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Rating: 
Summary: Bad Questions, Non-Existant Labs
Review: I bought this book because it had some good reviews. First of all try the website www.ewrox.net - and you will see it has been taken down. The labs some people say are useful, are not available. Secondly, there are many errors in the questions. While reviewing the questions/answers I constantly found myself saying, that doesn't seem right - and sure enough when I went to Visual Studio and ran the code, the book was wrong. Thirdly, most of the questions don't have an explanation, just the author's answer (which isn't always even right). I'd highly recommend buying the Exam Cram 2 series books for the MCAD 70-315, 70-316, and 70-320. Very informative books with a lot of explanation, cram sheets, and test taking tips.
Rating:
Summary: Bad Questions, Non-Existant Labs
Review: I bought this book because it had some good reviews. First of all try the website www.ewrox.net - and you will see it has been taken down. The labs some people say are useful, are not available. Secondly, there are many errors in the questions. While reviewing the questions/answers I constantly found myself saying, that doesn't seem right - and sure enough when I went to Visual Studio and ran the code, the book was wrong. Thirdly, most of the questions don't have an explanation, just the author's answer (which isn't always even right). I'd highly recommend buying the Exam Cram 2 series books for the MCAD 70-315, 70-316, and 70-320. Very informative books with a lot of explanation, cram sheets, and test taking tips.
Rating:
Summary: Sloppily thrown together
Review: I bought this book because several reviewers praised it. I must question their motives, as I can't imagine that anyone could in good faith give this publication a favorable review. If prospective online buyers could look over just a few pages of the book prior to purchasing it, I'm confident most would agree.
The title claims that there are ten practical labs included. This is flatly untrue. For the labs, the reader is directed to the non-existent http://www.ewrox.net; other reviews of this book indicate that the site hasn't existed for months, if it ever did. If your heart is set on a book that provides labs in return for your money as claimed, this one isn't for you.
The reader loses confidence in the worthiness of this book immediately, as the missing link to the downloadable labs is found on very first page along with egregious misspellings and grammatical mistakes including, interestingly enough, the author's job title: "Senior Developper."
Okay, perhaps there is a culture that spells the word "developer" this way, a country that also makes use of the word "distribuited". So, on to my next issue: I found the cover misleading in that it leads with the words "PASS ON FIRST TRY," which I naively assumed to imply that the book might be relatively comprehensive. After purchasing the book, however, and turning to page three, you get the real deal: This book is meant to "help you prepare for the MCAD/MCSD 70-315 (sic) exam in conjunction with all the other study materials that you may need to pass the exam. "
Okay, it is in fact a book of practice questions and answers, so I shouldn't have put much faith in the words "PASS ON FIRST TRY." My bad.
The same page erroneously says "To get the most out of this material you will need to know at least the basics of the C# language and also a basic understanding of Asp.Net programming." Since the 70-316 test has nothing to do with Asp.Net programming, and since the paragraph above incorrectly refers to 70-315, a different test, it appears that this was lifted from another book without having been edited for this book or proof-read. The reader is quickly losing confidence in the book and beginning to feel a bit of embarassment at having yet again played a part in proving the maxim about a fool and his money having been parted.
As far the questions themselves, I can't vouch for their relevance to 70-316 as I haven't yet taken the test. Hence my interest in Developping, as it were. I do, however, have a couple of years of .NET experience and the questions seem surprisingly easy. Perhaps it's just me, but if you knew me you'd say that guy is no genius.
For example, question one: Q: Under which environment does your program's execution code run? A: The CLR.
The sometimes lengthy source code in the questions isn't indented, so reading it is time-consuming and difficult. If the test presents source code this way, then this is a point in favor of the book. If not, a point against. Since the rest of the book is so sloppily thrown together, I tend to suspect the latter.
Good practice tests and question and answer books I've used to pass other MCAD/MCSD tests followed each question and answer with the names of or links to reference materials the reader could use to brush up on the content of the question in question. None of that here. This book provides simple questions, simple answers (often incorrect or questionable) and nothing more. It was of very little value to me personally.
I've had great success with the ExamCram series and Transcender tests. I would recommend those to any 70-316 candidate serious about making the best use of his of his or her preparation time and effort.
Rating: 
Summary: perfect for exam 70-316
Review: I bought this book, because I saw some reviewer give it the highest credit, but the book has some error answers.
IT WILL CONFUSED READER, AND GIVE THEM WRONG DIRECTION
for example
at page 32, Question is "Data access exceptions all derive from which base class?
book answer is DataException(D)
but if you look MSDN, it come from system.exception-> system.systemException.
there is another one at page 31, question about StatusBar.
Hope this will help next buyer,
Rating:
Summary: One of the best so far
Review: I have being studying for a while for this exam an going through a lot of different questions but never thought i was ready tile i laid hands on these question, what i mean is these questions expalain everything to you and also and also followa the reqiured guideline that is reguired for the exam in a step by step process and.
It really helped me on the exam and i am now on to take exam number two. I will recommend it to anyone that wants to really pass the exam without really spending a lot of money on test questions.
Rating:
Summary: Waste of money
Review: My sister bought these questions for me a two weeks before i took the exam, and i would say it helped me in making decisions on choosing the right questions especially when it come to the multiple choice questions on ADO.NET, on the over all it helped me on the exam and also it is not all that pricey like the other ones on the net. Try it out before you take the exam.on to my next exam good luck.
Rating:
Summary: perfect for exam 70-316
Review: The questions and lab are perfect for the exam, but before you can get the lab you will have to register to recieve a password to access the lab section on their website(your password will be emailed to you).
It was worth the money for me, i am MCAD NOW.
Rating:
Summary: good questions and lab questions
Review: The questions are a good source of information for the test and will be helpfull for both experienced and non-experienced C# programmers that plan to take the mcad/mcsd exam, the topics covered are exactly what the exam recommends in its outline that you should know, in all i will say go for it before you take the test.
I am now an Mcad, thank you Mike.
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