Rating: 
Summary: Simply the best
Review: Now that I have completed the MDSD certification, I feel qualified to render judgment on the ton of books that I read. This one was simply the best. Many of the books out on the market are of very poor quality - including many that carry the Microsoft "Approved Study Guide" logo and many published by Microsoft itself. This one stands out from the crowd as being comprehensive, on point, well-written and relatively error-free. I was particularly impressed by the fact that the publisher had a web site where error corrections are available. I was initially skeptical about the idea of covering two exams in one book, but it turns out that there is a great deal of overlap between the two exams and it makes a lot of sense to cover all the material in one book. The practice exam software on the CD was realistic, although I wish it had a larger inventory of questions. Supplementing the book with Transcender software is a good strategy. Also, since this book is a bit ponderous, I would recommend the Exam Cram series for a final review.
Rating:
Summary: The only Test Prep book you'll need
Review: I used this book to prepare for my first MCP exam as well as one or two others, and it is by far the best. It's more complete than any other 70-176 or 70-175 guide I've come across. Memorizing everything in the book as I did turned out to be a bit of an overkill for the exam, but better safe than sorry, right? The chapters are neatly divided into the different topics the test will cover. It also contains lots of review questions and a practice test both in the book and on CD-ROM. The CD-ROM test is especially helpful because the practice test on it is about the same as the real thing. There were several other examples at the end of each chapter to give you a hands-on demonstration of how things are working. These tended to have a number of errors included in them, but if you take a second and think, you should be able to figure them out and catch on to the concepts behind them.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent study guide for both exams
Review: I used this book and the Transcender exams to pass both exams. The book is a little light on details regarding some of the ActiveX controls, Packaging and Deployment Wizard, and DCOM, but other than that it's excellent, and using the Transcender exams highlights the areas that the book didn't cover in detail.
Rating:
Summary: Excellently put together
Review: I cleared both the Distributed and the Desktop Visual Basic Exams using this book. This was the only book I used along with the Transcender test for the Desktop exam. This book presents concepts simply and effectively. It contains Hands-on Review exercises and presents many questions to test your basic understanding of the core concepts required for the exams. It is also an excellent review guide for later.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent
Review: This is a very good book. Unlike so many other exam prep books, the authors display a deep understanding of VB and computing in general. You get help in passing the VB exams PLUS a deeper understanding of the subject itself. You can tell that the authors are interested in helping you become a better programmer and they have a lot to offer in the furtherance of that cause. Also, the material is presented in a comprehensive way. After you pass the tests, you will want to keep this book on the shelf as a reference. (There are a few errors. If you read carefully, you will spot them.) Here is something that I learned: the reviews that Amazon publishes are a goldmine of information. Getting past Microsoft certification is an important and difficult mission and if you embark on it with an inferior study guide, things are going to be rough: tear stains on your mouse pad -- deep teeth marks on the book itself. I found this excellent book by reading the Amazon reviews and I will never buy another computer book again without reading them first.
Rating:
Summary: Nice starting point towards achieving certification
Review: I just passed the VB 6Desktop exam and this book was the first resourse I used for the actual test. It thoroughly explains all the required topics for the exam. Plus I think it's a good reference source for work. Some of the readers are right to point out that the book is big. Indeed, it is! However, I believe that if you can read the whole book, complete the exercises at the end of the chapters, take the tests included on the CD and then remember maybe 60% of what you read and learned, you'll be in pretty good shape. After finishing this book, you can start taking the Transcender Exams and get some pratice that way. I believe the Transcender exams are a must! A lot of the questions on the Transcender tests are similar to the ones on the actual test. No amount of reading can simulate the test taking environment and the type of questions you'll encounter on the real test like Transcender exams do. Also, this book is very weak on Package and Deployment, given the relatively large numbers of questions that appear on the exam for this topic. I used the Microsoft MSDN to get this information. I believe a lot of the questions related to Package and Deployment are derived from the information contained on the MSDN library. I also read the VB 6 desktop by Michael MacDonald but I wouldn't recommend it that much. It contains a lot of syntax errors and typos, which can throw you off. You can get if you can spare the money or better yet you can get the whole VB6 Exam Cram set. The VB 6 Distributed book by Thomas Fox is included in the set. This is also an excellent book. I used it for the Desktop exam as well. A lot of the information and questions overlap between the two exams. So, what whatever amount of information you can gather from reliable sources helps. Howard Hawhee and Thomas Fox wrote very reliable books in my opinion. Good luck on the test!
Rating: 
Summary: Good...Stops short of Great
Review: This is a good book if you have the time to go through every chapter. If you think you know enough on the topic and just want to skip around or to just study the exam questions at the end of the chapter - this is where the book falls down. The code for the examples or questions is not included on the CD or available for download. Many of the questions at the end of the chapters rely on the code from previous chapters. So if you want to learn advanced ADO, you might have to go back a chapter and do the previous chapter's exercises and that chapter may use other code from a previous chapter, and so on. I found this absolutely MADDENING.The book is all inclusive in it's coverage of the exam topics. It is also well thought out and easy to read. Inclusion of the code would have made this a great book for exam prep and reference.
Rating: 
Summary: Thoroughly study this book and you¿ll pass.
Review: I passed 70-176 about a week or two ago. This book was 90% of my preparation efforts. I supplemented the book slightly with the MSDN Library which is available on the MSDN website. I didn't use the Transcender tests, but I can definitely see where they would be valuable in preparing for the test. (I just didn't want to spend $200 on something I would likely never use again after the test). This book, however, is great as a reference and as a study guide. I would have given it five stars but it is very weak on Packaging and Deployment, as everyone else has said. Really, Really study this book (that means LEARN, not become acquainted with) and you should be fine.
Rating:
Summary: Quite a relief to pass the stupid test
Review: I passed the 70-176 test today and I don't think I could have done it without this book, as well as the Transcender sample tests. Read the book cover to cover doing most of the exercises. Then took all of the tests. The first time I took each of the three Transcender tests, I failed. This led me to more review, which led me to take the sample tests again. I was extremely nervous about taking the real test, but I did quite well, which leads me to believe that these certification tests represent 60 percent understanding of VB and some 40 percent of How to Take a Test! This book, Transcender, and some experience will help you pass. But it still is alot alot of work. Plan on heavy duty study for about a month. Do all of the exercises, answer all of the questions, highlight heavily, and when you are done, go back and thoroughly review all of your highlights. Know Package and Deployment and Debugging very, very well, and you should do fine. Good luck.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Prep Source
Review: Excellent choice for those with experience to fill the gaps. However, this is not a book for those who never write VB. The contents well cover what were on the test. I used it as the only reading source to pass both the tests. The book is a little weak on MTS and Package and Deployment Wizard but you can find those information in the MSDN.
|
