I passed the Networking Essentials Exam with a score of 862. I felt the book assisted in my preparation but was weak in alot of areas. If I was new to networking I would have failed this test with just this book as a study guide. It is however a very easy book to read and the test questions are ok, but were nothing like the test. MS had alot of Senerio questions on this test, none the less I would recommend this book along with other to prepare for the exam.

I initially read the Exam Prep book, ISBN 1576102378 by Ed Tittel and David Johnson to get a deep understanding of networking terminology, and then I used this book for test review. This methodology paid good dividends as I passed the test with a score of 900 (Passing was 776, and there were 30 questions). I found the content of this book much more current than Exam Prep's. I also liked the format based on the test objectives. This book also helped me understand other important topics such as WINS and DNS, which were barely skimmed on the Exam Prep book (and which appeared on the exam in more than one occasion) You will notice that the book is full of study questions and sample tests, which definitely are a plus for test review, although I honestly tell you that I skipped most of the fill-in-the-blanks, True-False type of questions. On the other hand, I literally memorized every multiple-choice from the sample tests in the book, and there were plenty. I recommend following the author's guidelines about using this book: Complete and review all the sample tests, including the final review, with the expected results (85% or more correct answers) and I assure you that it works. The exam was not even close to the final reviews from this or the Exam Prep book, but with the practice obtained, I was able to tackle the 70-058 with confidence. Get this book, it goes straight to the point, covers everything on the test and it is an excellent test review source.

While it did have lots of exam simulated questions (which you NEED). This book did not TEACH the concepts very well. However, the questions on the actual test are in the form of "adaptive testing" (which means that the questions change depending on the responce of previous questions) and there is no way to simulate that. The BEST way to prepare, once you think you've learned the concepts, is to get questions asked. The toughest questions were those of the "scenario" based, not the ones that would ask you "how many netbios name characters are available for use for your naming scheme?"

In addition to those they WILL ask you how to set up an optimum netbios naming scheme. This book covers both types of questions but to answer those scenarios questions the best thing to really understand those concepts and also to have some experience. To understand the concepts, I like the book from the QUE publishers called: "Networking essentials" and the author was Dan York. the microsoft book was pretty lame in explaination and had a LOT of errors in it. My advice: buy this book and buy the QUE book. The QUE books ISBN number is:780789711939. Yes the QUE book is expensive but you'll need it to learn the concepts. Use this book and the QUE book, study your brains out. Don't bother taking the certified courses (useless, save your money)and don't bother with the microsoft books, they will only confuse you with errors (my god they were awful).

Absolutely all you need to pass the Linux+ exam.
We bought three copies of this book for my study group and I passed with flying colors. The book is laid out objective by objective and also included some very useful exam tips. The CD-ROM as a test engine with tons of practice questions. The CD also comes with a distro of Linux and tons of software. Fully Recommended:)

This is the second "Bible" book I have read by Trevor Kay. The first one was the Server+ Certification Bible. Trevor has a unique writing style that really helps you digest each exam topic without overwhelming you. The Linux+ Bible walks you through each step of becoming a Linux guru. I especially like the troubleshooting section, it came in handy not just for the exam but on the job. I thought this book was great at helping me pass the exam and I recommend it to anyone studying for the Linux+ exam.

I just took the Comptia Linux+ exam and passed! On a scale from 1 to 10 (1 being easy and 10 being hard) I would give the Linux+ exam a 6. The Linux+ Certification Bible from top to bottom is a very excellent resource for this exam.

If you are new to Linux and want to get this certification under your belt, I recommend this book because it covers each of the exam objective one after the other throughout the book. The CD-ROM that comes with the book has some free Linux programs on it and a test engine with tons of practice exam questions.

I bought this book and the Oracle Press book by Couchman to use in preparation for the SQL-PL/SQL OCP exam. This one was far better. There are a lot of sample exam questions, and some of the questions are tougher than what appeared the exam. I've been programming Oracle for about 1 year and wanted to get certified. This book definitely helped me pass the exam.

