Sybex MCSE: Windows 2003 Certification Kit?

Hello.

Does anyone have any opinions on this new MCSE 2003 certification kit
by Sybex? It includes 4 books, one for each core exam (70-290,70-
291,70-293,70-294) and 6 CDs. Bookpool is selling it for $92.75 plus
free shipping and lists it only has 4 CDs, but I wonder if it's because
Sybex lists the 2 CDs at its site as bonus CDs? I have the Sybex book
for the 70-270 exam and I like the way it lists out the exam objectives
and goes through them in each chapter. Do Sybex books go indepth
enough for the exams? I'm taking a class at a technical college and we
used MSPress' "Microsoft Windows XP Professional Academic Learning
Series" book last semester for 70-270. As I started talking practice
tests, I realized that this book did not go into things asked on the
practice tests. Is there any book representative of what's on the
exams out there?

I would like recommendations for cheap and good practice exam software.
Transcenders is nice, but they want $130 for 150 questions! Give me a
break!

Thanks,
Adam

Adam
Sun Nov 02 13:10:21 CST 2003

Adam Leinss <aleinss@toughguy.net> wrote in
news:Xns942785B4BE3BFaleinsstoughguynet@toughguy.net:

> Hello.
>
> Does anyone have any opinions on this new MCSE 2003 certification
> kit by Sybex? It includes 4 books, one for each core exam
> (70-290,70- 291,70-293,70-294) and 6 CDs. Bookpool is selling it
> for $92.75 plus free shipping and lists it only has 4 CDs, but I
> wonder if it's because Sybex lists the 2 CDs at its site as bonus
> CDs? I have the Sybex book for the 70-270 exam and I like the way
> it lists out the exam objectives and goes through them in each
> chapter. Do Sybex books go indepth enough for the exams? I'm
> taking a class at a technical college and we used MSPress'
> "Microsoft Windows XP Professional Academic Learning Series" book
> last semester for 70-270. As I started talking practice tests, I
> realized that this book did not go into things asked on the
> practice tests. Is there any book representative of what's on the
> exams out there?
>
> I would like recommendations for cheap and good practice exam
> software. Transcenders is nice, but they want $130 for 150
> questions! Give me a break!

I should mention the ISBN of the kit I'm talking about, it's 0-7821-
4265-6.

Thanks,
Adam

Plain
Sun Nov 02 13:33:22 CST 2003

The book you mentioned is not available yet on Bookpol
yet. It is listed as "not-yet-published". Unless you got
a publisher's preview edition, you would not able to
grant any opinion on this book!
>-----Original Message-----
>Adam Leinss <aleinss@toughguy.net> wrote in
>news:Xns942785B4BE3BFaleinsstoughguynet@toughguy.net:
>
>> Hello.
>>
>> Does anyone have any opinions on this new MCSE 2003
certification
>> kit by Sybex? It includes 4 books, one for each core
exam
>> (70-290,70- 291,70-293,70-294) and 6 CDs. Bookpool is
selling it
>> for $92.75 plus free shipping and lists it only has 4
CDs, but I
>> wonder if it's because Sybex lists the 2 CDs at its
site as bonus
>> CDs? I have the Sybex book for the 70-270 exam and I
like the way
>> it lists out the exam objectives and goes through them
in each
>> chapter. Do Sybex books go indepth enough for the
exams? I'm
>> taking a class at a technical college and we used
MSPress'
>> "Microsoft Windows XP Professional Academic Learning
Series" book
>> last semester for 70-270. As I started talking
practice tests, I
>> realized that this book did not go into things asked
on the
>> practice tests. Is there any book representative of
what's on the
>> exams out there?
>>
>> I would like recommendations for cheap and good
practice exam
>> software. Transcenders is nice, but they want $130 for
150
>> questions! Give me a break!
>
>I should mention the ISBN of the kit I'm talking about,
it's 0-7821-
>4265-6.
>
>Thanks,
>Adam
>.
>

Adam
Sun Nov 02 15:33:58 CST 2003

"Plain Jane@nospam.com" <anonymous@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in
news:020001c3a178$2d1deff0$a301280a@phx.gbl:

> The book you mentioned is not available yet on Bookpol
> yet. It is listed as "not-yet-published". Unless you got
> a publisher's preview edition, you would not able to
> grant any opinion on this book!

