MCSA/MCSE Managing and Maintaining a Windows Server 2003 Environment Exam Cram 2 (Exam Cram 70-290)

Rating:
Summary: A great tool to use on your way to passing...
Review: It took me about 2 months to work though this book, and it was worth every minute of it. I used this book and a small at home lab I set up to test out some of hands on work before writing. All of this and the TWO practice exams PLUS the PrepLogic exam that is on CD was the best tool I needed to pass the exam. And pass the exam I did. I've been a fan of the Exam Cram series for years and again they have not disappointed me. There may seem to be a lot of information to cover... but it's all well worth it. Thanks Que Publishing for helping me out yet again.

Rating:
Summary: okay
Review: This is a good review book in some respects and in other respects it is average. Look for my reviews of the other 70-290 books to get a complete view of my opinions concerning the material offered for training. I think that that the main reason for the various praise of these training books ( from great to no help) is because each person encounters a slightly different test. I am convinced that Microsoft makes the test harder if you fail it the first time and for what reason I really can't figure out. It's like you have seen the test in one form and Microsoft wants to make sure that you don't use the "preview" of the actual to pass it the second time. This book helped me for the first test but didn't really help for the second actual test.
On the first test, I had vbs which this book doesn't mention.
It seems that each book offers some different perspective on the subject and a person shouldn't rely on just one source of training. This book had some good sections in it but shouldn't be used solely as training material.

Rating:
Summary: Dont expect to pass with this book...
Review: Well i must say I felt inclined to write and say how disappointed I am with the new exam cram series. This book is terrible. I have been using exam crams for years now (at least when they were printed by Coriolis) and they have always been great. I got my first MCSE with them as well as my CCEA. You will not pass this exam with this guide. I took the exam without studying and failed (dumb idea). Anyway this book does not cover things that I saw on the exam itself. I wont say much here so I dont break my confidentiallity agreement with MS but this book doesnt cover things like scripting and OU design and where is the GPO stuff? Instead it is a beginner guide to Windows 2003 which is not what the exam is. An example of this is on page 348 and I quote: "Catastrophies such as fire, theft, acts of nature, or acts of violence can completely destroy an entire data center..." This is the kind of crap I expect to see in a beginner guide to Windows 2003. It's important to cover the disaster recovery parts that are relevant to the exam but this is the kind of crap you get instead. Exam cram used to be the nitty gritty of what you need to know for the exam but this book is loaded with crap that is completely irrelavant. How can you call it a cram guide when it has 542 pages? Again, I am very disappointed and will be searching for an alternative.