Rating: 
Summary: I passed with this book
Review: An excellent primer for both the VB exams. I studied it for two weeks and passed both of the VB exams. I also took practice test from selftestsoftware.com. I gave it four stars because of the editing. There are too many mistakes. (Be sure to check out the errata at O'Rielly's website). But don't let that stop you from buying it. The mistakes are minor and won't trip you up when it comes time to take the exam.
Rating: 
Summary: A superb book!
Review: I like this book of several reasons: 1. Its size -not too heavy - can even be read in bed. 2. It does not contain a CD, so the author cannot refer to that, but has to make his writing understandable (I have bought a lot of used computer books on Amazon, and not a single one has the seal on the CD broken!) 3. It presents advanced topics in a very understandable way. 4. The code examples are concise and to the point.It is not a beginners book for sure, but perfect for the student that has the basic knowledge of VB and just unorganized ideas about the more advanced concepts.
Rating:
Summary: I passed 70-176 with the help of this book
Review: This is a very valuable book. It defintely helped me not just prepare, but learn those aspects of VB that you don't use every day, like ActiveX Docs, and the P&D wizard. However, I couldn't bring myself to give it the full 5 stars for this reason. Even though the book was an excellent source of info for the test, I still had to buy another book - even though I have been using VB for several years. I still had to brush up on the basics, which Mr. Foxall does not cover. As a VB programmer, I don't keep everything in my head all the time. MSDN is always readily available to me, so I do not have to memorize certain things that are covered on the test. Regardless, the book did help, and for that I give it 4 stars.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Aid in passing the VB Exams
Review: I found this book to be very helpful in studying for the "Designing and Implementing Desktop Solutions with Visual Basic 6.0" (70-176) Exam. I passed on the first try with a 757. This book along with the MSDN Library and Transcender's Exam Simulation were my main sources in preparation. If I had one complaint it would be that some of the items designated as being on the Distributed Exam only are in fact also on Desktop. I found this particularly true in the "Working with Data" section for such issues as cursor locations, cursor types, and recorset locking. Overall this is a good concise presentation of what is on the exams.
Rating:
Summary: This is a great book
Review: I have been reading this book for a couple of hours. What I like about the book is that it covers subtle but very important points in understanding VB coding, like COM, and how it works. Unlike other books that give you bits and pieces of information and huge coding examples, the author painstakingly limits his discussion to get the point across without confusing the reader. The author clearly understands what makes Visual Basic tick. This book is going to be a big factor in passing the exam. Maybe the only computer book that I can't put down. With this said, this book is not for someone new to VB. You must know VB topics such as what event driven programming is and at least basic computer syntax.
Rating:
Summary: This is THE Book for a future MCSD
Review: I just passed the 70-176 exam yesterday. (bear with me, I am such a happy camper right now that I felt I should share the source of my success for those who are looking for good study materials) I have to give a huge amount of credit to the O'Reilly book MCSD in a Nutshell. The book is geared for the 70-176 and 70-175 exams. What I liked is that the book started off with the assumption that you know the basics of VB and you now want to get into the more meaty topics. It is very well written and digs deeply into COM Components and ActiveX Controls. Each Chapter has a summary at the beginning that lists the topics and which of the two exams they apply to. It also has little "side bars" throught the chapters on things you should remember for the exams. The Key Facts, review questions and exercises at the end of each chapter are also very appropriate. I had also used the MCSD Training Kit from MS. That book was not nearly enough. MCSD in a Nutshell turned out to be a much better investment. Get it. You won't be disappointed.
Rating:
Summary: Good, not for beginners.
Review: I read this book to get certified. It took me one week (with the Transcender test) and I got certified in both 70-175 and 70-176 with high score on both. What i liked about the book was that it skipped VB basic areas like data types and concentrated on the importent areas like COM, ADO, P&D and so on. Good Key Facts at the end of each chapter. I didn't do the excercises in the book.
Rating:
Summary: Good book written by an actual MCSD
Review: The author is right on the money as far as his advice concerning what to know in order to pass the exams. However, this book by itself will not enable you to pass, unless you already have quite a bit of experience with ActiveX. I got half way through the fourth chapter and realized I needed to get some actual coding experience with ActiveX if I wanted to understand what the author was covering in his ActiveX chapters. One thing I liked about this book is that it doesn't waste your time going over rudimentary concepts (unlike the 70-176 book published by Exam Prep). I recommend purchase of the Microsoft Visual Basic 6.0 Component Tools Guide and the Programmer's Guide. I know you can get the information on MSDN, but it's really nice to have hard copies of the documentation in front of you. And a lot of the information you need to know to clear the exams is in both of these books. Reading the MS documentation on developing ActiveX components will really help you in preparing for 70-176. The Transcender exams will give you a good feel for what the exam questions are like. Good luck.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent book!!!!
Review: Finally, there is a book that caters to all the sections of the exam. I took the exam yesterday and passed the exam with a score of 857. This book emphasizes on the key points of the exam and gives detailed explanation on these issues. I have read other books and no other book comes close to this one. This is an invaluable reference if you want to pass the MCSD. Also, practice the TRANSCENDER exams. 30-40% of the exam contains questions from the TRANSCENDER exams. Thank you Mr. Foxall. Without your book, I would not have cleared my certification.
Rating:
Summary: Use this book and no other
Review: I just passed my second VB exam based on the strength of this book and my previous experience. I strongly recommend this book to any VB programmer studying for the two VB exams. It will ground you in all of the areas the exams test you on. That said, I would have given this book 5 stars, but the occasional typo was problematic in the sample tests. I have a first printing so hopefully O'Reilly will continue to correct all the mistakes found. Remember to check the O'Reilly website for the latest errata (I wish more book publishers would be this honest).
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