Certification Books

I just purchased this book, I found it very well written. The Labs and explanations are well organized and detailed.

I passed the lab in March of 2003. I could only suggest the book to those just starting their studies. For those just about ready to go to the lab, let's say with 3 months to go before lab date, this won't be of much help. Practice labs need to be HARDER than the CCIE Lab.
If you are going to spend your time going for the CCIE, you MAY (I repeat MAY) want to start with this one, but review it to make sure they have changed the technologies! As of the last writing which I own, it's outdated.
Out of all of the time I spent on the CCIE preperation, I used this about 1% of my total study time. I guess that sums it up.

This book is for CCNP level. CCIEs will think the labs in this book are a joke. The solie book and ccbootcamp.com have much better labs than these.

I found this book to be a good reference for the basics of the CCIE Lab. It provided a good foundation, however, it fell short of being a good preparation tool for the actual Lab. The book does not address the new 1-day format of the Lab Exam very well, and I felt that the book did not cover the internetworking technologies to the difficulty levels of the actual Lab exam.

I would recommend this book as a beginning to serious Lab Exam preparation, but you will soon find that you need to progress beyond the scope of this book.

PLEASE SAVE YOUR HARD EARNED MONEY!

Yes, this book address the 2-day lab. But, I bought any way, figuring any lab work was beneficial. WRONG! I am half way through this book and I am finding it riddled with typos, mistakes, and poor editting. The labs are rather basic, if you can make it through the errors. Perhaps the authors should read Doyle's TCP/IP for a refresher on redistributing classful and classless routing protocols! I am forcing my way through, only because I hate to waste the money! DO NOT BUY!!!

I got a petty good understanding on IIS with this book. Thanks again, Lisa Donald. This is the 3th book i read from Lisa Donald, i got pass on those exams with all her book. Don't confuse this "Test Success" and the other one call "study guide". Test Success is a very good book for passing IIS and you can get a clear concept too. Hope Lisa Donald can write more good books agin for win2000.

not one book I ever boat was as helpful at exams as this one , it was wonderful in its way of simpliving IIS 4.0 , infact it had all what a student beed whether he is full ready , or still propering for exam .

I my self , used this book for preperation for IIS prometrec exam , I read it from start to end and faed the exam with it , and its proven it worth as it helped me against 24 of the 55 IIS quistions , of corse that don't make a copmplete readiness for IIS prometric , but with practical training mixed with other resources nothing can stop you from secceding in IIS premetric tests .

also a friend of mine tried it in an info IIS exam , it was as helpfoll to him as it was to me . so with calculating how hard was the exams I give it 5 stars .

I use it for supplement. It is a good summary book for the exam. Concise and hit the main point. It is not wasting your time. It is very useful.

Not very helpful. The practice questions are too easy and too few in number to be helpful for the 70-087 exam. And the layout drove me buggy. Sorry Sibex.

Use this book and the Thelma brain dump .............. and you'll pass the exam easy! the Thelma brain dump question and answer are like exactly the same questions from the exam and this book also has similar question and the right answers... Don't for get to do some practice work too... We don't need paper MCSE's out there we do need you to know it hands on too...

I've only read through 4 chapters so far and it's left me confused and aggravated because I'm reading things in the book that I think are wrong and have to take the time to research these inaccuracies online- and thats wasting my time and irritating. It's like going to a Doctor and not being able to trust his advice and needing a second opinion for everything.

Also, this book seems like a training manual to be a minimum wage tech for an electronics megastore as many of the scenarios place you in this less than admirable, albeit hypothetical, role. I'm not sure why the authors would choose to place their readers in such a role when the same duties are faced by experienced network administrators as well.

I bought this because there wasn't much out there covering the topic at the time. I don't know if it's the authors fault or perhaps MS Press forcing the book out before being thoroughly proofed, but I will definitely look for other options before I purchase another book by these "Three Amigos" of authoring again . . .

This book was purchased as a gift for my son, who is studying to take this exam. He said that it was "very good". So much for a young man's feedback.

This self-help book helped me a lot in preparing me for the MCITP exams. Having a busy time at work and no time at all to go to a learning partner, the book guided me through the learning objectives of the exam.