The authors explain the concepts very well. Some of the explanations, like for why you would want to use a specific rollback segment or why permissions on procedures have to be granted directly are handled better than I've seen anywhere else. The examples that go along with these explanations are clear and not contrived like some other books. The best part of this book is actually the sample questions and answers. The 300+ sample questions (and answers with explanations) do as much teaching as the text. I'm strong at SQL and getting better at PL/SQL, this book's 150+ pages on PL/SQL really helped

I also like the fact that the book came with an electronic version I could put on my notebook computer and not have to lug around the printed copy.

Thanks to Sybex and the authors for helping me get certified.

Passed the exam today with a score of 55/57. Relied mostly on this book, along with the Oracle Press' Complete Reference, whenever I needed additional information. Practice tests had a difficulty level higher than that of the actual exam and were very helpful in preparing hard for the exam. Overall, an excellent book that meets its intended purpose.

This is the best book I found in the market to get prepare for the OCP test 1 for Oracle 8i. This book specially highlights the differences between Oracle 8 and Oracle 8i and the self test software is excellent and very tricky. For any one who scored more than 80% in the self test software, passing the test 1 is not a dream. Sample questions are more difficult than the exam questions. Electronic version of the book is ideal because any time when I needed to continue reading the book just I needed to bring the CD with me.

I'm a citizen of Sri Lanka. There are no any training centres for OCP exams here. Just this book helped me to score 49 out of 57 that is 86% more than required to pass the test. Believe I'm new to Oracle !!!

Elton has put together an excellent study guide to prepare you for the Server+ exam. In addition to breaking down the exam objectives and thoroughly covering all of the topics, this is a good reference book to have even if you don't plan on taking the Server+ exam. A few of the things about this guide that I thought was especially good were:
-Excellent review of numerous concepts, such as: Intel processors, system buses, RAM types, SCSI, tape backup technologies, Ethernet, & RAID arrays.

-Exam Tips are listed throughout the text to show the items that you should focus on for the exam.
-Step-by-step procedures are provided for many hardware procedures.
-Many good references to online resources.
This study guide has two more things that are especially helpful in preparing for the Server+ exam; Fast Facts & a 150 question practice exam (on the included CD).
Well done Elton.

I found the Server+ Certification Training Guide to be a good read. Mr. Jernigan's experience really shows covering more than just "how to pass the Server+ exam". I really like the supplemental coverage of hardware! In addition to addressing the Server+ exam objectives, this book is loaded with good practical information and is one I'll keep for reference. I found the numerous other resources (websites and books) throughout the book to be very helpful as well. All in all, I like the presentation of what can be (and frequently is in many other books) very dry reading. I give it a thumbs up!

I have been a system administrator for several years. I am currently using this book to prepare for the Server+ Certification. The author has done a great job of dividing the book in specific chapters such as installation of new servers, upgrading current servers, and problem determination and troubleshooting. Some of my employees who have not decided on taking the exam yet, have found this book to be a excellent reference for their day-to-day duties.

Aside from its fine organization, the book states the learning objectives for each chapter and complements them with practice questions at the end to ensure understanding by the reader, as well as some anecdotes of the author's personal experience. I would recommend this book to any network, systems, or server administrator, even if obtaining the certification is not desired. This is one of the most precious resources I have in my bookshelf.

I think the material in the book is quite nicely laid out, logical, etc. I recommend buying this book as your main text. It's not perfect but it's not bad, and I know what a bad study book is. I also suggest that Networking Essentials is the right starting point for those wanting to become MCSE's. With no prior experience, I did find the material presented to be a steep learning curve. Although the book says, at the beginning, that no prior experience is necessary (other than familiarity with Windows & the mouse) I was glad that I had A+ certification, which helped me somewhat in understanding this book. Get the 'Computer Desktop Encyclopedia' or a computer/networking dictionary, Mr. Nash's book has a lot of vocabulary that isn't covered by his book's glossary. Also get the errata sheet he mentions. In addition to this book, two others I used & really liked are MCSE Readiness Review Exam 70-058 (MS Press) and MCSE-The Core Exams in a Nutshell (O'Rielly).

