Rating: 
Summary: Don't waste your money on this book
Review: I am a programmer with 10 years experience in a non-MS environment. I started the MCSD recently and bought this book, because of the favourable reviews on this site. I passed this subject with a high score, but not becuase of this book. This book left me confused and with more questions than answers. I then got hold of the New Riders book and it much better, it is easy and nice to read and explained the subject very well. My advice is don't waste your money on this book. Not even the New Riders book prepares you well for the exam, but at least it will give you a very good understanding of this subject.
Rating: 
Summary: Don't waste your time on thick books
Review: I am writing this review just after I passed the test. Many subjects on the test elapse those on the cores and the database elective (I took SQL Server). 80% of the test is about business analysis and tables design while the other 20% covers COM, classes, interface design, etc. No one book except the Transcender Exam will prepare you for the test. But if you feel obligated to read something, this is the book to read. The test asked nothing about MSF, so don't waste your money and time reading thick tomes. This book is succinct and very well written and the sections on COM and user-interfaces were pertinent to the test. I rated it 4 stars because it lacks simulated scenarios like those of the real test. Last point, Transcender is a must, I felt that Transcender CD better prep me for the test than any other reading materials.
Rating:
Summary: Close but not quite
Review: I found this book to be easily readable and enjoyable. It had some case studys which are similar to the ones you see on the test. It is probably the best book out there but that is by default because there are really no good books which cover this test. I still think somoeone has to be able to do better now that the format of the 70-100 test is pretty well known to everyone. The Transcender test is still the best bet for this test. However this book is a good supplement.
Rating: 
Summary: Good but not enough
Review: I had passed three other MCSD exams by studying just the Exam Cram book, so I thought I could do the same here with 70-100. In fact, I thought the architecture exam will be a pushover because this is such a thin volume. I took the exam and was humiliated by my first Microsoft certification failure.This book covered all the subjects on the exam, but only on a very light level. Now, I don't know if everyone will get the same exam I got but the exam is composed almost exclusively of case studies. More than half of the questions involve matching or ordering, which made them extremely hard to follow on screen. There were only twenty questions on my exam, but only about eight multiple choices. I probably got all of these correct. It's those case studies that killed me. I managed to pass the test on the second try, after two more weeks of studies. I would recommend the following approach: read this book, know it inside out, and memorize the terms. The exam did not have that many multiple choice exams, so it's not worth your while spending too much time memorizing terms. This book has enough of the important terms in it, but not so many that it's unmanageable. Don't try to memorize one of the study guides: you'll go nuts first. After you have a thorough understanding of the terminologies, master the following areas: physical/logical database design, gathering business requirements, and MSF concepts. There will be something that you don't understand very well in the exam, but if you know these subjects well enough that should be enough to pass.
Rating:
Summary: A good, pertitent study aid
Review: I passed the real exam on January 8, 2001 with an hour to spare and a comfortable passing margin. I used this and the Ezzel book, combined with the Transcender practice exam (which is your best friend here), as my study aids. Although it doesn't have scenario-type questions in the form of those found on the real exam, this book still has plenty of condensed, easy-to-read, very pertinent material that will be of assistance in passing the real exam.
Rating:
Summary: Single most important Resource
Review: I used a number of materials in preparing for the 70-100 exam, and found this to be the single most important book. The only thing this really lacked was practice on the "scenario-based" questions in the test, specifically the data-flow diagrams. But there was no other single book that came as close as this one to a complete working knowlege necessary for the test. Rather than buying multiple study guides, I would recommend purchasing this book and a practice test from either transcender or measureup.
Either way, if you don't have experience at defining requirements, nothing will help you.
Rating:
Summary: Single most important Resource
Review: I used a number of materials in preparing for the 70-100 exam, and found this to be the single most important book. The only thing this really lacked was practice on the "scenario-based" questions in the test, specifically the data-flow diagrams. But there was no other single book that came as close as this one to a complete working knowlege necessary for the test. Rather than buying multiple study guides, I would recommend purchasing this book and a practice test from either transcender or measureup.
Either way, if you don't have experience at defining requirements, nothing will help you.
Rating:
Summary: The only book I used.
Review: I used this book alone and I passed 70-100 with little problem. It does a great job of covering the Microsoft nomenclature and models, as well as general analysis and design. However, I agree with reviews for this and related books -- the 70-100 exam does not concentrate on the MSF models, and DOES heavily emphasize entity-relationship analysis. I recommend this book plus some hands-on database modeling work -- my exam had quite a bit of ERA.
Rating:
Summary: The only book I used.
Review: I used this book alone and I passed 70-100 with little problem. It does a great job of covering the Microsoft nomenclature and models, as well as general analysis and design. However, I agree with reviews for this and related books -- the 70-100 exam does not concentrate on the MSF models, and DOES heavily emphasize entity-relationship analysis. I recommend this book plus some hands-on database modeling work -- my exam had quite a bit of ERA.
Rating: 
Summary: Use This Book & Transcenders
Review: I used this book and Transcenders, studied a total of 5 days and took the exam and passed on my first try! I took it on July 22, 2003. Other reviews for this book led me away from using any other book. I found it to be easy to read, especially if you've passed at least one other MCSD exam. The book presents important information and insight as to the testing methods of Microsoft for this test. Although this information is helpful to read, you'll still want to run through some exam simulation software in addition to this reading. Reading alone cannot prepare you for the types of interaction you'll face in the exam environment... so get Transcenders too.
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