One of the better written MS Press books. Very clear and easy to understand, if you have a copy of Vista do the labs with it. The practice tests on the CD are close to the real thing so allot yourself time to do them. The test I took recently (and passed) had 8 Sims so be sure you can physically do a job at hand rather than "multiple-guess" the answers. Overall a good book for taking and passing your MCTS test.

If you read the chapters, perform the practice labs, and work out the answers to the review questions (CD is helpful for this); you'll pass, no troubles. All 70-620 objectives are covered as thoroughly as needed.

I even purchased access to sample test questions from MeasureUp, but found the samples from this book to be significantly more relevent to the actual exam.

I use this book to learn PL/SQL. It is well-written and easy to follow. The codes in the book are also helpful for learning and practicing what you are reading. The book is good for biginners and certainly useful for intermediates and experts. If you are new to PL/SQL programming, after going through this book carefully you should start writing your own codes in PL/SQL. The book can also be used as reference to check syntax or to review concepts. There are certainly other PL/SQL books but this one can be a starting point. Overall the author did a good job and I can recommend the book.

I use this book for reference of PL/SQL programming. Ther're some examples in the book. The format and index of this book is good too.

I think this book is the best book to begin writting PL/SQL code, so It has all programming level, from beginner to expert.

After reading this book, my programming skills leaped from Oracle kindergartener to Oracle goddess! As well as a great introduction to PL/SQL and a thorough reference, this book sits right next to my keyboard when I program. It not only covers basic PL/SQL, but also Oracle built-in packages, objects, collections, debugging, and the list goes on. Whether you're just getting started or having been programming for a while, this is an invaluable resource.

I rate books by what the author states as the goals for the book. The Introduction to any book should tell you this. Oracle 8 PL/SQL Programming states that the book "is appropriate for both experienced programmers who neet to know just the syntax for PL/SQL and its advanced features, and for novice programmers who are not familiar with other third-generation languages." While there is much to recommend in this book it does not fulfill its promise.

Novice programers will find this book a diffuclt read. It does contain useful information, particularly when the authors delves into his expereinces. However it is not structured as an instruction text that a novice programmer can pick up and learn from.

How does it work as a reference? The explinations of the syntax vary between encyclopedic, as in Chapeter 5: Built-in SQL Functions and lacking completenes as in Chapter 7: Subprograms: Procedures and Functions.

In Chapter 5 the author catalogues over a hundred functions available in PL/SQL. If the goal is to be a reference work this is a fine approach. It is not very useful to a novice programmer trying to learn PL/SQL. For the novice cataloguse do not demonstrate how to put the pieces together.

In Chapter 7 we are formally intorduced to the Procedured and Functions. The problem is each element of the all important features of the language is NOT explained.

For example, the AS and IN clauses are presented in the specification of the formal syntax but are not explained in the chapter. This oversite would be acceptable if these terms had been discussed elsewhere. A check of the Index for pointer to an explination revealed nothing useful.

With respect to this example we are left with one of two conlusions. Either there is not explination for these terms or the index is not up to the task of providing us a pointer. In either case it makes this work a poor reference. How are we supposed to find details when there is no path to them?

I purchased this book in March 2008 to prepare for the CISA exam in June 2008. I thought the book was quite helpful in explaining concepts. The material is very structured and it is a useful tool for preparing for the CISA exam. I used this book, one other book, and the ISACA CD (review questions) and passed the exam on my first attempt in June 2008. (I also had the ISACA official review guide/book and found that too comprehensive and dry to study from for more than short periods of time.) I do recommend this book to others looking to prepare for the CISA exam.

Read the book. Then I ordered the manual and questions. Basically the book did not help me answer the practice questions. If you want to pass the exam, get the manual and practice questions. If you want to learn some practical industry tips along with the broad understanding of topics, get this book.

I really enjoyed reading this study as it does cover many aspects of CISA exam. However, this book alone is not sufficient to clear the exam. Apart from professional experience in ICT industry, I used the following to clear the CISA exam in December 2007:
CISA exam prep study guide (latest edition)
CISA study guide by sybex (latest edition)
ISACA question and answer set (software) - latest edition

This should suffice to give anyone a good try at the CISA exam. Cheers.

