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earweed

It can't be much worse than the MS Press book.

Killermac

earweed wrote: »

It can't be much worse than the MS Press book.

How True. KM

ally_uk

Let me know how the Sybex book is I can't seem to get into the Microsoft Press one lol

ally_uk

Amazon.com: MCTS Windows 7 Configuration Study Guide: Exam 70-680 (9780470568750): William Panek: Books

It doesn't look good lol first review is in

Killermac

ally_uk wrote: »

Amazon.com: MCTS Windows 7 Configuration Study Guide: Exam 70-680 (9780470568750): William Panek: Books

It doesn't look good lol first review is in

Ok I have this book in hand today, I have not read through much of it yet so I don't have much of a review. However I read the review at amazon and I have to ask who uses just one resource for study. This person blames the book for the bad result yet does not say anything about other resources. Myself I plant to read this book and use my VM's and online labs. I might also get the MS Press book even with all the known issues. I believe in multiple sources and not just one. KM

ally_uk

Amazon.com: Customer Reviews: MCTS Windows 7 Configuration Study Guide: Exam 70-680


Looks pretty good i'm getting it

ally_uk

Book ordered should receive it in the next few days, will give you guys the lowdown on how it is, ive tried picking up the MS Press book a few times but it's all over the place, full of errors and the deployment chapter is a joke, the information to me is just not clear and concise just is a mumble jumble it's like the author has technology tourettes and is just spewing out keywords like DISM, WIM, MDT, AIK, that's fine but I would actually like to know how to use these technologies without resorting to reading over complicated material which leaves you with a banging headache and wasted hours trying to figure out why the examples and test labs in the book do not work.

I have read some of Stanek's previous work and enjoyed it, I will let you know how the Sybex book is

parttimetechie

Can someone post a link to the Sybex book so I know what it looks like? I have not seen this book at BN or Borders and have been looking b/c I would like to try and knock out an MS exam in the next few months.

Thanks

earweed

parttimetechie wrote: »

Can someone post a link to the Sybex book so I know what it looks like? I have not seen this book at BN or Borders and have been looking b/c I would like to try and knock out an MS exam in the next few months.

Thanks

Amazon.com: MCTS Windows 7 Configuration Study Guide: Exam 70-680 (9780470568750): William Panek: Books

parttimetechie

earweed wrote: »

Amazon.com: MCTS Windows 7 Configuration Study Guide: Exam 70-680 (9780470568750): William Panek: Books

Ah, I didn't know that was the Sybex book everyone was talking about. Is it any good from what you people who have read it?

Killermac

I have been reading this book and thus far I have only found one error and I believe it was one zero too many. I like how it walks you thought labs and the information is presented pretty well. I have only gone through two chapters but I like it thus far.

KM

earweed

I may have to get that book. I got the MS Press book as I was thinking about taking the Windows 7 test on my own (I already have Vista Configuring) but after studying it and trying to lab (the MS book is not very good in this area) I decided to wait til I had a better resource.
I feel that Windows 7 will be more valuable to me in the long run. Studying for Vista I learned zilch about deployment and imaging as the MS press book (and the test) barely touched on these areas. It seems MS decided when working up objectives for Vista and writing the tests to just focus on when and why to do these things instead of how.
A lot of people in other forums have repeatedly referred to 7 as just being "Vista 2.0" and just viewing the OS from a user perspective it is. It's just that it utilizes a lot of the newer technology and techniques of working with it from the IT viewpoint.

ally_uk

The Sybex book is flimsy on information covers only basic information, Compare the deploment chapter in the MS Press book and your see what I mean, It only really touches and skimps on subjects I don't think you could pass this exam Just using this book alone, I'm going to download the errata and work my way slowly through the press book and follow it up with the sybex

SephStorm

Very interesting reading the range of reviews on this book on amazon. I think I'll watch this thread for more reviews, before I look to go purchase this.

ally_uk

I read the deployment section of the sybex book scored 100% on the review questions first time, they were not very taxing thing is though I noticed that they totally missed out on DSIM, BCEDIT, The MS Press book goes into much better detail, but I will use both books The Sybex book is very straight forward and easy to take in the information, you have the added hassle of reading the errata thread on the Press book due to the mistakes,

As for the Press book it's not as daunting as it first seemed and I am looking forward to really getting hands on with Windows 7 I'm also going to have Server 2008 running virtually so that I can practice WDS, and learn how to setup up a domain and learn some Active directory stuff, I'm currently enjoying my studies and it doesn't feel like a slog anymore it's quite a enjoyable experience learning new stuff.

I'd like to thank people on this site for finally getting me to see sense and focus more on my studies good job

earweed

ally_uk wrote: »

I'd like to thank people on this site for finally getting me to see sense and focus more on my studies good job

You're the one taking the initiative to study and learn. All the people here have done is to offer some good advice. Sounds like you're doing a good job with setting up a virtual lab environment to practice what you're reading. As someone else on this forum pointed out to me
Doing >>Reading
Good luck in your studies!

pennystrader

Though this is not out yet I would suggest using this when it comes out from TrainSignal. You also get the Transcender as well so this would be helpful.
It covers deploying images and seeing it done would help the learning curve I am sure. I really like TrainSignal stuff for learning a product. then you can use Transcender to prepare for the test.


