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Rating: 
Summary: We deserve better!
Review: Attractively priced, this book is very well written, uses excellent methodology, proceeding from the simplest to the most complex topics in Access on a continuum steadily increasing in difficulty. And this is good. It comes with a data CD for the exercises in the book, which also offers an answer key for every "Review Concepts" exercise. But both the data for the exercises and the solutions to reviews are rife with errors! Furthermore, after the middle of the book, the data on the accompanying CD oftentimes doesn't even match the exercises! It's very demoralizing. I was very upbeat when I began, thinking that the errors were tiny and insignificant. But they only get worse as you go along. Courseware must be thoroughly tested in order to be error proof. Unfortunately, this didn't happen here. Obviously defective data files have sabotaged a very talented and thoughtful author's work. The whole problem could be remedied with a replacement CD. I've been in touch with the publishers about the problem and I sure hope they replace the CD because its useless courseware for training small groups if the data disk is that defective. Otherwise the concepts are explained concisely and accurately and I'm confident the questions in the review sections closely resemble those on the MOUS certification test.
Rating: 
Summary: Know Access in and out, then pick up this book and pass
Review: I develop Access 2000 applications for a small consulting company. I wanted to get certified in Access for personal benefit and to see how much I knew. A few weeks before the exam, I changed my mind and actually registered for the Access XP exam instead. It is very easy to pass the Access XP exam even if you are an Access 2000 user. I passed today with an 889. Besides approximately three years of experience with Access 97/2000, I used this book as my primary resource.I can't emphasize enough the importance of knowing the application and being comfortable with everything from creating relationships to filtering data in a query based on criteria. This book supplemented my experience with some very good exercises. Even if you know how to do a lot of the exercises contained within, do them again and do them in the most effective way. It will help your score on the exam. Unfortunately, I can't compare this book to the others out there on the market because I only used this one. However, I was happy that this book was very exercise-heavy and the entire exam was doing the same types of things I practiced using the book. Overall, the exam was quite easy, especially if you have years of experience in Access and/or have taken more technical Microsoft cert tests. This was a breeze compared to the Networking Essentials and Windows NT Workstation administration tests.
Rating:
Summary: Know Access in and out, then pick up this book and pass
Review: I develop Access 2000 applications for a small consulting company. I wanted to get certified in Access for personal benefit and to see how much I knew. A few weeks before the exam, I changed my mind and actually registered for the Access XP exam instead. It is very easy to pass the Access XP exam even if you are an Access 2000 user. I passed today with an 889. Besides approximately three years of experience with Access 97/2000, I used this book as my primary resource. I can't emphasize enough the importance of knowing the application and being comfortable with everything from creating relationships to filtering data in a query based on criteria. This book supplemented my experience with some very good exercises. Even if you know how to do a lot of the exercises contained within, do them again and do them in the most effective way. It will help your score on the exam. Unfortunately, I can't compare this book to the others out there on the market because I only used this one. However, I was happy that this book was very exercise-heavy and the entire exam was doing the same types of things I practiced using the book. Overall, the exam was quite easy, especially if you have years of experience in Access and/or have taken more technical Microsoft cert tests. This was a breeze compared to the Networking Essentials and Windows NT Workstation administration tests.
Rating: 
Summary: Would recommend
Review: I disagree with the review from Florida. I had only one minor problem with the exercises in the book matching with the files on the CD. In Unit K, page K-10, there is an exercise to query the database. The book says there should be 102 records matching the query done with <4/1/00 on the Attendence table except the mistake is there are a total of no records before, the earliest is 5/5/00. And only 65 records in the table to query on. Can't possibly get the 102 records on the 65 from the query the book says should be displayed. Never did figure out if I did something wrong or it is an error. I took the Access 2000 MOUS exam and passed with 916/1000. I have no prior experience working working with Access and did not know how to do reports, forms, etc. I used this book to go through step by step on the how to's and will keep as a reference book. I then used the Access 2000 Cheat Sheet to prepare for the exam. The book by Freiedrichsen had a lot of MOUS objectives listed next to the objectives for each Unit. There are units A through P. M to P have nothing to do with the the objectives set my Microsoft although the book says the first half of the book is for the Access Core and the remaining part will prepare for the Expert level. There is only one exam for Access 2000 and no core or expert level. I liked book format. Each page covered one topic. On the left-side would be the explanation and walk-through, with the right-side showing pictures of what the screen should look like with good information. If anything, this book has too much information if you are preparing for the MOUS exam. Use this book if you have no prior experience in learning how to use Access and for reference, but use the Cheat Sheet to prepare for the exam format. Would have given five stars except for the error and the objectives stated in the book did not match Microsoft, and felt the Cheat Sheet book better prepared me for the exam.
Rating:
Summary: Would recommend
Review: I disagree with the review from Florida. I had only one minor problem with the exercises in the book matching with the files on the CD. In Unit K, page K-10, there is an exercise to query the database. The book says there should be 102 records matching the query done with <4/1/00 on the Attendence table except the mistake is there are a total of no records before, the earliest is 5/5/00. And only 65 records in the table to query on. Can't possibly get the 102 records on the 65 from the query the book says should be displayed. Never did figure out if I did something wrong or it is an error. I took the Access 2000 MOUS exam and passed with 916/1000. I have no prior experience working working with Access and did not know how to do reports, forms, etc. I used this book to go through step by step on the how to's and will keep as a reference book. I then used the Access 2000 Cheat Sheet to prepare for the exam. The book by Freiedrichsen had a lot of MOUS objectives listed next to the objectives for each Unit. There are units A through P. M to P have nothing to do with the the objectives set my Microsoft although the book says the first half of the book is for the Access Core and the remaining part will prepare for the Expert level. There is only one exam for Access 2000 and no core or expert level. I liked book format. Each page covered one topic. On the left-side would be the explanation and walk-through, with the right-side showing pictures of what the screen should look like with good information. If anything, this book has too much information if you are preparing for the MOUS exam. Use this book if you have no prior experience in learning how to use Access and for reference, but use the Cheat Sheet to prepare for the exam format. Would have given five stars except for the error and the objectives stated in the book did not match Microsoft, and felt the Cheat Sheet book better prepared me for the exam.
Rating:
Summary: Detailed and easy to follow
Review: I'm finding the Exam Prep materials to be great references as well as study guides. I haven't taken any of the tests yet the series is very useful.
Rating:
Summary: Detailed and easy to follow
Review: I'm finding the Exam Prep materials to be great references as well as study guides. I haven't taken any of the tests yet the series is very useful.
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