I found this book to be an excellent source of the details and specifics needed to pass the Networking Essentials exam. This book helped complete my existing knowledge to pass the test. (I only missed like two questions on the test after using this book). I found the material to be well presented and the author even responded to my questions about what appeared to be some confusing information and typos in the book. I recommend this book for anyone who is preparing to take the Networking Essentials exam or just wants a better understanding of networks.

Nash's book is clearly written and covers all topics found on the Networking Essentials exam. I had no exposure to networking before reading the book but Nash made everything crystal clear.

Buy this book if you are considering taking Networking Essentials. It will give you all the information you need to pass the exam. The only problem is the questions found in the book are not indicative of those on the exams.

I'd give the book a solid 9.

Today, I have passed with ease the Network+ Exam using this book for my ONLY study material. But I would recommend to use another books for the studying material especially for those who do not have a strong foundation or experience on networking.

Strength of this book:

1. This books is easy to read and understand, concepts are usually clearly. The 7 layers is well -presented.

2. The poster of OSI Seven-layer Model is really nice and useful.

Weakness of this book:

1. Obviously, this book do not well-proofreaded. Some errors were found.

p.63 : 5-4-3 rule is 5 segments, 4 repeaters ...

p.76 and 387 : Max. length of 1000BaseFX is 2000m

p.11 Figure 1.8 MAC addresses of B & D is incorrect

Some other very minor mistakes were found.

2. The question is far too simple and the format is not very similar to the question in the real exam.

3. Environmental impacts on network is totally missing which is tested in the exam.

Alan Chan -- A+, MCSE and Network+

A big Thank-you to the authors for this excellent book ! I have passed the Network+ exam with 94%, this week. The authors explain AND show you the concepts and how the ideas are connected together, clearly, making it easy to understand and remember.

Example: It explain clearly the concepts on NETBIOS and Socket and show their relationship, making it so easy to understand and remember. In this way, it is like showing you how to put the many pieces of jigsaw puzzle together. It save you plenty of time too!

Many other books explain the concepts in fragments (it is like giving you several pieces of a jigsaw puzzle), without showing how they are interrelated or how the ideas are connected together.

Strengths: (1) Focus on what are important and relevant. (2) Contents are clear and easy to understand. (3) Tell AND show clearly the relationships between concepts. (4) Include many pictures, photographs and illustrations to help you see, understand and review better.

(5) Test questions on the CD ROM are very helpful!

Weakness: (1) One important error (100BaseFX - Chapter 2, page 76) The correct maximum length for 100BaseFX cable is 1000 meters (not 400 meters as stated in the book). (2) Omission error: Brouter is not explained in the book. (Brouter is a hybrid between Bridge and a Router, and is used on the Data Link and Network Layer of the OSI model).

The book also filter the unnecessary in-depth TCP/IP details that are beyond the scope of Network+ exam, but which are required for the MCSE TCP/IP exam. In this way, it help to keep you focused on studying what is important and relevant for the Network+ exam. without unnecessary burden.

Buy and study this book. Then experience the joy of understanding which the authors have labored to make this technical book, as complete as possible, as well as easy, for the reader to understand and pass your exam.

Remember to study (not just read) this book, and then go and pass your Network+ Exam.!

I wish all IT books were written in this manner. I hope they come out with Server+/Linux+ and keep to this format.

Simple and fluid writing (ignoring some errors).

The pictorials are excellent, to the point and easy to comprehend. It actually made basic to intermediate networking look simple.

This book is THE book if you're teaching networking (not advanced networking).

It actually made me smirk a few times while reading, the humour keeps your mind fresh. Not to much to make the book look silly.

Scoring for the exam is now 750 points out of 900, which comes out to 83.3%.

This book and either the Exam Prep or Exam Cram book (depending on experience, Cram if you have 6+ months in Networking, Prep if you have none) and you'll be sure to pass.

