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Looking to buy a used 70-680 MS press book...

drew2000drew2000 Member Posts: 290
Based on the reviews, I don't want to shell out retail for the MS Press Book. I have the Sean Odom book but am not thrilled with it.

If anyone wants to sell their copy of the 70-680 MS Press book, please let me know!

Drew

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    PsoasmanPsoasman Member Posts: 2,687 ■■■■■■■■■□
    Have you looked at Amazon? I got a used book w/dvd for $38. Barnes and Noble also has used books.
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    drew2000drew2000 Member Posts: 290
    Yeah - thanks. B&N has them for $49 used and Amazon @ $41.

    Was hoping to get a better deal on a book that reportedly has a lot of typos.

    I spent $26 on Odom's book and feel like I overpaid for that. I don't want to get burned twice.

    I am used to the CCNA books where you get much more bang for your buck!

    Drew
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    RobertKaucherRobertKaucher Member Posts: 4,299 ■■■■■■■■■■
    drew20000,

    You should easliy be able to pass this exam with the material on TE posted as a study guide. I spent just a few hours reviewing the new features of Win 7 and passed the exam in beta comfortably. If you really want a physical resource, I would suggest the Win 7 Resource kit as that will serve you better throughout the life cycle of 7 than a book geared just to the exam. You will pay more but you will get much more out of that book. Couple the Resource Kit with the TE guide and you can be sure of a pass. Your MCSE should give you the base MS knowledge you really need, making the 680 easier to handle.
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    wedge1988wedge1988 Member Posts: 434 ■■■□□□□□□□
    I finnished reading through the 70-680 yesterday, and the difference in quality to older mspress books is really apparent. Much better choice of fonts, easier to read layout, better material and more in the book about the exam material.

    I havnt taken the exam but i will soon, and there is a lot of new material so id suggest you buy one, even if you only scan through the book. either that or borrow one or something.

    (When i say a lot of new material i mean compared to the 70-270 xp exam) and having an MCSE would greatly help you out, as i found this book is geared more towards enterprise scenarios than workgroup stuff like the xp book.
    ~ wedge1988 ~ IdioT Certified~
    MCSE:2003 ~ MCITP:EA ~ CCNP:R&S ~ CCNA:R&S ~ CCNA:Voice ~ Office 2000 MASTER ~ A+ ~ N+ ~ C&G:IT Diploma ~ Ofqual Entry Japanese
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    RobertKaucherRobertKaucher Member Posts: 4,299 ■■■■■■■■■■
    wedge1988 wrote: »
    (When i say a lot of new material i mean compared to the 70-270 xp exam) and having an MCSE would greatly help you out, as i found this book is geared more towards enterprise scenarios than workgroup stuff like the xp book.

    My experience with the beta exam is that this observation is correct. That's not to say that the XP test was a consumer support exam but it was quite broad having material from so many different areas and the Win 7 exam seems to be more focused, which I thisnk is better.
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    PiersPiers Member Posts: 454 ■■■□□□□□□□
    on a similar note as the OP, is it shady to swap PDF files? I'm getting an e-reader soon, and want to get all my study material on it, but some things I've been using Books24x7 for, and don't have the PDF to load on the reader (without cutting and pasting myself that is).

    Maybe I'll start a new topic for this, if it turns the thread the wrong direction
    :study: Office 365 70-347 / 698 later
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    drew2000drew2000 Member Posts: 290
    Thanks to all for the feedback. I last took a Microsoft exam back in Dec 06. Since then I have taken Security+, and Cisco ICND1 and ICND2. So it has been a while since I have taken an MS exam.

    I'll definitely consider the resource kit, it is about the same price as the MS Press book on Amazon.

    The TE Notes are pretty good too, I have just always like books. I think I really need to emphasize the virtual labs to build up hands-on skill with the new Win 7 features.

    Thanks again,

    Drew
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    RobertKaucherRobertKaucher Member Posts: 4,299 ■■■■■■■■■■
    Drew, I totally agree with you about liking books. Having something physical makes it real.

    What got me on the kick of using web based material and virtual labs was not having a lot to spend on the 70-443 and then taking a few beta exams that didn't have any print material. After I traded a few PDF versions of certain books with a friend and after I was able to pass the betas I got over that.

    But then I am really trying to master SQL Server 2005/2008 so I have spent loads on print material as well as getting resource from MS and other places online. So who am I to judge? icon_wink.gif

    I just think that with your background spending 40 or 50 bucks on material for a client exam would not be worth it. Unless it was like the resource kit and it would be a good reference for the future.
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    drew2000drew2000 Member Posts: 290
    I hear that. The one thing I don't like about TechNet is that a lot times the articles are full of links, and each of those links leads to more links. It kind of feels like I get caught in a mess with all the links.

    Thanks for all of the tips!

    Andrew
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