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Rating: 4 out of 5
Good hardcopy, simplistic sample exams.
I have found the best way to drive concepts home for me, is to do lots of sample questions with explanations. The printed material in this set was invaluable. This book is primarily sample questions, with a brief overview of each objective prior to the questions. The answer sections give detailed explanations of why each choice was right or wrong. As I went through this all, I took notes and filled in my weak areas.The Cd was very weak, however. The questions were simplistic and nowhere near as difficult as the real test was. (I still passed!) Overall, I was very pleased with this book as a study aid, but as a yardstick to determine your readiness for the test, don't rely on it.
Rating: 1 out of 5
700+ pages of stuff you already know
This guide was the first I found on XP. If you haven't certified on a fairly recent MS OS, this might be of use to you, but do not stop with this book. If really just scratches the surface. Most of the topics covered in the book (it does cover the objectives in a superficial way) are things the 70-270 test takes for granted you know. If you are 2000 certified, you want something else more geared to the specific differences between XP and 2000. The guide does include specific additional reading, usually from the Resource Kit or the Knowledge Base, and many hands-on lab setups (you need a 2 or 3 pc network, with 2000 Server on one). Bottom line, I do not feel this is a very good book by itself for any experience level.
Rating: 2 out of 5
False sense of security
I get the impression that Dillard and Northrup really rushed to get this book onto the bookstands. Reading through chapter one I found many instances where the authors stated Windows 2000 when they meant to say Windows XP. For example, page 19 suggests that to install Windows XP you simply "insert the Windows 2000 Professional installation CD-ROM and reboot the computer." Well, last time I checked the Windows 2000 CD installed Windows 2000, not Windows XP.So then I consulted the Microsoft Knowledge base, and discovered Q316452 which lists out all the mistakes in the book. What a mess! These authors really rushed the book, and made a lot of mistakes as a result. On the bright side - I did pass the exam, and the book did give a good overall perspective of the knowledge required to pass. My advice, however, is to make this book a supplement to a much larger amount of study. The exam had a surprising amount of questions related to the PC BIOS (APM vs ACPI) and SCSI BIOSes. To the authors I offer this - please put out a Second Edition as soon as you can, and correct these errors. The 70-270 is a fundamental exam for the .Net MCSE's, and I don't want to be working with dummies!
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