Announcing an all-new MCSA/MCSE Training Kit designed to help maximize your performance on Exam 70-290, a core exam for the new Windows Server 2003 certification. This kit packs the tools and features that exam candidates want most—including in-depth, self-paced training based on final exam content; rigorous, objective-by-objective review; exam tips from expert, exam-certified authors; and a robust testing suite. It also provides real-world scenarios, case study examples, and troubleshooting labs for skills and expertise that you can apply to the job.

Focusing on account and resource management in a Windows Server 2003 environment, this official study guide covers topics such as managing physical and logical devices; users, computers, and groups; access and permissions; the server environment; and disaster recovery services.

Ace your exam preparation and ramp up quickly on Windows Server 2003 by working at your own pace through the lessons, hands-on exercises, and practice tests. The flexible, best-of-class test engine on CD features 300 practice questions and pre-assessment and post-assessment capabilities. Choose timed or untimed testing mode, generate random tests, or focus on discrete objectives or chapters, and get detailed explanations for right and wrong answers—including pointers back to the book for further study. You also get a 120-day evaluation version of Windows Server 2003 and a 15 percent exam discount voucher—making this kit an exceptional value and a great career investment.

Amazon.com® Reader Reviews (Ranked by Helpfulness)

Average Amazon.com® Rating:  Based on 22 Ratings

Lots of useful material, but extremely hard to read - 2009-04-09
Reviewer Rating:
If I had the choice, I'd give this book 3.5 stars. This book is full of useful material, and the exercises you are supposed to perform are generally relevant and useful for preparing for the exam.

Every objective in the exam is technically covered, but the book does not include some of material that is covered on the test. This is not entirely the book's fault, as some of the test questions bordered on obscure. Still, 85%-90% of the actual test material is covered somewhere in the book. If you read the book carefully and slowly, there is a good chance you will pass the exam.

Unfortunately, the problem with this book is NOT detail. This book was extremely dry and was it wasn't very fluid. The material simply did not "flow" as you were reading it, and the sections were very disjointed... If you look at my review history, you'll see that I've read quite of few technical books that others would consider "dry"... but this one takes the cake (just edging out the ISC's CISSP book).

I also managed to read Sybex's 70-291 book, and also viewed CBT nugget's training video. Sybex's book was more geared toward the fundamentals, and lacked some of the details found in this book. The Sybex book is perfect for starting from the ground up, was fluid and explained itself very well. It was much more pleasant to read than this MS self paced training kit. The Sybex book would be the better book for a beginner, while this book would be better for a seasoned MS Administrator.

CBT nuggets was an excellent resource as well. It covered a lot of those little details that are hard to pick up through reading, or that might not be obvious until you perform the actions in a lab environment.

About the exam:

The MS exams are less straightforward (more tricky) than other exams that I've taken. I hear people often complain that they narrow it down to "two possible answers", and have trouble choosing between the two. If you encounter this problem, you aren't reading the question carefully enough. Almost every question like this that I saw had a small detail that would eliminate all but one answer. Not one question had two "correct" answers.

The questions are also a bit more wordy than other exams, so if you aren't the most patient person you may have some trouble. Once again, its important that you look over the details.

While I can't violate the NDA, I can say that a good portion of the questions fell within the core of the objectives. Most were very routine questions that involve average day to day tasks for an Administrator. About 5%-10% of the questions, however, were only LOOSELY related to the core objectives. For instance, the disaster recovery objective could extend to any service in the active directory. Do you know how to backup/replicate/transfer data from ALL the services that are integrated into active directory? Probably not. I was very lucky to have seen these things before, but they were so obscure I doubt most people have even seen them (let alone know how they work).

Also, I have a feeling most people will be unprepared for the automation objections. No one really uses them. Just a wake up call to all of you, they are on the test (its in the objectives!). If you don't know exactly what these automation tools do, you are going to have a hard time. Do you know the format differences, and do you know the functionality differences of LFIDE vs CSVDE vs AD Users and Computers? These tools aren't very automated, so no one really uses them (Much easier to use user data to produce dsadd or dsmod scripts). Learn how to use them.

I would definitely set up a lab, or use CBT training videos. Reading alone isn't going to be enough, especially for the simulations.

Finally, you NEED practice questions for this test. Its coverage is far too broad, and you need to make sure you have all areas of the objectives down pat. Its easy to have some wrong ideas about permissions, and/or group scopes and not realize it until you are tested. If you have a problem like this (especially in these areas), you aren't going to do well.

I passed! Using this book - 2009-09-10
Reviewer Rating:
I have used these books to pass four exams so far. They get pretty detailed sometimes maybe to detailed if there is such a thing.

Bottom line using these books I pass every time!

Very Good Book!!! - 2009-07-08
Reviewer Rating:
This product will definately help you brush up on your skills to pass the 70-290.

Nana - 2009-07-01
Reviewer Rating:
Good book, very thorough. I used the 70-620 book in this series and did very well on the test. Highly recommend.

Material is Right on Target; Passed 70-290 - 2009-04-27
Reviewer Rating:
This book was *not* written for the end user community. It strictly focuses on exam material and passing the 70-290 exam. It does an excellent job of introducing server and then quickly moves on to covering topics in-depth; beyond what you would normally expect.

I learned so many new things and found this book to be a real joy. As for covering all the exam material, I would highly recommend you supplement your training with ExamCram2, practice exams, or training videos. For me, reading this book, doing the labs, and then following up with the ExamCram series put me in a great position for the 70-290 exam.

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