Howard Hawhee

Very helpful for 70-176. Slightly lacking for 70-175.: The book is a good deal (money and time wise) because it provides everything you need to pass 70-176 (Desktop), and about 80% of what you need for 70-175 (Distributed). The Top-Score exam simulations where helpful, but I think Transcender does a better job of preparing you for the real exams.The labs at the end of each chapter were also very helpful. The authors' suggestions at the beginning of each chapter on how to study and prepare beyond what the material and labs provide were a nice touch (although I rarely had time to do the "additional" work). For the distributed exam, I felt that the book was a little lacking in some of the areas, such as ASP and some MTS concepts. Knowing the key concepts of ASP and the main objects that it exposes is very important for the test. For MTS, the book was a little too focused on the server administration side and not enough on the development and use of MTS objects. I had to find this information in other places. There were some minor errors in the book as well. For example, I found some conflicting information with other study material regarding what the different recordset types (static, keyset, etc.) can see when other users delete, add or change data. I bought an Exam Cram book for the 70-175 test which filled in the missing information. I would have definitely given this book 5 stars if there was just a bit more information on IIS (WebClasses, ASP) and MTS.… (mer)