70-290 & 291 prep

elover_jm

hi webmaster;

what books do you consider great for preparing and passing ms exams 70-290 and 70-291

Webmaster

I've passed the 70-292 to upgrade my MCSA 2000 to 2003 and haven't read any books for it, nor for the 290 and 291 exam. However, for most other MS exams I used the Microsoft Training Kits from MS Press and I recommend those. But don't expect to find any 'great' book that covers it all, you will need to combine the book with a practice lab (i.e. a couple of servers and clients), try Virtual PC or VMware if you don't have the necessary hardware, and with a good set of practice questions and/or other additional study material. Also make sure you read the sections in the Windows 2003 Product Documentation that correspond with the topics mentioned in the exam objectives. Also try amazon.com for 290 and 291 books and read the sample chapters, to compare for example the MS training kit and the Sybex guide and see which style you like best. Another good source for study advice and recommedations for study material are the "I passed" post in this forum.

keatron

I agree with Johan 100% I took both of these exams on Saturday and both (291 especially) will require some hours of hands on practice i.e. labs. And again I agree with the MS Press book recommendations, while I didn't really use any books for 290 and 291, I do know that for every Microsoft exam I've used books for I used these and they are by far the most complete (but they still wont get you through it without the lab practice). Good luck.

Trailerisf

I used sybex... Good all around book. They cover some material that doesn't need to be covered and then recover it again in the next book.

I have used sybex for the 270, 290 and 291 and did very well. I'm averaging ~ 900 on 3 exams.

But you can't just read the book and expect to pass.. Use their hands on prep.