Preparation Books

Since computers seem to be the wave of the future I decided to get my certification. I bought Mr. Dively's book hoping to study and pass my CCNA. The book is well written, but it did not help me pass the test. In retrospect, it might have helped. If you get 1/10th of the pleasure out of it that I do then it is well worth the price.

Ready to take the CCNA exam but want a last minute review. Need to find a book that points out the finer exam objectives for CCNA. Here is the answer to those situations. Tailored made for the final exam prep PASS IT is an excellent choice.

Laid out over the 225 pages are the exam objectives and topics such as OSI model, Cisco 3 Layer design model, topologies, layer 2 devices like bridges and switches. I liked the break down differences of the switch and the bridge.

Also covered is VLANs, router configuration, IOS and management. TCP/IP, IP and IPX routing with the use of access lists for both and SAP as well. WAN protocols like HDLC, Frame Relay, PPP and ISDN.

The book has exam tips to help when taking the test, exam review questions at the end of each section. A cd-rom has been included with more exam tips, practice questions and even a practice exam. For the money there should be more questions included but overall the material covered should make studying easier.

I have been trying for 2 years to get my CCNA. I have purchased 2 hardcover books and 3 test prep books. I purchased this book and passed first time. Wish there were more certification books by this guy.

Up to date, with rationales, for the reason one answer is correct or not correct. Very organized.

This book was a great help to pass the CCRN, it gives questions and rationals in all sections of the test. It is also good if you just want to brush up on neonatal nursing knowledge. A great accompany to this book is the Core Curriculum for Neonatal Nursing, these two books together have everything you need to know to pass the CCRN and increase your knowledge in neonatal nursing.

I had originally planned on reading the Core Curriculum text, but then realized that wasn't going to happen. Instead, I just did the review questions in this book. It is divided by topic and gives rationales for all the answers in the book. I went through the book once and passed my NICU RNC exam on my first try.

I don't think I would have passed Ped's without this book. Its so easy to understand and it gives you 20 NCLEX questions for each chapter. Also the CD that comes with it has an EXTRA 30 questions for each chapter! Its a great book I recommend it to anyone in nursing school.

Good study aid! I love taking it with me to clinical. Its review questions, rationales, as well as course outlines are extremely helpful.

This text has been invaluable as an accessory study guide. I feel it would compliment any text book. The NCLEX questions are excellent and on target in helping to understand the various pediatric processes.

I bought the audiobook after getting the paperback. I found it's not just the perfect complement, but even better for covering many topics because I could listen while driving, on my way to class, or in the background at home while doing other things. Since I'm easily distracted myself, the chimes helped keep my focus on the book, and though I love the paperback and the layout (super-easy to read) the audiobook made it even easier to follow...and I think there's even a little info in the audiobook (particularly around meds and alternative solutions...at least that's what I've seen so far, that's not even in the paperback...and yeah, at 13 hours, thankfully broken up into searchable, bite-sized sections, it's definitely UNABRIDGED...but with great info!)

It's rare that a book (or audiobook) comes along that touches your heart while helping you relate to specific problems.

College Confidence with ADD is one such book. Written from the heart, Michael Sandler doesn't preach, but instead shares with you the hurdles involved in succeeding with ADHD, or any learning disability for that matter, how he personally overcame his challenges, and ways you too can succeed.

It's really two books in one...the first, a personal account of overcoming challenges, succeeding with a 'disability', and as Michael puts it, and shares through his own story, turning 'challenges into opportunities'. It's a beautiful book written from the heart sharing his touching stories.

The second book is a how-to guide on overcoming almost every challenge imaginable, and succeeding in school or in life today. Others I've shown this book would say it's a how-to guide for anyone in this modern, hectic, crazy-world. But it's definitely a how-to guide for anyone that think's outside the box, doesn't go from point A to point B in a straight line, or is labeled with AD/HD, Asbergers, Dyslexia, or any other 'learning disability'.

Michael helps readers quickly find the information they, or I am looking for, so that you can get back on track quickly. If you're struggling for a test, the info's in there...need to get organized, it's in there, struggling with relationships in school or beyond, it's in there too.

If you struggle to read, don't have the attention to read, have a reading disability or just prefer audiobooks, then I'd get the audiobook first...or get both, and keep the paperback as a great quick-reference guide, always at the ready. (Or let the parents keep the paperback, and put the audio-version on your iPod or other Mp3 player).

If you're looking for one book or audiobook to overcome challenges, see how others have done it, and figure out how to succeed, this book is worth a try!!!

Useful and informative! Love how things are broken up into sections...No matter what information I was looking for, I could find it fast!

Way more information than I ever thought would be in an ADD book, audiobook or otherwise.

