Rating: 
Summary: Not what I was looking for ...
Review: Based on some of the other reviews here, I purchased this book with the objective to get a jump start on how to architect a .Net solution. For example, I was looking for answers to questions like: How to integrate with legacy applications, how to modularize, where to put components, security and performance considerations, redundancy and sizing, database connectivity, etc etc.
There is nothing in this book pertinent to .Net architectures, in my opinion. It is a collection of common practices and questions to ask that every architect should be familiar with, anyways. I am a Sun Certified J2EE Architect, and much of what I saw in this book could be legitimate questions at the Sun test as well - that's how generic this book is.
I am not interested in passing the exam. Don't buy this book if you are not, either.
Rating: 
Summary: Best Book for 70-300
Review: First, I totally agree with the reviewer who said this book isn't for you if you're not trying to pass the exam. It's all about the exam and is not intended to be anything more than an exam study guide.I read this book, the Microsoft Study Guide for 70-300, and most of the Osbourne book for this exam. I'm totally convinced that this book is the best of the three. Having recently passed the exam, I can say without hesitation that this book was a big help. The other two books overemphasize the Microsoft Solutions Framework, which is a Microsoft System Development Methodology. While you will need some perspective on the MSF to pass the exam, this overemphasis is very misleading. If you need to pass the exam, my suggestion would be to use this book as your major source of study. For any areas that you don't feel really well-versed in, read applicable MSDN articles to get the Microsoft spin on security, layering, deployment strategies, requirements analysis, design, globalization/localizaton, etc. I do recall that the test had a few questions on ORM and not many on UML. I would be inclined to rate this book more positively were it not for two things. First, the sample test that came on the CD really bore almost no resemblance to the real rest. It was laden with typos and got into some really esoteric things that the exam didn't deal with at all. Secondly, the book delved into some areas, like Yourden/DeMarco-style Data Flow Diagrams and some organizational theory, that I think are not relevant to the exam. These topics not addressed in the exam nor in the Microsoft Study Guide. Further, I don't think there's anything in the MSDN Library that would imply that they would be covered. I also think that Exam Cram isn't extremely accurate in how the MSF is represented. But, it does seem to be your best option for this particular certification exam.
Rating:
Summary: Best Book for 70-300
Review: First, I totally agree with the reviewer who said this book isn't for you if you're not trying to pass the exam. It's all about the exam and is not intended to be anything more than an exam study guide. I read this book, the Microsoft Study Guide for 70-300, and most of the Osbourne book for this exam. I'm totally convinced that this book is the best of the three. Having recently passed the exam, I can say without hesitation that this book was a big help. The other two books overemphasize the Microsoft Solutions Framework, which is a Microsoft System Development Methodology. While you will need some perspective on the MSF to pass the exam, this overemphasis is very misleading. If you need to pass the exam, my suggestion would be to use this book as your major source of study. For any areas that you don't feel really well-versed in, read applicable MSDN articles to get the Microsoft spin on security, layering, deployment strategies, requirements analysis, design, globalization/localizaton, etc. I do recall that the test had a few questions on ORM and not many on UML. I would be inclined to rate this book more positively were it not for two things. First, the sample test that came on the CD really bore almost no resemblance to the real rest. It was laden with typos and got into some really esoteric things that the exam didn't deal with at all. Secondly, the book delved into some areas, like Yourden/DeMarco-style Data Flow Diagrams and some organizational theory, that I think are not relevant to the exam. These topics not addressed in the exam nor in the Microsoft Study Guide. Further, I don't think there's anything in the MSDN Library that would imply that they would be covered. I also think that Exam Cram isn't extremely accurate in how the MSF is represented. But, it does seem to be your best option for this particular certification exam.
Rating: 
Summary: kudos to ExamCram
Review: I chose this book over the MS Press offering because of the emphasis on case studies and practice that was more closely matched to the real exam. I highly recommend it to anyone (especially the "classic" MSCD people working toward MCSD.NET certification) about to take the exam. You can go thru this book at different speeds, depending on your prior background. Hint: If you find this book in the bookstore, take a peek at Chapter 12 and at the links at the end of each chapter.
Rating: 
Summary: Experience counts!
Review: I did not find this book helpful in studying for the test. While the information may be good, it did not accurately represent the material covered by the test. The reason I am rating this book so low is because of the numerous errors I found in the practice questions. (One was a simple mathmatical conversion that an editor should have caught.) Most of the other errors were typographical and fairly easy to catch, but it made me wonder how many errors I did not find. If I bought the book to ensure I could pass the test, then I may not have the knowledge to know when the book was leading me astray. As an added negative the preview of the PrepLogic practice exam on the CD was laughably poor. The questions and answers appeared to have been cut & pasted together multiple times. (One sentance embedded in another, the first 10 words of the sentance repeated, etc. etc.) Another problem is that the test only had multiple choice questions; there are other question types that test takers might want to practice before the test. If you want a practice test, pay the money for the Transcender one.
Rating:
Summary: Think Twice Before Buying
Review: I did not find this book helpful in studying for the test. While the information may be good, it did not accurately represent the material covered by the test. The reason I am rating this book so low is because of the numerous errors I found in the practice questions. (One was a simple mathmatical conversion that an editor should have caught.) Most of the other errors were typographical and fairly easy to catch. I did wonder about the errors that were not easy to find. If I bought the book to ensure I could pass the test, then I may not have the knowledge to know when the book was leading me astray. As an added negative the preview of the PrepLogic practice exam on the CD was laughably poor. The questions and answers appeared to have been cut & pasted together multiple times. (One sentance embedded in another, the first 10 words of the sentance repeated, etc. etc.) Another problem is that the test only had multiple choice questions; there are other question types that test takers might want to practice before the test. If you want a practice test, pay the money for the Transcender one.
Rating:
Summary: Pass the exam, and do better at work
Review: I gave up on the MS Press 'training kit' book about half way through. Fortunately this book was an easy read, great preparation for the exam, and even included additional advice for the real world. In fact, I wish more people in the IT field would read this to better understand the context in which they work. Be aware that this is not technical beyond helping you understand which business problems suggest which technologies (web site, web service, windows application, ...)
Rating:
Summary: Pass the exam, and do better at work
Review: I gave up on the MS Press 'training kit' book about half way through. Fortunately this book was an easy read, great preparation for the exam, and even included additional advice for the real world. In fact, I wish more people in the IT field would read this to better understand the context in which they work. Be aware that this is not technical beyond helping you understand which business problems suggest which technologies (web site, web service, windows application, ...)
Rating:
Summary: Experience counts!
Review: I just got out of my 70-300 exam, which I passed after a half a day of studying. But that's after passing 70-100 a couple of years ago, and it probably doesn't hurt to have 20 years in the business, more of which was spent in MS technologies than any other. This book made a big difference. My half-day was very well spent, and the information contained in the book was mostly very pertinent. The exam's more about reading comprehension and the details of the case studies than anything else, but you need to be solid on ER and data modeling, and also very clear about which steps are part of which project phase. Also, bone up on your ORM notation. You may never use it in real life, but it will show up on the test.
Rating:
Summary: The book prepares well for the test.
Review: I just passed the 70-300 exam and used this book to study for it. The book is a comprehensive review of everything that you may need to know for the exam. However, some sections are repeated without any good reason. The questions at the end of each chapter are similar in nature to the ones that I saw on the exam. It took me 12 days, spending about an hour - an hour and half per day, to get through the book. I did pass the other .Net tests before I read the book, so majority of the material was a review. Although I do have many years of experience as an architect, I found a lot of useful information in this book that will help me design better products and solutions in the future.
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