MCSE Self-Paced Training Kit: Microsoft Windows 2000 Core Requirements, Second Edition, Exams 70-210, 70-215, 70-216, 70-217

Rating:
Summary: Intermediate/advanced level Books
Review: Along with purchasing the 70-218 book, I used this kit, hands-on experience, and a commercial assessment tool and attained MCSA status. It's Microsoft who offers the certifications, why not use their books? Know your stuff + know what they want you to know = PASS !! For the price of the bundle and the accuracy of the information, you can't go wrong.

Rating:
Summary: Attained MCSA !!
Review: Along with purchasing the 70-218 book, I used this kit, hands-on experience, and a commercial assessment tool and attained MCSA status. It's Microsoft who offers the certifications, why not use their books? Know your stuff + know what they want you to know = PASS !! For the price of the bundle and the accuracy of the information, you can't go wrong.

Rating:
Summary: Technical but still Good!
Review: I found these books to be Good to Excellent. They are fairly technical but they also cover a lot of the details that you can expect to find on the exams. I have passed 5 of 7 MCSE tests using these books and practice questions from Transcenders. These questions are helpful because of the long winded, detailed answers. Also, if you really want to learn networking, try the lab videos at trainsignal, www.trainsignal.com, they pick up where the books and questions leave off.

Rating:
Summary: Technical but still Good!
Review: I found these books to be Good to Excellent. They are fairly technical but they also cover a lot of the details that you can expect to find on the exams. I have passed 5 of 7 MCSE tests using these books and practice questions from Transcenders. These questions are helpful because of the long winded, detailed answers. Also, if you really want to learn networking, try the lab videos at trainsignal, www.trainsignal.com, they pick up where the books and questions leave off.

Rating:
Summary: Its just great
Review: I haven't read the entire serious, i was very concerned with my purchase as some of the reviews of this material say that the index is misaligned in the Second Edition. Fortunately, this error has since been corrected. As always - its best to learn from the source. Choose Microsoft Press.

Rating:
Summary: Everything you need and makes a great door stop too!
Review: I'm a professional IT with over 15 years of experience. However, these days one really needs an MCSE in addition to experience if they want to stay competitive and move ahead. When I decided to get started I reviewed many texts recommended by my colleagues and also read reviews found here on Amazon. There are certainly many good books on the market to help us with this goal. In the end I finally decided on this series the "MCSE Self-Paced Training Kit" from Microsoft. I've since worked through many lessons in the Windows 2000 Professional book and thumbed through the other three books and companion CD. I feel quite happy with the series so far. The lessons are broken down into small chunks that you can easily absorb. They tell you what you will learn, give a time estimate, then provide general and specific information on the topic, and finally provide a lesson summary. The books provide graphics when needed to clarify a point, but they avoid extraneous graphics and text. They also provide a handy glossary for those all those IT acronyms that we have to deal with. As stated in the preface, the material and writing style are aimed at the professional IT and not the complete novice. The only small caution I would add about reading Microsoft books is that you have to be aware that they will always tout the company product. However, it's low key and certainly doesn't get in the way of learning the material. Overall, I give this series a high rating and can recommend them to you. Good luck in pursuit of your MCSE!

Rating:
Summary: Everything you need and makes a great door stop too!
Review: I'm a professional IT with over 15 years of experience. However, these days one really needs an MCSE in addition to experience if they want to stay competitive and move ahead. When I decided to get started I reviewed many texts recommended by my colleagues and also read reviews found here on Amazon. There are certainly many good books on the market to help us with this goal. In the end I finally decided on this series the "MCSE Self-Paced Training Kit" from Microsoft. I've since worked through many lessons in the Windows 2000 Professional book and thumbed through the other three books and companion CD. I feel quite happy with the series so far. The lessons are broken down into small chunks that you can easily absorb. They tell you what you will learn, give a time estimate, then provide general and specific information on the topic, and finally provide a lesson summary. The books provide graphics when needed to clarify a point, but they avoid extraneous graphics and text. They also provide a handy glossary for those all those IT acronyms that we have to deal with. As stated in the preface, the material and writing style are aimed at the professional IT and not the complete novice. The only small caution I would add about reading Microsoft books is that you have to be aware that they will always tout the company product. However, it's low key and certainly doesn't get in the way of learning the material. Overall, I give this series a high rating and can recommend them to you. Good luck in pursuit of your MCSE!

Rating:
Summary: 15% coupon expired
Review: The listing promises a coupon for 15% off the testing fee, but when the books arrived yesterday, Feb 5th, 2004, the coupon had expired on December 31, 2003.

Rating:
Summary: Intermediate/advanced level Books
Review: This set of books are written for people who have some experience in the IT field. If you have never worked in the IT field this set of books are useless unless you have live instruction with them. These books are written in what you might call micronese as opposed to easy to read and understand laymans lauguage. The labs in the books assume you have some understanding of MSDOS(CMD). Almost all chapters reference other chapters taking you on a confusing tour of total confusion. I have replaced my set with the Sybex books which takes you step by step through all labs with full easy to understand lauguage.

Rating:
Summary: windows 2000 core requirements
Review: This set of books is of limited use. There are a great many problems with the books that make it extremely hard to use as a study tool. They updated this book with "NEW" information but did not check it or the fact this changed the page numbering. So the Index and "go to page" are all wrong.