I can't say enough about how terrific and unique this audio book is not only for teens going off to college, in college, post grads... but for ANYONE with ADD or ADHD!! This book is explained in a format where the author shares his stories and then details what he has learned from his experiences, in order to help others. He has ADHD himself and is even a life coach for other ADDers now. This audio book is like having an ADD coach by your side all the time. You can use it as a guide and listen to various sections when necessary or you can listen to it fully over and over again. The author's writing is captivating, lighthearted and even humorous at times. He even laughs at his own mistakes sometimes, which truly helps readers see life as a bigger picture than just a current struggle they may be going through at the time. He explains the many creative gifts of having ADD and broaches just about every life topic with great knowledge. His sections range from the best foods for an ADDer to eat to stay focused, to sections on how college students with ADD can keep a great schedule for eating, laundry, and cleaning. He also broaches much deeper sections on depression and impulse behaviors of ADDers. This audio book is a captivating and highly educational resourse!! FABULOUS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Having taken both the skills as well as the written tests in texas, even though the book is probaly good,its eally not needed, the test is fairly simple, although the skills part of it made me a little nervous, i was kinda scared of shaving the male resident, and would you know that that was one of my five skills that i had to preform in front of a very intimidating nurse examiner, anyway, i passed both tests, the written test is common sense questions, so if you have that, all you need is the text and workbooks that you received during orientation, hopefully the books go into detail on certain things like infection control, duties of the CNA, and other important things like not passing medications.

Service was fantastic. The order arrived on time and I was very pleased. I would definitly order from Amazon again.

This book really helped me review for things I did not get to practice in my clinicals (which I did get tested on, of course). The layout is neat and easy to follow. There are practice tests in the back with answers and explanations. I recommend this book for students to follow during their course as well as those who have to refresh the material.

The book provides a solid framework for data preparation activities that is rarely found in other data mining books. Each chapter starts with an intro to the theoretical foundation required to complete a specific data preparation task. Then it moves to its practical application providing relevant examples, and the SAS macros required to do the work.

Having read quite a few books on the subject of data preparation, this book is quite unique in its focus on practical applications. Not only it provides the SAS code required to complete the key data preparation activities, but it also gives practical tips and information that is hard to come across unless you are a seasoned data miner.

The treatment of topics such as missing values, sampling, data transformations, and variable reduction is simply excellent. The book also pays attention to the scoring phase and the requirements for the scoring dataset. This is key for any production data mining application and will help in process automation planning in any SAS environment.

The accompanying CD includes all the SAS macros and makes it easy to start automating data preparation activities in a snap. If you are using SAS for data preparation, this book will save you significant time in the costly data preparation phase. Even for non-SAS users the process and concepts presented in this book may be worth looking at.

It is well known that the majority of time spent doing data mining is in the data preparation. With this book, Dr. Refaat has given analysts the tools they need to perform the often laborious task of data preparation. If you are familiar with the Numerical Recipes series of books (and if you aren't, you should be), you will recognize a similar theme. The author has:
* itemized all the elements the data miner should be aware of when they are doing data preparation,
* presented enough technical description for the reader to understand why they would be performing that particular task,
* provided all the SAS code that can be used to actually perform the data preparation step

This book is what the practicing data miner needs.

Here's a brief on the table of contents:

1. Introduction
* setting the context of data mining

2. Tasks and Data Flow
* describes what data mining can do and where data preparation fits in

3. Review of Data Mining Modeling Techniques
* an overview of data mining techniques

4. SAS Macros: A Quick Start
* just in case you haven't worked with SAS macros

5. Data Acquisition and Integration
* where you get your data from and how it's pulled together

6. Integrity Checks
* how to make sure the data is correct and even what "correct" means

7. Exploratory Data Analysis
* get to know your data

8. Sampling and Partition
* dealing with large data sets as well as getting ready to validate the models you build

9. Data Transformations
* rarely is your source data in the form most effective for modeling - this chapter describes what can be done to produce the most effective models

10. Binning and Reduction of Cardinality
* make your variables less complex and often times, more presentable and understandable

11. Treatment of Missing Values
* you will have missing values in your data - here are several approaches for dealing with them

12. Predictive Power and Variable Reduction I
* introduces the concept of identifying usefulness of input variables and reducing the required number of variables

13. Analysis of Nominal and Ordinal Variables
* how to evaluate relationships with discrete variables

14. Analysis of Continuous Variables
* how to evaluate relationships with continuous variables

15. Principal Component Analysis
* how to use PCA for variable reduction during data preparation

16. Factor Analysis
* how to use Factor Analysis for variable reduction during data preparation

17. Predictive Power and Variable Reduction II
* defines methods of simplifying and reducing input variables with respect to the target variable

18. Putting It All Together
* a case study showing the application of all these techniques for data preparation in a realistic example

Appendix. Listing of SAS Macros
* complete listing of all the SAS code referenced in the book - also included on the CD

I have been working in data mining and with SAS for the last 10 years. This is the best book without doubt. It is consice, to the point, not a lot of fluf and useless theory. It teaches you how to actually do it! The book took me step by step through the process of data preparation using SAS and let me write fantastic macros. All the macros are included in the CD and are ready to run. I strongly recommend this book to anyone who is using SAS to work the data either for reporting or for modeling. I attended many training courses on data mining, and even data preparation, but nothing is like this book. It reveals all the secrets. For example, how to bin variables using Gini, how to select the best modeling variables using Entropy, Ginin, Chi2, how to reduce the variables using principal component analysis, treatment of missing values occupies and huge chapter that in my opinion has no competitors, mapping categorical variables into dummy variables, reduction of cardinality using Gini (best grouping). All these things until now were the secrets of the 'gurus', not any more thanks to Dr. Refaat and his book! For example, I used to use a decision tree software to select the best variables, then use logistic regression to build the models. Not any more. With the SAS programs in the book, I can now select the best variables and build the model within one SAs script.... I only wish if the author would also write a similar book on modeling... This book is a life saver ...

