Rating: 
Summary: Review
Review: I read this book and passed my 70-175 exam. However, I did not depend on the book alone - I also made use of the Mastering Series CD covering enterprise developement. It also helped that I also have studied for and passed the 70-176 exam. There are numerous typos and errata to weed out though especially in the practice questions. Too much focus is given to the IDEs and program setup of the backoffice components. Perhaps that is required to get the MS seal of approval, but that kind of stuff is not covered in either of the exams I took. ADO is covered more thoroughly in the 70-176 exam preps but is also required on 70-175. Package-and-Deployment is not covered sufficiently either. The coverage of SNA and MSMQ was extraneous. Take 70-176 first or you will be taken off guard by the user services requirements of the exams because this book is not any help there.
Rating:
Summary: Not bad, Helpful but Buggy.
Review: I used this book and the Microsoft training CD to study for the Exam. I also have over 10 year experience using Visual Basic. I passed the Exam. This book does not cover everything that is on the exam. The practice test that comes with the book has many errors. I used the MCSD 70-176 exam book from Syngress and it also was lacking and buggy. I hope they clean up their books in the future. However, I will recommend this book as a study guide for the exam as long as other materials are also used to study from.
Rating: 
Summary: Do NOT buy this book! It is a hastily thrown together mess.
Review: I was very disappointed in the quality of this study guide. It contained so many errors that I do not believe that it was proofread by anyone with any sort of programming background. In addition to the logical errors, their were syntax errors on almost every page. I spent more time trying to figure out what the author was attempting to teach than learning anything. It is also too basic in its writing to gain enough in-depth knowledge needed for the exam. The chapters seem thrown together instead of thought out and their placement seems arbitrary.
Rating:
Summary: PLEASE don't buy this book!!!
Review: I'm not sure how anyone can actually say they read this book any passed the exam 70-175 because of this book!! It does not mention ADO!! How about DHTML,IIS and WEBClass?? Really, don't buy this book.
Rating:
Summary: Frustrating practice exam
Review: If you want to get bogged down with information that will never show up on the exam, then this pretentiously thick book (aren't exam preps supposed to be condensed? ) is for you. Example? There are a lot of ADO questions on the exam, but this book spends most of its data discussion dealing with legacy systems, VSAM, ISAM, DB2... and they have the gall to quiz you on this material in the end-of-chapter exams. Distracting, error-prone, and too much paper. Just don't.
Rating:
Summary: Run Away, and Don't Look Back
Review: If you want to get bogged down with information that will never show up on the exam, then this pretentiously thick book (aren't exam preps supposed to be condensed? ) is for you. Example? There are a lot of ADO questions on the exam, but this book spends most of its data discussion dealing with legacy systems, VSAM, ISAM, DB2... and they have the gall to quiz you on this material in the end-of-chapter exams. Distracting, error-prone, and too much paper. Just don't.
Rating: 
Summary: Outshines the Rest
Review: It seems like every publisher on the planet is hacking together MCSD/MCSE titles now-a-days. Honestly, most of it is incomplete, mistake-ridden and filled with irrelevant tangents. This book on-the-other-hand is one of the best I've seen because it covers the VB6 exam goals thoroughly and accurately. Highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: Not a bad book - try reading it
Review: Many of you have mentioned that certain topics - ie, ADO, IIS Applications, etc. are not covered. This only proves that you DID NOT READ the book!! (Also, DHTML is much more important for the desktop exam. And this exam is not about SQL Server 6.5 or 7.0 - it's about Visual Basic 6.0 in a distributed environment (ie, MTS, MSMQ, ActiveX Dll's, exe's, docs...)) I have programmed with VB for 3 years. Yes, there were mistakes in the book, but they were fairly obvious mistakes that an experienced programmer would notice immediately (why the Tech Editor didn't, I don't know). However, the book is NOT a waste of money. I READ THE BOOK 3 days before the exam - read the review questions thoroughly and KNEW the answers (not memorized, but KNEW THE MATERIAL INVOLVED IN ANSWERING THE QUESTIONS). I scored 90% on the exam last week. This book is NOT FOR BEGINNERS - IF YOU ARE A BEGINNER, HOW DO YOU THINK YOU DESERVE TO BE A CERTIFIED Microsoft DEVELOPER????
Rating:
Summary: Try it- You'll like it
Review: Technically sound, easily understood. What more can you ask for? (Great Price- Thanks Amazon!!) This book follows exam objectives, is large enough to cover all important topics well, but not too large for you to lose interest and concentration. For the $, why wouldn't you use any reference you can? I reccommend this book, and hope if you take any of these critiques seriously, you take mine. Getting any certification is difficult, and we certainly need quality and accuracy. I've become convinced with this book that Syngress knows this, and does very well in making certain we get what we need.
Rating:
Summary: A fairly average book
Review: The book is a failry reasonable resource and helped me prepare for the 70-175 MCSD exam. However, it is full of errors that could affect your understanding of the subject matter.Also, it was put together by several contributing authors some of whom are apparently not familiar with correct English language structure. This sometimes makes their material difficult to follow and I was fortunate that I already knew most of the stuff that they were talking about.
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