Rating: 
Summary: Average test prep
Review: Much of this book is aimed at beginners. While this gets a bit tedious for many people seeking certification, a good grasp of the basics can help each of us become better programmers. If you have programmed web apps before, you will find the first chapter to be largely a waste of time. The next three will have some useful information, but only if you have never coded any .NET applications. Around chapter 5, you may actually start to get some useful information, as this chapter is on ADO.NET, which is core to creating Enterprise level web applications. Much of the material here is fairly basic, however. At this point in time, it probably sounds like I detest this book. I don't! There are a couple of real gems in this work, that are reason enough to buy it, even if you do not intend on getting certified. They are: 1. Chapter 9: Building and Deploying Web Applicatins: While the material is a bit basic, this is the only book that gets down to specifics on working with applications in web farms. 2. Chapter 10: Testing Web Applications: Some of the material in this chapter is highly useful even if you do not code for the Microsoft .NET platform. 3. Chapter 11: Creating Custom Web Controls: Once again, a bit basic, but the material is solid and gave me a great head start on developing my own custom controls. 4. Chapter 15: Globalizing Web Applications: While I do not agree with some of the Microsoft theory, like using resource files (in a web app?), learning how to set up an application for different languages is priceless in the day and age of global applications. Now, to the important question: Do I think you can pass the test with this book alone? Possibly. But, only if you really followed through on doing all of the exercises. This book, and a good sample test, is all you are likely to need to get the job done. My personal feeling on this book is it is well worth the price I paid, as I gleaned out a couple of really great techniques. While a few pointers may not justify the price tag for everyone, I consider what my time is worth and whether or not using a book cuts time out of searching through the help files. In the case of custom controls and globalization, the answer is a firm yes. Another strong plus is the fact that the book contains an electronic copy on the CD-ROM. There is also a practice test, but I would not rely on it alone for gauging your competence. If you do not have a copy of Visual Studio .NET, this book also comes with a DVD with a 60 day Visual Studio .NET Professional trial.
Rating:
Summary: Good book, not great
Review: Overall I found the content of the book to be very good. Even though it's supposed to be a study guide for the exams, you could use it as a guide to explore all (most) of the features of ASP.Net apps. The samples did not install correctly and took some work to get going, and like many people have said, errors in the code abound which is one thing I just can't accept from ANY technical book writer. Really, doesn't everyone who writes programs know there are COMPILERS that will check the syntax of your code??? I'm always terribly annoyed when authors can't get that right... The other frustrating problem I had is that some of the most difficult parts of the book are described so quickly, you'd have to know how to do what they're asking for to figure it out. For example, DataGrids have a bazillion features and options and they skim all too quickly through their configuration. Most parts are explained well and slowly enough that it's easy to follow. And I just checked the MSPress website and there is no list of book corrections to view meaning every book reader is on their own to figure the problems out on their own. Have fun!
Rating: 
Summary: Hurried and beginner level.
Review: Simply put: There is not enough information in this book to come close to passing the actual exam (If the beta exam is any measure). Seems MS rushed this one out the door, most of the information contained in the book is straight from the online help, and the quickstart tutorial... save your dough!
Rating:
Summary: Skip this book
Review: Skip this book!!! Microsoft should have done a better job reviewing this book for content value. Try the ASP.NET And ADO.NET book instead (Esposito).
Rating:
Summary: Want to get really Confused?
Review: Teaching the 2 languges side by side is really annoying. While I can understand the reasoning for it it just makes things more confusing. The overall content is good, only experienced developrs should apply. The simulated test application that comes with the book is full of errors. It doesn't even tell you which questions you missed. You would also expect the book to cover all topics that are on the test that comes with it but it doesn't. The MsPress site has 0 erratas for the book as well. This will be my last MS press book.
Rating: 
Summary: Code samples are full of errors
Review: The authors were apparently faced with an aggressive deadline for this book because it's exceptionally bad, even relative to other MS Press books. Due to the inaccurate writing and poor editing I wasted many late-night hours trying to get the sample code provided for the labs to run properly. Very little of the prescribed code even runs at all, without modification. Corrections for the most obvious errors are published on the MS Press support site but many of the other problems are quite subtle. I'm a decent programmer -- If I do say so myself -- but I had to spend a lot of time on ASP sites researching solutions to all these errors.The code design recommendations are also surprisingly poor, the type of code one would expect from a very junior developer, possibly someone who's not even cut out for this line of work.
Rating:
Summary: Book is Good; CD is BAD!!!
Review: The book as a whole is a good training book with lessons (4-stars) Be advised...the CD test that comes with this kit is very limited; it does not allow you to choose the number of questions, does not show you which questions you got correctly/incorrectly, and does NOT show you the correct questions (no question review). That said, the CD is pretty much useless. (1-star) Overall: 2.5 stars.
Rating:
Summary: Its OK not great
Review: The book covers a good number of topics however falls short in quite a few ways. We purchased this book for junior programmers to make sure they had all the basics. They had trouble setting up the examples and the directions for setup were not very clear. The install could have easily setup the sample files and virtual directories but instead was only copied to a folder on the pc. Once setup, you need to fix one of the examples that points to \\oemcomputer in a solution file. You can open the .sln file in notepad and change the location. The csWebNamespace example in chapter two does not work. The csState example takes an extra button click to register that a new text was written in the webform at run time. For example, if you started with WOMBAT then typed FOO; the screen would repeat WOMBAT. Click again and it would say FOO. We are testing the examples so that our junior programmers do not waste their time. Additionally, at least one example can be found almost word for word in the help file .net sdk. It is not good that there are a number of errors in the first chapters of the book where the examples are relatively simple.
Rating:
Summary: Rush Job
Review: The book is a good introduction and overview of all the information needed to pass the test. But it is full of typos, and a lot of the sample code doesn't work without modification. The C# sample code is especially bad; it seems that they only tested the VB code and then just translated it to C# without testing. I found several errors in the attempts at exception handling. Even when the code is not wrong, it looks very amateurish. In a way, it is a good workout, as it forces you to learn enough to fix the code, but I am pretty sure that I haven't learned any "best practices" from this book. The book needed some more review and polishing before being published. It's the only official study guide available now--it's too bad that no other choices are available.
Rating: 
Summary: If you need to prep for certification
Review: There's only one sure-fire way to prepare for a test and it's via the official MS Press books. While they may not be the easiest or most fun to read, if you read this book you WILL be prepared to take your test.
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