A+, i-Net+, Network+, CIW Associate.

This review is based on the idea that you are looking to maybe buy this book in order to pass the FP98 MCP exam. Overall, it will help - but I would not recommend it being your only resource. It covers too much detail in some areas (script wizard), and does not cover the nuances of site security and IIS. I just passed exam 70-055:Designing and Implementing Web Sites with Microsoft FrontPage 98 using this book as my one textual reference, so I'd have to say it did help. The book is easy to read and gives a very thorough treatment of FP98. Overall, I would say this book lays a decent groundwork as test preparation and has lots of info, but falls short. The chapter questions have wrong answers in the book and on the CD and authors tend to jump right into to details unexpectedly.

Suggestion - buy Running FP98 and get the Transcender Tests. Then go out and build lots of webs using the material from the tests. Get the experience. It seems to count more than what you can get from any book.

Okay, I've finished this book and I'm just the average guy looking to get my MCSD. I failed the exam the first round, but I didn't study at all, I underestimated Microsoft questions. So here is what I suggest you do: 1) Buy the FrontPage Exam Cram (like everyone says it's true the questions are pathetically simple and the book has many typos and mismatched answers on the CD) 2) Concentrate on the difficult stuff (ASP, channels, wizards, databases, security, and everything under the menu 3) It's microsoft, ya gotta memorize, so practice 4) I prepared by taking all the questions in Exam Cram and this book + 100 of my own questions. 5) Sit back and have a cold one... 6) of couse, I passed :-) 2nd times a charm!

I recently took the Frontpage exam and did pretty well. I have this book to thank for that. The book presents a solid foundation for expertise in Frontpage. It does an exhaustive review of all the features of Frontpage with a few tips on optimization.

Unfortunately it only covers about 70% of the exam. For example it does not discuss which features require Frontpage server extensions very well (an important topic) and the Analysis part is essentially useless. The review questions at the end of each chapter and on the cdrom are much too simple to be a gauge for the exam. I mean c'mon do you think Microsoft will ask "What does HTTP stand for"?

This book will NOT prepare the reader for the simulation questions, because there just arent enough diagrams or illustrations that will familiarize you with the Frontpage intereface and dialog boxes (a crucial part of the exam). Coupling with this book with Running Frontpage 98 from microsoft (which had lots of visual aids) and extensive practice with the software did the trick for me.

This book was useful for the WinArch I exam, but only for certain subjects. For example, the chapters on database technologies and on threads and processes are excellent, but the ones on COM and Internet technologies are very weak. A couple of annoying things about this book are that the answers to the sample questions are frequently wrong (be sure to download the errata from the Sybex web site), and that the author's sycophantic tone makes every little detail of Microsoft technology sound like God's gift to humanity. Still, I definitely recommend this book over the Prendergast volume, which I found long-winded, cluttered, and opinionated (very polemical against Microsoft, just as annoying if not more so). It is geared specifically towards the exam requirements and really helped me fill in the gaps in certain areas (like the Solutions Framework). I used it along with the Transcender exams and MSDN, and passed with a 971. By the way, the two WinArch exams are so close to one another that you really should prepare for them together. The other Sybex volume complements this one well -- it's even more inconsistent (be warned), but the Internet material, especially on ASP and component download, is quite a bit better. I used both books thoroughly and (almost) felt I got my money's worth!

I used this book in conjuction with Transcender (very important!) and passed the first time with an 855!

I found this book to be what I needed from a WinArch I study guide. I, for one, am REASONABLE about my expectations. The questions has some errors, but the content was excellent. I think the people on here who gripe so much just want someone to take the exam FOR them. Ridiculous. There is no way this book rates anything less than 4 stars compared to what else I've seen out there! THANKS TO THE AUTHORS!

Get editors who can do there job and programmers who can actually code to do the test engine and I'd give ya a 5!

I thank the authors and publisher for waiting "to get it just right". This book is very well thought out and makes sense. Other study guides I've looked at seem to be take a shotgun approach and end-up being all over the place and lack a real focus. The focus in this book is perfect.