I am more than satisfied after I received the book and actually took a read. The book is well made and organized, containing super rich content in a compact size. I also found those photos in good quality.
Along with the book you also get the access to the Student Consult online which I think still needs improvement. The software took a lot of time to synchronize with my PDA and it generates many un-coded letters.
But anyhow, this book itself is worth the price. A must read for new dermatologists.

I bought this book a month ago,read it thoroughly and find it quite intersting and informative.It is different from the books usually written on dermatology.All questions asked are very common,informative and the one which are usually asked in the ward rounds and clinical meetings.
I recommend this book to all the dermatologists !

Another excellent secret series book that covers must of the essential dermatological facts that must be known by any health care provider. It includes lots of good quality photographs and interesting facts. Certainly, this book is worth the time and the money.

I read Dignity Beyond Death soon after my mother died. It was comforting to know that her final journey in this life was met with the caring, sensitive and meaningful ritual of Tahara.The dignity and spirituality of the process was in keeping with how she lived her life. Rochel Berman has given us a gift by sharing with us the world of Tahara where the final act of kindness occurs from one human being to another.

After reading this book, I now understand how special the Jewish preparation for burial is. This is the first book I have ever seen that not only gives information on what the preparation for Jewish burial entails, but also there are several personal, moving accounts from people who are performing the Jewish preparation for burial, and from people who decided to give their deceased a proper Jewish burial. The book is easy reading. I found that this book comes across appealing to all groups in the Jewish people. Its a great source of information for all.

Dignity Beyond Death is a passionate and deeply informed study of one of the most ancient and significant rituals of Jewish practice. Yet the purification (tahara) of the dead before burial by volunteer members of the community (the Hevra Kadisha), while perhaps known in principle, has hardly received the attention it deserves. Tahara performs a dual function. The ritual insists on the dignity of a person after death; it also sustains the spiritual bond between the living and the dead for those who dedicate themselves to this task and it comforts the mourners in the most difficult of times to know how much selfless care is bestowed upon their loved ones. Berman's extensive interviews introduces a variety of wide-ranging voices across the spectrum of traditional Judaism, while her detailed explanations enrich our knowledge of the intricate procedures and the reasons behind them. Of special interest are the chapters on the Holocaust, the aftermath of terrorist bombings in Israel, and what followed the catastrophic events of 9/11. These take the reader beyond everyday practice to a deeper understanding of the value of Tahara in times of disaster to honor, as far as it is or was possible, the worth and integrity of every human being. Written in a lively and engaging style by one whose authority is drawn from long-time experience, this book will serve as a standard for a long time to come.

Rosenthal does it again! His updated book hammers home the points and information beginning counselors need for upcoming exams or seasoned counselors need for refresher. I also bought and listened to his audio cd set for further instruction. He explains theory and techniques in such an easy-to-understand fashion. I fully expect to pass the NCE after completing reading his book and finishing the cds. I'll update this review after I've taken the exam.

I already knew that The Encyclopedia of Counseling is a great study guide. It has great questions plus the answers come with teaching information about that answer or some of the other choices so you know why those are not correct. When ordering my own copy from Amazon, I found that they offered a package that also contains a complete set of teaching CDs and the Human Services Dictionary which contains people, terms, theories, and other information. These were bundled together for a price less than buying each alone. I find the information very helpful in preparing for the NCE in that it gives me both visual and auditory in studying the information.

I used Rosenthal's Encyclopedia and his tapes (I was given an older version by a friend who was already licensed) to study for my NCE. Many of my friends found themselves having to take the exam a second and third time because they could not pass what they said was an "impossible exam." I, on the other hand, passed on the first try and got a very high score. I even had whole sections where I got ever answer correct! I credit my success to Rosenthal's study materials. They are clear, easy to use, and Rosenthal's tapes/CDs are intersting to listen to. Rosenthal uses a number of pneumonic devices and little tricks to help you remember things. I recommend these materials very highly to anyone who wants to pass the NCE--and remember, whatever you spend on these materials will be far cheaper than taking the exam a second time!

A great book for the medical student. Easy to find desired information, tends to focus on the fundamentals. The book addresses topics that seem to come up in questions asked of the medical student. Used copies are easy to find therefore it's a more affordable resource than some of the alternatives.

This book is written very well and is totally up to date. Only useful if you want to go into ENT. Way too detailed otherwise. I've seen lots of 3rd year students who want to go into otolaryngology carrying it around in their pockets on ENT rotations. It is not the place to review anatomy. You will need a separate source for anatomy.

Excellent review of otolaryngology, many quick read chapters with tons of facts!