Product Description

Each Training Guide will be organized around the exam objectives. This makes it very easy for readers to focus on areas where they need to improve. It also helps them identify what the key topics on the exam will be.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1181696 in Books
• Published on: 1999-11-17
• Format: Illustrated
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 816 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
The MCSD Solution Architectures Training Guide is a fine, well-thought out, solidly put together book on software construction. It is thorough--detailing everything that may affect the independent programmer, from UI considerations to how to tell if a company may be getting ready to downsize. And it even has a quality shared by few other computer books: it's enjoyable to read.

There is only one problem: It may not help you pass the test.

While a very good introduction to the issues surrounding the MCSD: SA test, the book is a large (600-page) mass of information that lacks a critical focus on the "hotspots" that routinely come up on tests. The information is, by and large, presented all at once without any weighting, as if every fact was as crucial as every other--which, from a test-taker's perspective, is demonstrably not true. In other words, it is an extremely good book but doesn't give you an idea on what sorts of topics are likely to come up on the MCSD.

And that's a shame, because otherwise the book is a wonderful primer. A large case study at the beginning of every chapter details the problems of a fictitious company, complete with quotes from imaginary interviews had with various executives and end-users. The rest of the chapter is then spent analysing the case study's information and dissecting what it means. You will learn to listen to end-user speak and translate it into what they really want technology-wise, guess what kind of funding may be available for your project just from careful analysis of senior management's guarded comments, and talk to the IT guy and learn what challenges lie ahead of you.

Scalability requirements are covered, as are user interface design, project scope, the basics of database design and normalisation, n-tier computing, ROI calculations, the PASS ME analysis that all software projects should be subjected to, and conceptual design of a project.

But still, there does seem to be some cluelessness by the authors regarding what comes up on the test. There are comments like, "Because the 70-100 exam is about designing solutions and because Microsoft has a published framework for solutions design, it seems reasonable to suggest that you do some background research on this topic in MSDN..."--and then they provide no further information on the topic, which indicates that the authors are unclear on what topics are tested.

The end-of-chapter exams are extremely good and thorough, as is usual for this series, and do help to mitigate some of the underlying problems. As does the ExamGear software, known for providing reasonably brutal sample questions to help you pass your tests. But a nagging worry about whether these were the types of questions that would show up on the exam haunted me.

As previously stated, this is an outstanding book with a major flaw. If you are buying two books to prepare for the MCSD, this should definitely be one of them. But if you're buying one book, this might not be it. --William Steinmetz, amazon.com

From the Back Cover

Each Training Guide will be organized around the exam objectives. This makes it very easy for readers to focus on areas where they need to improve. It also helps them identify what the key topics on the exam will be.

Customer Reviews

Useful book but some errors
I have used New Riders guides to study for 6 Microsoft exams up to today - all of which I have passed. I used this book to study for the 70-100 exam which I took today and failed! But only by half a percent - got 72.5% - needed 73%. The book covers the subject matter well but some of the exam questions on the cd are faulty, e.g. using radio buttons where asking to check two answers. The exam questions in the book and cd mirror those in the exam very well but they do not get the balance right. The exam is heavily case study based. It has a total of 20 questions, 13 based on 4 case studies and 7 traditional multiple choice. Despite failing I strongly recommend the book - there are few others available anyway.

Very good book for Exam 100
This book presents a very comprehensive and thorough layout of the areas you need to cover for the 70-100 Exam. I scored 856 in my first attempt. Combining this guide with the Exam Cram and Transcender tests will make anyone fly high through this exam. I recommend this book to every MSCD candidate who wants to sail through the exam at first attempt.

Good Book, but can't be used on it's own for the exam.
This is a good book and teaches you all about the subject of designing systems etc... But I failed the exam first time with a score of 724, I made stupid mistakes on the flow diagram and database questions. I would also recommend getting hold of the Trancenders if possible, after going through them I re-sat the exam and passed with a score of 902. The book should spend a bit more time explaining the 70-100 exam, not just Microsoft exams in general.