MCSD - recommended study books

Discussion in 'MCAD / MCSD / MCPD' started by fizzer, Sep 12, 2007.

  1. fizzer

    fizzer New Member

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    Hi,

    Any recommendations for the best Study books for MCSD 70-300?

    I've used Que books before as I have found these better than MS press. Anyone got any preferences?
     
  2. dmarsh
    Honorary Member 500 Likes Award

    dmarsh Petabyte Poster

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    I think the quality of alot of cert books is pretty poor. MS Press have a long history of pretty poor books to be honest, the trouble is they write the exams so they do have a unique insight on what to learn, they also tend to bundle their software and the MeasureUp derived tests. They also generally give you a 15% discount code. The total package tends to mean that they are generally the best bet at least for passing the tests if not for learning or reference in general.

    My favourite publishers are APress, Addison Wesley, Prentice Hall, O'Reilly, Manning etc.

    Sybex, Syngress, Wiley and Wrox can be ok sometimes. Que again not the best but can be ok. Obviously the individual book is most important thing as these are just blanket generalisations.
     
  3. JonnyMX

    JonnyMX Petabyte Poster

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    70-300 is almost impossible to find on its own.
    I bought the MS press core MCSD syllabus boxed set, which contains one.
    MS press have improved a lot in recent years, and I found them really useful.
     
    Certifications: MCT, MCTS, i-Net+, CIW CI, Prince2, MSP, MCSD
  4. dmarsh
    Honorary Member 500 Likes Award

    dmarsh Petabyte Poster

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  5. JonnyMX

    JonnyMX Petabyte Poster

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    70-300 is a design exam, and as anyone who has done one can tell you, they are really hard to crack unless you know your stuff.

    Because they are based on varied and complex scenarios, there is not really an easy way to bone up on them without experience (not any experience mind - doing things the MS way only).

    Maybe that's why there are so few books available and they are all so thin...
     
    Certifications: MCT, MCTS, i-Net+, CIW CI, Prince2, MSP, MCSD
  6. dmarsh
    Honorary Member 500 Likes Award

    dmarsh Petabyte Poster

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    Well one guy complained and he had 6 yrs experience.

    I've got 13 yrs experience and I struggled with my microsoft design / development best practice exam, some of the questions and approved answers are pretty dubious imho.

    A lot of it amounts to 'guess what the microsoft test writer thinks is the way to do it' and does not really reflect reality.

    Many of the questions have no one right answer and there is not enough context to determine the 'best' answer.
     
  7. JonnyMX

    JonnyMX Petabyte Poster

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    Is that a criticism of the exam, or the training material?

    Not trying to get into an argument about this.
    I passed 70-300, and I'm just giving the benefit of my experience to the guy who asked the question...
     
    Certifications: MCT, MCTS, i-Net+, CIW CI, Prince2, MSP, MCSD
  8. fizzer

    fizzer New Member

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    Thanks for the replies.

    I think i'm going to go with the book from Amazon that you suggested for starters. That was the one I was looking at. It's by Que and i've had good results with them in the past.

    I've had four years experience. I'll try my best! :oops:
     
  9. dmarsh
    Honorary Member 500 Likes Award

    dmarsh Petabyte Poster

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    Best of luck fizzer ! :biggrin

    Well I took 70-548, obviously not the same exam so no direct comparison, I used MS Press training kit, so I'd have to say its a critisim of both really. Maybe i'm not a design expert but I have been designing and developing for thirteen years, and have read MANY design and dev books as well as applied the stuff in the real world, this and a full week with the training kit and official measure up test should really have seen me through with flying colours in my opinion, I barely passed so make of that what you will.
     
  10. JonnyMX

    JonnyMX Petabyte Poster

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    It's a pig and no mistake.

    The scenarios are so long winded it can be hard to take in. Then unlike most exams which give you about four possible answers with the instruction to 'select one' or 'select two', this one has about 10 possibilities and the instruction 'select all that apply'.

    So they're not looking for a single correct answer, they are looking for a number of factors that you would consider in your design. Select too many or too few, and that's it.

    Even if they said 'select four' it would give you a clue...
     
    Certifications: MCT, MCTS, i-Net+, CIW CI, Prince2, MSP, MCSD

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