It is too general and may be a book you can suggest for auditors, but not for the one who wants to pass the test.

After waiting eight weeks for my score, I can finally breathe a sigh of relief: I passed the CISA exam!

Preparing for and taking the CISA exam is a painful and frustrating process. I used this book in combination with the CD of 700+ questions from ISACA. I work as a network security professional, so I also relied heavily on my own experience and the experience of my colleagues. I interviewed colleagues extensively, particularly those with bank auditing experience and background in the financial industry.

My own background includes 10 years as a Network Administrator. I had few worries about the technical material: my main concern was how to think like an auditor. In that, I found this book very helpful. I read through it more than once. The chapters introducing audit concepts I read three times, taking notes and paying close attention. It was important to learn how to translate my technical knowledge into the framework of auditing: concepts such as auditor independence, material evidence, chain-of-custody -- these were issues that were new to me, or at least new in this context.

I strongly recommend the book to technical people who need a way to shift their viewpoint into the mindset of an auditor. There is a structure to auditing that is not covered in most IT training, and thus is new to us. But the knowledge gained is immediately useful and has real-world applications, especially if you already work in the IT security field.

For familiarity with the actual CISA exam questions, I recommend use of the CD available from ISACA. The exam itself is full of ambiguous questions. Even now, I don't know if my passing score reflects actual auditing skill or luck in interpreting the questions. The exam was also grueling due to uncomfortable seating with very little elbow room. It's an unpleasant ordeal all the way through, but I did gain a lot from the process of studying for the test and I hope the certification will be good for my career.

Greetings! Just want to warn about errors I found in this book. Check the Chapter 2 answer to question 1. It's B and C, i.e., Graphics and Hyperlinks. It's correct, but C is not Hyperlinks, it's Channels.

I agree with most of the reviews posted previously. The book is not without its deficiencies, notably repetition, especially towards the end, but it covers most of the basics to get ready for the exam. The test questions on the exam are much more "scenario" oriented, and much longer and more difficult, than the ones in the book. I took NetG on-line courses to prepare, but would not have passed without this book.

I recently took the Frontpage exam and did pretty well. I have this book to thank for that. The book presents a solid foundation for expertise in Frontpage. It does an exhaustive review of all the features of Frontpage with a few tips on optimization.

Unfortunately it only covers about 70% of the exam. For example it does not discuss which features require Frontpage server extensions very well (an important topic) and the Analysis part is essentially useless. The review questions at the end of each chapter and on the cdrom are much too simple to be a gauge for the exam. I mean c'mon do you think Microsoft will ask "What does HTTP stand for"?

This book will NOT prepare the reader for the simulation questions, because there just arent enough diagrams or illustrations that will familiarize you with the Frontpage intereface and dialog boxes (a crucial part of the exam). Coupling with this book with Running Frontpage 98 from microsoft (which had lots of visual aids) and extensive practice with the software did the trick for me.

This review is based on the idea that you are looking to maybe buy this book in order to pass the FP98 MCP exam. Overall, it will help - but I would not recommend it being your only resource. It covers too much detail in some areas (script wizard), and does not cover the nuances of site security and IIS. I just passed exam 70-055:Designing and Implementing Web Sites with Microsoft FrontPage 98 using this book as my one textual reference, so I'd have to say it did help. The book is easy to read and gives a very thorough treatment of FP98. Overall, I would say this book lays a decent groundwork as test preparation and has lots of info, but falls short. The chapter questions have wrong answers in the book and on the CD and authors tend to jump right into to details unexpectedly.

Suggestion - buy Running FP98 and get the Transcender Tests. Then go out and build lots of webs using the material from the tests. Get the experience. It seems to count more than what you can get from any book.

I do not recommend this book for those who are new to the product and have no other related experience. Start with something more simple, like the Step by Step book or something from the Dummies' series. This book does cut to the chase and provides a detailed overview of the various components of the application. It does a much better job than the MOC in preparing one for the exam!

There are a few errors in the book, especially in the sample tests. There were some questions that are just wrong! For the most part, however, this book does cover the real test - much better than the Exam Cram book for this test.