The questions at the end of each chapter are invaluable and really help with retention. You tend to remeber the little detatils you probably would have blown on the test.

As many have mentioned, the WA I& II exams are still valid until July of 2000. With guides available *now* (not to mentioned the tests) why not get certified now and then focus on the new exams later. (None of the new exams are going to even be in beta until September, and we all know MS's on-time delivery track record....)

I've been using Exam Cram/Transcender to get through the first five exams for my MCSE (TCPIP was other elective). I felt that they were the best and fastest way to get MCSE'd. When I started looking into materials for IIS, this book was recommended over Exam Cram. I found it very difficult to get through and not very useful during the test or for understanding IIS in a meaningful way. I think I got used to EC's straight forward, direct style and couldn't go back to this checklist, "light" style. I don't know if the EC book was really that bad or if Corlois has improved it so scan it at the nearest bookstore. Otherwise, if it weren't for brain dumps and cramsession, I'd still wouldn't have my MCSE!

I passed the IIS exam by studying in several books and I suggest you practice because you have 8-10 simulation questions in that test, I found this book very helpful in succeeding in the exam specially for the ODBC Error questions that you will be asked about in 3 or 4 questions, If you practice the sample test included in this book you definitely pass the exam. thank you Lisa Donald

Earned my MCP+Internet with the help of this book and the Exam Notes version. I found it easier and faster to read through than the huge study guide by Sybex. Some of the practice questions were on the actual exam. These books, along with the product documentation, braindump site and hands on practice will help you pass a supposedly difficult exam. You can do it!

As a first-time MCSE test taker and novice administrator, I do not recommend this study guide to pass the 70-210 exam. I was very surprised because without any networking experience, I was able to pass the Cisco CCNA exam using the Sybex study guides. This MCSE guide gave me enough information to understand the procedures but it was woefully short on specific details (i.e. file names)that regularly popped up on the exam and never appeared in the Book!! Another complaint is that the study questions in the book and the CD very little resembled what was on the actual exam. I was shocked to find case study-like questions that required very specific knowledge that could not be found in this study guide. After the exam I went to the local bookstore and found that if I had only read the Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional Rediness Review by Wilansky (along with the Sybex guide) I would have passed. For the novice administrator I recommend studying for the 70-210 exam using the official Microsoft study guides. More experienced administrators may be able to pass the test with just this study guide.

I took an 8 wk. course on Win2K Pro and the course used the Academic Learning Series from Microsoft Press. I bought this Sybex book to supplement the course material. It stressed topics that were not given much importance in the Academic Learning Series and filled in some of the holes, explanation wise, that the course material was lacking.

I passed the test and truly thought that if I had known what questions I had missed I would have found the answers in this Sybex book. I remember reading about certain topics but could not remember specifics, my fault at studying not the books fault.

The only fault I can say is that their "Test" questions, while good at testing your knowledge on specific topics, did not ready me for the type of questions the Certification exam posed. Real world, scenario type of questions that make you pull from several areas of expertise to answer the question. Otherwise I would have given it 5 stars.

Also a word to the wise. Do not think that a single book, however comprehensive, is going to prepare you for the test. Its almost impossible to learn everything the book has to offer and remember it thourougly enough to pass the test. You need some practical experience with networks, clients, servers, etc. to do well. If at all possible make sure you test your knowledge learned in the book to real world situations.

I have had my MCSE since 1996 and from day one I used Sybex Study Guides. I have used Microsoft Press, New Riders, Que and several others. Sybex is my all time favorite. It is thoroughly written, easy to understand, the practice questions and the exercises are easy to follow. The practice test identified my weak points. The CD provides a wealth of valuable information.

The book is a bit long, but for a beginner I think this would be a good choice. I read the book and I also recommend the Windows 2000 Pro Resource Kit to pass the exam. I sat down for the test and passed after 30 minutes.

Furthermore, I find that the Sybex Study Guides are great as a reference guide. Once I pass the test I always keep it handy in case I need to look up things.