Rating: 
Summary: Good for beginners but not enough for 70-228 exam
Review: This is a well organized and relatively well-written book. It is very good for beginners who have little or no prior experiences in this field. However, this book alone is not able to get you pass 70-228. If you understand and remember every word of it, you may get 500 (passing score is 755 out of 1000). After this book, a natural next step is Transcender, which has the right difficult level for the exam but too hard for a beginner.
Rating: 
Summary: Quite good except a few points
Review: Well, I can not say the exam topics was 100% covered but, it is not wrong to say this book along with a few years of SQL server experience could be enough to pass the exam.The book is well prepared and language is easy to understand. However, some topics, like Index usage or query optimization is not covered well enough. And the practice tests are quite bad as in other Osborne/Syngress books. The ones in the exam are relatively better, however, you only have a single question set in the CD and its just put in the CD to give CD with the book. The test is poorly prepared and most of the time even answers are wrong. (i.e. It says the correct answer is A, then explains why the answer in B is correct). Anyhow I suppose this is not related with Joyjit but a general problem with the publisher. Beyond all this, considering the number of alternatives, I simply suggest you to order this book if you are to 228.
Rating: 
Summary: Got me Again
Review: When using a Study/Exam Guide to prep for a certification exam, I expect the exam portion of the guide to be a key point. The CertTrainer ExamSim included with this book is a joke. I like to begin my preparation by taking the practice exam before I read the text to see where I need to concentrate. After 90 minutes or so, I reached the end of the exam, pressed Back to check my previous answer, only to find my answer had changed. Upon checking other answers, they ALL had changed to A&B! I retook the exam, and when I went into review mode, none of my anwsers showed up at all, and neither did any text to explain what the correct answer should be. It just started the exam process over. I have to wonder if anyone at the publisher actually tries to read/use any of the books they publish. With the technical nature of these books, it is imperative that they be acurate and usable. This is the second 70-228 book I've shelled out a substantial amount of money for (the 1st one being the "All-In-One" abomination), and I'm starting to get gun shy. These books don't come cheap in either cost or the time it takes to read and study them, and the publishers have an obligation to make them credible. Unfortunately, there are not a lot of choices out there, and finding the good ones is getting harder and harder. I just hope the publishers realize that as we become certified professionals, our recomendations are taken seriously.
Rating:
Summary: Got me Again
Review: When using a Study/Exam Guide to prep for a certification exam, I expect the exam portion of the guide to be a key point. The CertTrainer ExamSim included with this book is a joke. I like to begin my preparation by taking the practice exam before I read the text to see where I need to concentrate. After 90 minutes or so, I reached the end of the exam, pressed Back to check my previous answer, only to find my answer had changed. Upon checking other answers, they ALL had changed to A&B! I retook the exam, and when I went into review mode, none of my anwsers showed up at all, and neither did any text to explain what the correct answer should be. It just started the exam process over. I have to wonder if anyone at the publisher actually tries to read/use any of the books they publish. With the technical nature of these books, it is imperative that they be acurate and usable. This is the second 70-228 book I've shelled out a substantial amount of money for (the 1st one being the "All-In-One" abomination), and I'm starting to get gun shy. These books don't come cheap in either cost or the time it takes to read and study them, and the publishers have an obligation to make them credible. Unfortunately, there are not a lot of choices out there, and finding the good ones is getting harder and harder. I just hope the publishers realize that as we become certified professionals, our recomendations are taken seriously.
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