Do not rely upon only one source to prepare for this exam. It is important to have a good understanding of the site and user management features of the FrontPage Explorer. There are almost no questions about the Editor. If you focus too much on using the Editor to create pages you are wasting your time preparing for the exam. Instead, focus on the real-world running of a website using FrontPage. My experience from other certifications (CIW, CIW Site Designer) where real world applications of web technologies are examined was invaluable in preparing for this exam.

I liked this book more than I disliked it. I expect to be teaching the MS 1009 class soon, and I plan to recommend this book to my students.

The book was excellent and the delivery was within a few days. Excellent service.

This book is very good if you have some networking experience and/or a decent understanding of LAN and WAN technologies and how they work. You should supplement this with other resources, such as Exam Cram, MCSE for Dummies (seriously!), and Microsoft Readiness Review. That was my recipe for success on this exam.

I discovered the Test Success books after I had already taken TCP/IP and passed using other materials. A friend who was preparing for TCP/IP showed me his copy of TCP/IP Test Success. Everything was in the book without the excessive verbage I had waded through before.

I studied Net Essentials for 12 evenings using Net Essentials Test Success, Exam Cram Flash Cards, and Transcender CDs.

Result: 933/1000 Thanks!

Definately not the final solution to preparing for the exam but it did contain precise short explinations of what you were expected to know. It compliments Sybex's Study Guide very well. I would recommend to read the study guide first and then this book to compliment and to focus on the important things. Good luck to all of you taking this exam!

I used the MCSE Test Success NetEss book as my only textbook to study for Microsoft's Networking Essentials exam. My only other resources were 2 practice exams from Transcender and my general computer/networking knowledge.

This book did a pretty good job of preparing me for the exam. I passed on the first try, but not by much (I knew it would be close). I think the book probably doesn't explain enough to get every single exam question correct, but it explains enough to pass. And it does explain it well - without lots of extraneous information.

I would recommend using this book to learn the material, but try to get some Transcender exams for practice testing - the format & nature of the Transcender exams are much more like the actual exam than those in the book.

Although it is used for CCNP 1.0 exam, I think it is a good book anyway. It can give you a good explanation on the VLAN, especially the explanation on the product. You can get much information on Catalyst 5000/5500 series, 3000 series etc. That is the main point you should buy it.

This book has an awesome ATM section. The price of the book is worth that chapter alone. Although Sybex has an updated switching book out, this book has some seriously great information.

Plagiarism seems to be alive and well in the certification book industry--I found entire paragraphs in Lammle's CLSC book copied word for word from the Cisco Press CLSC Exam Guide and Cisco documentation. What have these guys got against footnotes and attributions? There are some important gaps, for instance, the book does not really cover Cisco's concepts of resource nodes/demand nodes, even though the 640-404 exam does have a number of conceptual and design questions. Before taking the exam and to fill in the gaps, you're well advised to review all the LAN switching white papers plus the hardware specs. available on the Cisco website. Like most books in the Sybex series, this one is sorely lacking in useful diagrams and illustrations--this is one advantage that the Cisco Press series has, but again you can compensate by hitting the website. Another inadequacy in the Lammle book is its poor presentation of the switch OS commands. I gave this book 3 stars because despite its shortcomings, it is somewhat more palatable and easier to follow than the Cisco Press one, and because some of its chapters are actually quite good--such as the one on ATM LANE. I got 100% correct in the ATM category on the 404 exam even though I didn't know much about this area before I picked up Lammle's book.

Todd Lammle's CCNA study guide is legendary and so I purchased this book hoping for the same performance. I was disappointed and felt that this book had no flow in its presentation and the concepts kept going back and forth.

I also felt that the technology sections in this book were weak, although that may have been a result of preparing the reader for CLSC, which is much more product specific than BCMSN (which is what I passed). This one definitely does not prepare you for the technology; only for the test.

If you plan to take BCMSN, do not buy this or any other CLSC book. You will not pass if this is all you use to prepare. There are several books out by now that are geared more for BCMSN. I personally recommend Cisco LAN Switching (Cisco Press) by Kennedy Clark.