It is avaiable at B&N and Sybex. How about an opinion of Sybex books
on MCSE in general?

Thanks,
Adam

Daniel
Sun Nov 02 17:11:24 CST 2003

Sybex is good if you are strong on Windows to begin with if not go with the
MS Press books because they go into more depth

"Adam Leinss" <aleinss@toughguy.net> wrote in message
news:Xns94279E581D68Baleinsstoughguynet@toughguy.net...
> "Plain Jane@nospam.com" <anonymous@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in
> news:020001c3a178$2d1deff0$a301280a@phx.gbl:
>
> > The book you mentioned is not available yet on Bookpol
> > yet. It is listed as "not-yet-published". Unless you got
> > a publisher's preview edition, you would not able to
> > grant any opinion on this book!
>
> It is avaiable at B&N and Sybex. How about an opinion of Sybex books
> on MCSE in general?
>
> Thanks,
> Adam
>

Adam
Sun Nov 02 19:36:27 CST 2003

"Daniel Lawrence" <delphiworks@hotmail.com> wrote in
news:Q5gpb.818$mB5.132075@news20.bellglobal.com:

> Sybex is good if you are strong on Windows to begin with if not go
> with the MS Press books because they go into more depth

I'm not sure that is a hard and fast rule. The User State Migration
Tool (USMT) is covered in the Sybex book, but not in my ALS Windows XP
book by MSPress. That's really disappointing. Now I am using
"Managing and Maintaining a Windows Server 2003 Environment" by Dan
Holme and Orin Thomas, a MS Press book for 70-290. It goes into great
detail on the command line utilities, such as DSQUERY and DSADD. The
Sybex book for 70-290, however, mentions them only in passing. And my
instructor says the Holme book is missing things covered by the MOC and
she will have to supplement the material to make up for this missing
information.

So I guess there no official book out there that has everything. =(

Adam

CAT
Mon Nov 03 09:01:40 CST 2003

After having studied from Microsoft Press for 70-290 and missing passing by
what looked like one question I bought the Sybex. I found the Sybex book to
go into more depth on the basics and it covered things Press book didn't.
Microsoft Press book also covered things that Sybex didn't. My current
strategy (in addition to continuing practicing on my lab setup) is to read
the Microsoft Press book and then read and take notes from the Sybex book.
(I find I remember better if I write things down) I'm already doing better
on the practice exams provided with both books and plan to retake the test
the beginning of next week. I should note I'm an experienced admin on NT
4.0 with limited work experience in Win 2000. Hope this helps.

CAT
"Adam Leinss" <aleinss@toughguy.net> wrote in message
news:Xns942785B4BE3BFaleinsstoughguynet@toughguy.net...
> Hello.
>
> Does anyone have any opinions on this new MCSE 2003 certification kit
> by Sybex? It includes 4 books, one for each core exam (70-290,70-
> 291,70-293,70-294) and 6 CDs. Bookpool is selling it for $92.75 plus
> free shipping and lists it only has 4 CDs, but I wonder if it's because
> Sybex lists the 2 CDs at its site as bonus CDs? I have the Sybex book
> for the 70-270 exam and I like the way it lists out the exam objectives
> and goes through them in each chapter. Do Sybex books go indepth
> enough for the exams? I'm taking a class at a technical college and we
> used MSPress' "Microsoft Windows XP Professional Academic Learning
> Series" book last semester for 70-270. As I started talking practice
> tests, I realized that this book did not go into things asked on the
> practice tests. Is there any book representative of what's on the
> exams out there?
>
> I would like recommendations for cheap and good practice exam software.
> Transcenders is nice, but they want $130 for 150 questions! Give me a
> break!
>
> Thanks,
> Adam