Windows 7 Administration Training, 70-680 Exam | Train Signal

parttimetechie

I just ordered the book from BN yesterday, ill let u know what I think of it

parttimetechie

Im into the fifth chapter on this book, so far I think it is really straight forward and easy..maybe that is just b/c I am using Win 7 a lot.

I did have a question for those people who have taken the MS Exam. Will the exam be anything like the end of chapter MC questions? If they are, I think I should do fine, if they are NOT, then where to I get more applicable studying material for other types of questions?

Thanks

jdawg131

parttimetechie wrote: »

Im into the fifth chapter on this book, so far I think it is really straight forward and easy..maybe that is just b/c I am using Win 7 a lot.

I did have a question for those people who have taken the MS Exam. Will the exam be anything like the end of chapter MC questions? If they are, I think I should do fine, if they are NOT, then where to I get more applicable studying material for other types of questions?

Thanks

I have the same question. I just finished Chapter 4 this morning and have been doing very well on the end of chapter questions. For A+, I read Mike Myers' book and used Transcender. I was wondering if Transcender is a good prep tool for this cert as it was great for A+.

parttimetechie

jdawg131 wrote: »

I have the same question. I just finished Chapter 4 this morning and have been doing very well on the end of chapter questions. For A+, I read Mike Myers' book and used Transcender. I was wondering if Transcender is a good prep tool for this cert as it was great for A+.

Did you get killed on Chapter two about the automated deployments? That was my lowest score of the entire book so far *on chapter five now* and other than that I am doing good.

earweed

jdawg131 wrote: »

I have the same question. I just finished Chapter 4 this morning and have been doing very well on the end of chapter questions. For A+, I read Mike Myers' book and used Transcender. I was wondering if Transcender is a good prep tool for this cert as it was great for A+.

I've been reading some reviews of Transcender for Windows 7 on the WGU site and they're not good.

jdawg131

earweed wrote: »

I've been reading some reviews of Transcender for Windows 7 on the WGU site and they're not good.

Thanks for the heads up earweed. Good thing that I went with MeasureUp instead. I read a bit online and most folks seem to recommend MeasureUp for Microsoft certs.

I've got the first 6 Chapters knocked out so far and the lowest score that I've gotten on an end of chapter quiz has been 16/20. The only issue that I have is that at the end of every chapter there are 2-3 questions that are not covered in the chapter; the questions are more in depth and require a better understanding than was covered. The Chapter 5 quiz had two questions on cookie privacy levels. Nowhere during the chapter does the book cover the different privacy levels. So far I think that the book is just "good" as there a quite a few blanks to fill in. It's a good thing that I've been a desktop support technician for 5+ years and have had Windows 7 Pro on my laptop and PC for the past 6 months.

parttimetechie

Ya, it isn't as strong as I would have liked, but at least it is easy to follow. I usually get 17/20 on my end of chapter exams, except for the deployment chapter i got something like 12/20. I found that stuff confsuing as heck.

I haven't ran into the random EOC questions like you talked about, but ill keep my eyes out for those cookie ones.

parttimetechie

I see what you meant about the cookies questions. I never did see where those were explained. Makes me wonder if the author forgot a section or two?

jdawg131

parttimetechie wrote: »

I see what you meant about the cookies questions. I never did see where those were explained. Makes me wonder if the author forgot a section or two?

Kind of odd isn't it? Hopefully, the MeasureUp questions will fill in the gaps. I've only looked at 30 or so questions so far (I want to fully finish the book before really delving into them), but they look pretty good. I saw a few questions that really getting into the deployment of 7 and BranchCache. If you decide to go that route, there's a 25% off coupon floating around if you do a Google search.

I'm 20 or so pages into Chapter 7 and want to have the book finished by Friday, so that I can give myself a week or so to really hammer the MeasureUp questions. I've heard that if you do well on their practice tests, you're generally in pretty good shape in terms of the actual Microsoft test. I'm just reading the Sybex book to get a better understanding of the in and outs of 7.

ally_uk

Seems a bit flimsy on material to me, if the exam is this easy would be a walk in the park I dealt it is. Mircosoft Press is alot more detailed.

earweed

I've actually gone back and read some of the later chapters in the MS book and it looks almost like different authors wrote those chapters (opposed to chapters 2+3) and they're pretty well put together. I haven't gotten the Sybex book yet, hoping it'll be available on 24x7.

parttimetechie

Ya, im debating whether I want to get the MS Press Book or try and look for good study questions online. I took my Net+ exam with a lot of help from this site so im hoping it wont let me down for Win 7.

earweed

From what I can tell about the MS book is that those first few chapters are really poorly written. The rest of the book seems fairly decent from what I've seen so far.
Judging by results in the WGU community almost noone there can pass the test using the MS book. Transcender for W7 has also gotten the big thumbs down over there, but I don't think they're using it properly. A lot of people use the practice tests to help them learn the material instead of learning and then using practice tests to find the holes in your knowledge.
The MS book for Windows 7 is full of errors, I've been using the MS Press book for the 70-640 and it has just as many errors in it. I'm talking about the published list of errors MS put out. There are more errors in both of these MS Press books than have been published in the list. I've been reading the technet articles everywhere one is mentioned and making corrections to the text, it makes it a lot harder but I'm learning the material better.