This book is OK as an introduction to switching and for basic exam prep. Some parts, notably the chapter on ATM LANE, are quite good. However, several key areas are very poorly covered (the CLI, the Cat3000 series) or not treated at all (design concepts such as demand vs resource nodes--the 404 exam has a number of questions on this). You need to compensate by reading all relevant white papers and hardware specs from the Cisco website, and gaining all the hands-on practice with the CLI that you can. As with many of the Sybex books, the format is dull, unimaginative, and lacking in useful diagrams, but the material seems pretty accurate. What bothered me most about the Lammle CLSC book is that entire paragraphs were copied word for word from the Cisco Press book, without attribution. Aren't there laws against plagiarism?

I am currently on Chapter 8 of this twelve chapter book. So far, it's a clearly written review of IT Project Management with usefull apendices for connecting the subject matter to Comp TIA Project+ certification. The bad news is the publishers and author did not review the enclosed CD to assure that all of the files the author refers to are on the CD. So far, I have found four missing files, two of them are needed for completing review exercises at the end of chapters. I searched both McGraw Hill/Osborne and Joseph Philip's websites for the missing files, but could not find them.

The text itself is a good selection for anyone studying for the Project+ certificate, but I cannot give an above average rating to a project management product that does not deliver all promised deliverables.

This is a great book. Not only it has broadened my knowledge about project management, but the exercises and quizzes contained will for sure help me get my CompTIA Project+ certification.

I'm at chapter 5 and things are getting interesting. One thing to note is the informal way the author presents issues. Contrary to some other certification books I have read, that had a fixed, formal approach, this book is like talking to a good friend.

This text is for the technical manager. It breaks down your project management duties into narrower, more specific tasks. Like putting together a project team. Which involves determining what tasks need to be tackled, and finding those people qualified to do so.

Project planning is shown using various graphical approaches like network diagrams. These and other types of graphs are vital in letting you plan a schedule and then measure adherence to it.

Quality is also prominently discussed. There are suggestions on how to measure these in the deliverables. Unlike manufacturing, this can be difficult. The book only touches upon the complexities here. You should look elsewhere for a more thorough analysis of quality measurement.

This book is the ideal one to people that have to understand the principles of project management, but with focus in IT. Even though it can not give you a complete overview of project management principles (for this, you have to use PMBOK, from PMI), here you can find all the information necessary to manage IT projects.

Ce livre est idéal pour l'apprentissage de la gestion de projet. Il aborde d'une façon proche de la pratique et néanmoins avec une bonne base théorique l'art de jongler entre temps, finances resources humaines.
Ai particulièrement apprécié le chapitre "completing the project" très souvent négligé ou bâclé dans le monde réel.
Personnellement (et à ma propre surprise!), les 2 premiers chapitres (Starting & Researching the Project) m'ont étés les plus informatifs.

With this book, measureUp exams and MSDN just took me two weeks to prepare WOSA I and I passed with 811. I used the same formula for WOSA II and I also passed. It's true that the book have some errors, but those help me to test my achievemets while i Was studying.

This book and its complementary text (WA II) really do a good job of covering the subject matter that any MS-app developer should be familiar with. I studied other material before reading these texts, and I just wasn't sure if I was really learning what I need to know for my profession. These books really gave me a comfort level that I did not have before. That, to me, is more important than being a certified solution developer (which I now am).

Study, learn, and earn more in return :)

Although it helped me a lot that I have been providing solutions on Windows platform for over three years now, this book really reinforced what I already know. The Trancenders Software is a great way to test what you've learned from this book. Btw, I am basing my ratings only on the book as I wasn't able to use the accompanying software.

I read the book, took the Transcender tests and passed the Microsoft test at first attempt. Some areas in the book are covered in too much detail. The Review questions are not very good. The Transcender test are a definite must to accompany the book. PS. This combo is propably the cheapest way to pass the test.

This book is very good - as long as you don't use the CD-based test engine, as it WILL screw up your VB environment, and it doesn't score right. Make sure you download the errata from Sybex's website too. I found the material presented very well for study. I studied one chapter a day, doing all the sample questions. Then, once I'd finished studying from the book, I used the Transcenders. This formula will get you through. However, the book is a little thin in some areas including COM and ODBC Compliance. I took the exam today. The pass mark was 724 and I scored 840. Now it's on to Win Arch II...