't get this book if you don't already have some experience with SQL Server.
Do get this book as a review or summary of what you'll presumably need to know for the exam.
Conrad
Book and Software dont work together
Many examples in this book can not be compleated with the "Evaluation Software" the is included with the book. Chapters 14, and 15 both reference features not included in this version of the software.
The book has been reading very nicely and I believe that I have learned a lot from it but I have become very frustrated with the way the not all the examples/practice areas can be accessed with the limitations of the included software
