Rating: 
Summary: Perfect for self-responsible students
Review: The reality is that these books give an excellent course and framework for studying for the exams. Microsoft has made it harder to just buy Transcender and pass the exams. These books helped me a lot. Very good.
Rating: 
Summary: Just so-so
Review: These books are good if you are a beginner in the field. Reads well. But being an MCSE/MCT for years, the book is basic. Some facts have been omitted. Plus I have found misleading info in the text and errors in the test answers to name a few. I started to circle mistakes and I realized that I am proofreading a book that I spent $105 dollars on.A person relying solely on the book to pass the tests is just asking for trouble.
Rating:
Summary: Improved
Review: While I would hesitate to say that the first editions of these books stunk, Sybex really stepped it up with the second editions. I had a chance to look at the first editions, and decided to go with another book (which was not very helpful). As an MCSE in NT 4, I have the basic understanding and experience needed to pass these exams. But unfortunately, I have test anxiety. The review questions in these books were extremely helpful, as well as challenging. They gave me an idea of what to expect when I was ready for the test. I used the Net Infrastructure and Directory Services books to prepare for the exams, and I passed. In addition, the real world examples and Exam Essentials section helped me gleen from the text what was very important.
Rating:
Summary: Sybex is still the best. New edition adds better questions.
Review: Working with several different study guides in our training center, we've concluded that the Sybex series of study guides is the best on the market. Some students complained that the first editions didn't have adequate questions. Sybex made some big changes for this edition and now the questions pretty much hit the mark. This book has many such questions, including an adaptive exam and select and place questions, and it has Palm OS flashcards which are also a good way to quickly brush up on the details you need to know for the exam. The CD also contains WinSims, as Sybex calls them. They are basically step-by-step videos (avi files) of how to do the exercises in the book, with a few interactive examples thrown in (we use these as supplements to our classroom instruction, suggesting that students review certain videos on topics we don't have time to cover.) The videos are a great way to actually see what the exercises explain. Like any book dealing with the new MCSE track, you can't just read the text and pass the exam. That just doesn't work any more (back to reality, folks.) Students have to put in their time working with Win2k (although working on the WinSims is a realistic substitute for many things.) Overall, excellent set of books, and definitely much better than the MSPress books and, as a whole package, better than Osbourne's.
Rating: 
Summary: Good for the fundamentals
Review: Yes, the books by Chellis et al...are probably the best MCSE Study Guides (definitely better than the New Riders that I also got), but I had to take several of the exams repeatedly to pass the exams. I realize that this is probably because Microsoft has made it more difficult to pass the exams, but I still would like to have the exams made as easy as possible.
There were a lot of good associated products on the CD, and the cost of the four set was pretty good . Overall, yes, I would recommend.
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