Do not use MS Press for this exam

I know this has been stated before, but I just wanted to chime in with a little more detail. I've already gone through the Syngress book, but I wanted to use a second resource to see if I would come across any new material. I can't tell you how many times I've come across things like this:

MS Press wrote:

It is a good idea to spend some time exploring the Network Load Balancing Manager and Cluster Administrator applications. Learn the function of each parameter or setting in these two programs, using the online help for assistance.

The book rarely, if ever, goes in-depth into anything. A better title would be "A Brief Overview of 70-293." It's not that the information is bad, or that it's poorly written in general. I just don't feel that this book contains information which would be necessary to competently perform 293-related tasks on the job. This book may help you pass the test, but it will abandon you in the real world.

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nel

yeah, ive heard the MS book for the 293 is pants. ive started studying for the 293 and have read the syngress book. i also picked up the MS book - only because i borrowed it from work and have started to look at it for a 2nd reference but like dynamik says - its poor. i was quite suprised because i have used ms books in the past for the 270 / 290 and thought they were of good quality.

Out of the two books i felt the syngress is superior but alot of the time goes on and on and on and on some more just for the sake of filling pages (800+ !)or so it seems to me.

regardless of the last comment i would say the syngress is good quality.

JdotQ

nel wrote:

Out of the two books i felt the syngress is superior but alot of the time goes on and on and on and on some more just for the sake of filling pages (800+ !)or so it seems to me.

This is exactly what I am finding also. I'm only a few chapters in and to me it's making it hard to concentrate with all the non-focused information (seeming to go on and on and on

- makes it hard to continue reading)

I enjoyed the MS Press book for 290 and 291, as it went into good detail and described the steps and functions. This syngress book seems to be all theory based to me, compared to the MS Press 290/291 books.

Hopefully it'll improve as I keep working through it

dynamik

JdotQ wrote:

I enjoyed the MS Press book for 290 and 291, as it went into good detail and described the steps and functions. This syngress book seems to be all theory based to me, compared to the MS Press 290/291 books.

IMO, theory was one of the main things that was lacking from the MS Press book. You need to remember what exam you're studying for. While there are still some more technical things in 293, such as PKI and NLB/Clustering, the majority of technical details were covered in 291. Planning and maintenance should require a decent amount of theory.

70-291: Implementing, Managing, and Maintaining a Windows Server 2003 Network Infrastructure
70-293: Planning and Maintaining a Windows Server 2003 Network Infrastructure

snadam

dynamik wrote:

subject: Do not use MS Press for this exam

seriously though, thanks for heads up, because this is most likely my next exam after this one.

JdotQ

dynamik wrote:

IMO, theory was one of the main things that was lacking from the MS Press book. You need to remember what exam you're studying for. While there are still some more technical things in 293, such as PKI and NLB/Clustering, the majority of technical details were covered in 291. Planning and maintenance should require a decent amount of theory.

70-291: Implementing, Managing, and Maintaining a Windows Server 2003 Network Infrastructure
70-293: Planning and Maintaining a Windows Server 2003 Network Infrastructure

Good points!