Rating: 
Summary: a hidious waste of time if you are studying for the exam
Review: I bought this book to study for the exam. But found after taking the exam that this book had no detail that the exam asked. It is ameer rehash of the books on-line material. The exam asks real life questions. The book gives no such information nor insight. a complete waste of time as an exam preperation tool.
Rating: 
Summary: Very inefficient way to learn.
Review: I find myself reading, re-reading, and re-reading paragraphs again and again; simply to realize that much of it is simply Microsoft-babble. or .. "microbabble" for short. (I've coined a new phrase!) Ok, sure, there are a lot of technical terms that the reader has to deal with. But I keep asking myself as I read this book whether it was a robot who wrote it, or whether it was a kindergarden teacher trying to teach by simply throwing out technical terms at the reader. I would give an example except, I am a kinder person than that. More on that in chapter 17.
Rating:
Summary: Very inefficient way to learn.
Review: I find myself reading, re-reading, and re-reading paragraphs again and again; simply to realize that much of it is simply Microsoft-babble. or .. "microbabble" for short. (I've coined a new phrase!) Ok, sure, there are a lot of technical terms that the reader has to deal with. But I keep asking myself as I read this book whether it was a robot who wrote it, or whether it was a kindergarden teacher trying to teach by simply throwing out technical terms at the reader. I would give an example except, I am a kinder person than that. More on that in chapter 17.
Rating: 
Summary: A good place to start
Review: I have taken 6 of 7 exams for MCSE. I agree with the previous review that this is a very difficult exam. I doubt that any one book will do it for you on this one unless you have a lot of hands on experience.The book covers all the basics but you must also know the following that this book does NOT cover:
1. Know your T-SQL very well.
2. Know all about indexes and how they affect performance.
3. Know some about db design, keys etc.
4. Know how to diagnose poor query performance. Good Luck
Rating:
Summary: Good book
Review: I just recently started my SQL class, so I don't know everything, but I do know that as far as books go, this one isn't bad. For people who just want to get a paper certifiction as soon as possible...and then get fired job after job after job because they still don't know..., I suppose it isn't so hot....maybe that's why these kind of books get a lot of bad reviews. Here's a hint: I think it was meant to be used in a course with an actual instructor, and yes, you just might have to think and put some time in on it. SQL takes a good year to get down anyways, this book is just meant to introduce concepts, terms, and other information.
Rating:
Summary: Incomplete book for the 70-228 exam
Review: I started studying for the exam with these book and I noticed that this book has poor information for the following areas: Clustering
DTS packages
Stored procedures, triggers, views. I recommend to look for the 70-229 training book to complement to this one and study the books online. This book contains useful information for the following areas: Installation
Upgrades
Replications
Rating: 
Summary: Best Book Overall for Test Preparation
Review: I've worked on SQL Server, taken this exam, and tutored others in SQL Server. Overall this book is as at least as good as the competition. It is much better written and editted than most other books on SQL Server, although as some other reviewers have said you sometimes hope for more detail. This book alone won't prepare you for the test, but it is a required one in my opinion. Some other good books are Sybex's "Mastering SQL Server 2000", Microsoft's "Inside SQL Server 2000", and of course SQL Server's "Books Online". Practice tests like Transcender or the Microsoft Readiness Review are an absolute requirement to pass the test, which is in my opinion one of the harder ones given by Microsoft. A book that was a totally self sufficient standalone preparation for the test would be several times the size of this volume! This one is as good as anything available.
Rating:
Summary: Waste of time, money & effort
Review: It is full of labs on how to carry out specific tasks in SQL server with up to 3 labs per task and that's how it fills up most of the 670+ pages.
In the end you learn little about how SQL Server works aside from how to navigate the interface and use the wizards, so far as I'm concerned it was [price] and several hours of wasted time down the drain.
Rating:
Summary: A rigorous book about SQL Server
Review: It was a pleasant experience reading through the entire book. All my knowledge regarding SQL are rewinded along with new features appeared in SQL Server 2000 (which I already worked on it for about a year) in a series rigorous statements. Since citrified on version 6.5 in 1998, I worked soly arround MS SQL as an administrator and developer these years. This book is one of the best among my readings.
Rating:
Summary: Doesn't scratch the surface
Review: The book was well organized but did not even scratch the surface of any technical topic. Most of the info was on how to click on the user interface. The labs are for beginners and do not prepare you for real adminitrtion. This is a beginners book at best. Most of the material in the book was not on the Cert test. This book will not help anyone preparing for MCSE.
| 
