Rating: 
Summary: Alright - but the book appears to have been a real rush job
Review: Overall, the book is probably just worth buying in view of the fact that the book costs about half as much as sitting the exam. If the book helps you get one or two answers correct that you would have otherwise missed, than the investment would pay off.The book fell down in three areas - inaccuracies, the HTML version and practice questions. The inaccuracies at times seemded to indicate that the author did not fully understand the subject area, and extended well beyond typos. The HTML version of the book and practice exam was very poor, with heaps of mistakes. The practice questions were not representaive of the real exam, and tended to concentrate on memory-based questions, rather than the concept-based questions used in the exam. These problems aside, I was not that disappointed with the book, which helped me pass the exam the first time around. Just make sure your VB knowledge is fairly firm, and do not rely on the book too much. The Visual Studio online help should be used as an invaluable aid.
Rating:
Summary: Do not buy it if you are a beginner
Review: If this is the first time you are learing about VB, don't buy this book. The text, the code and the review questions are riddled with errors. I don't think they used an editor during the writing process because some of the text is confusion and wordy. If you buy this book use a seperate book to practice code. DO NOT USE THE CODE IN THIS BOOK TO STUDY.
Rating: 
Summary: Covers major topics
Review: Passed yesterday with 917. I used Microsoft's Training Kit Book and this one. This book covers 75% of what's required for the exam while Microsoft's covers about 45%.
Although this book has some silly mistakes, it covers some of the MAJOR aspects. Exam questions at the end of the chapters are nothing like the actual exam. Real beginners will need some accompanying material for learning basic controls etc.
No book completely covers anything. As far as i think, this one is the best around.
Rating: 
Summary: Don't waste your money
Review: This book contained many errors, and the practice test that comes with it is very bad. I passed this test easily, but it was in spite of this book, not because of it.
Rating:
Summary: A Below Average Resource
Review: You'll find multiple errors in this book, and as of now, no way to easily find corrections at the publisher's website: There is NO direct link to the information from what I could see. I finally was able to find what I needed by using hotbot and google to find the page still sitting on their web server, unlinked to the rest of their content. This book is very basic: If you're already somewhat familiar with VB and/or VBA, the first 3-4 chapters are pretty much a wash: You'll get little useful content from them. The authors of this book also seem like they're trying to find 'filler' material, as the book walks you step-by-step through installing EACH version of Visual Basic 6. Nearly 20 pages are dedicated to helping you click "Next" at each setup dialog. Silly. I'd recommend this book to someone brand new to Visual Basic who really is starting from scratch. For programmers who are already pretty good with the product, look at O'Reilly's MCSD In a Nutshell: You won't get a guided tour of each VB control and feature, but it's a much more complete work.
Rating:
Summary: Use it with other sources
Review: I just passed my exam yesterday, in large part due to this book. I used it first in my studies to get a good overview of the exam subject areas. Then I used other sources (Exam Cram, New Riders) to get a deeper exposure to the material. The sample exam questions are easier than the actual exam, so don't get too carried away with high practice scores. If you buy it, be sure and go straight to the Syngress web site They have posted the corrections to the text. Good luck.
Rating:
Summary: Not something to rely on...
Review: I used to code quite a lot in VB, a little while back, but nowadays I'm soaked with ASP and hardly go anywhere near the VB IDE. I wanted to get that MCSD and to get myself back into the VB business as I'm about to change jobs. I picked this book up and started reading. I felt as if I know all of this stuff but reading nonetheless. When I came to the "exam" at the end of the first chapter I got a score of 50/100. Only because I underestimated this book and flipped pages like crazy. I went over it again, scored 100. Went through the second chapter with the same kind of attention and scored 97.5. This book can be a great book if you put the neccesary amount of time into it. It doesn't go too deep into any subject, it also has a few typos but all of that can be worked out once you get the hang of it. It can be enough to pass the exam, but only if you practice what you've learned, only so that you'll know how it works and that you would encounter the same problems and figure the way to work them out.
Rating: 
Summary: Average usefulness for preparing for exam
Review: The book is reasonably good for preparing for the exam. However, it doesn't go into enough depth in some areas such as ActiveX controls, and it contains information about SQL Server which you simply don't need to know for the exam. Definitely use the Transcender exams with this book.
Rating:
Summary: I take it all back and apologize to the author...
Review: Every book I found on this exam was replete with errors. This book is no worse. The practice exams are pathetic but the book content is good and presents material in a way that can be recalled on exam day. You will need to visit the publisher's website and write in the text corrections (forget the practice exams though, they'll still be junk). The key here is to know that other exam materials from other sources are incorrect just as often. Based on this, you will need multiple resources (books and practice exams). You can consider 'determining which resource is accurate' as good exam practice. So STUDY this book cover to cover. Buy the Sylvan on-line practice tests (they're most accurate). Don't rush the process, take about a month. I did it this way and passed with a 914/1000.
Rating:
Summary: A challence
Review: If your gold is to take over other peoples source code and error correct it, this book will be a good practise. There are errors in almost every source code example, which is very confusing when you think you're starting to understand what they're talking about. Would it be that hard to compile the source code before putting it in the book?
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