Rating: 
Summary: Close, but no cigar.
Review: Chellis et. al. put together a decent book- I have quite a bit of background in the field, but needed to study to pass the 70-058 Microsoft exam- and I work at Microsoft! Anyway, the book had some noticeable proofreading errors, but they usually do not affect the material- typos mostly. The topics seem to jump around, almost a shotgun approach to the material. One chapter will start to move towards a particular topic, and then drop it, only to have it picked up again (sometimes in more detail, sometime less) a few chapters down the road. Some topics were weak- the ODI model for example, compared to texts by Que and others. Needed more diagrams that were useful- alot of the pics are wasted space. Gets in to installing NT Server when this is not covered on the exams- thats for later! Overall, would not recommend. Would suggest QUE or IDG materials. Do have to say this- using other test prep materials (tests available from MS for free and others) I did pass. Barely. If you get this book, the so called optional material on protocals is not optional- read the IPX and TCP sections thouroghly! Good luck!
Rating: 
Summary: A very pleasant read
Review: I highly recommend this book as the first book of several you might want to read in preparation for the 70-058 exam. It presents the information in a very readable and enjoyable format. It would be the perfect book if it just included more summary tables on topics such as cabling, architecture, remote access, protocols, etc. to assist in memorizing the info you need to pass the exam. The two CDs provided with the text book are excellent, although I didn't think much of the LearnKey's NE course "sampler" included on the second disk. Also, there's not enough "scenario-based" questions on the CDs to prepare you for the exam. Transcender practice exams proved helpful to me. Lastly, there's one piece of critical information here ( I believe it was on a practice test) that is wrong and should be corrected: Token Ring frames are NOT smaller than Ethernet frames; they're larger! As for other books, I recommend NE Unleashed (Sportak) for an almost exhaustive treatment of NE, and Accelerated NE Study Guide (Kinnaman, Ballew) for an excellent pre-exam review of critical material. Using these three texts, I passed with a 900.
Rating: 
Summary: Not A Beginner's Guide
Review: The major benefit of this book is that it is an easy read. It will not put you to sleep like most books on this topic. This text should be used as a reference for people that are already familiar with networking principles. It is very basic and will assume that you already understand certain principles. As a beginner I had a hard time with this book. After taking a networking class and actually doing some hands-on networking, I have no problem reading this book and understanding it. One other drawback is that it does have several errors. Overall: There are better books out there on the topic.
Rating: 
Summary: A Good Start
Review: I think this is a good book for someone without a lot of experience in networking. It offers a real basic overview of the concepts you need to master for the Networking Essentials exam, and also has some decent practice questions. However, you need to look at some other sources to really prepare for the test. I also used Exam Cram and the MS Readiness Review, in addition to some free online tests. If you just read Sybex and take the test, I think you'll end up being surprised at how detailed and tricky the real test questions can be. With 3 or more sources, you'll be able to fill in what each source may miss.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent!!!
Review: If you want to pass the Networking Essentials exam then this is the book to get!!! Easily worded allowing the reader to have a clear and precise understanding of network topologies, cabling and protocols and other important areas as well. Added with the Networking Essentials exam notes and you are bound to pass the exam.
Rating:
Summary: Readers, oops I mean users of this book are polarized
Review: Talk about radical differences in experiences. You hear "I took it and passed" or "you can't get there from here." This animal is a lot more than a study guide is. Yes I have used this on NT. However it is also useful for the actual network that if it was going to be called by any operating system, UNIX or at least Cisco (really 100 base T). And how many of you even looked at the coverage on SNA Architecture. I think that the NT people make up some names and twist some concepts around but this book works. So if you are using this for a study guide, you will not have to unlearn anything, test or no test.
Rating:
Summary: Basic Information
Review: I was very disappointed with this book. The information covered in the book was not helpful in preparing for the Networking Essentials exam. The book covered basic terminology, concepts that can be found in other books with less errors. I would not recommend this book in preparing for the Networking Essentials exam.
Rating:
Summary: One of the mcp student's must have book.
Review: hi students and friends who are preparing for mcp examinations, this is one of the three best materials i have used to pass this 70-058 mcp examination . this book has been written in plain english which can be understandable by all students and technicians and it also covers all the informations needed to pass the examination . the two practice exams included in CD-ROM is very good but you should also practice with Transcender examination software which will give you an real life online feelings of examination.
Rating:
Summary: Too many errors
Review: One thing which really annoys me about this book is the number of errors. This book has em all, incorrectly labeled diagrams, inconsistencies in units of measurements-half the time the author uses feet and the rest meters makes it a very frustrating experience trying to do comparisons. For some reason, this module of the MCSE suffers from a lack of good books, there doesn't seem to be anything better out there!
Rating:
Summary: Save your money, there are better books on the topic
Review: I was quite disappointed with the book. While it covers the main topics well, it contains numerous errors and does not even include some material covered in the review questions. An example of a glaring error (though minor)is that both in Chapter 1 and in a review question, the authors state that scanners can be shared over a network. This is simply not correct. More troubling is that the answers to some of the review questions cannot be found in the book! The answer given in the back of the book is correct, but there is no way you would know the answer if this book was your only resource. It is a matter of the book not covering the subjects in as much detail as the review questions require. Since there are many other books on the market that cover this exam, I recommend choosing another.
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