MCSD .Net Solution Architectures: Exam 70-300 [With CDROM]

It is a pleasure to study for a Microsoft Exam and actually learn something along the way. This book is well conceived and well written. It covers all of the material necessary to pass the .NET Solution Architectures exam. In fact, it includes enough real-world knowledge and background information that I would suggest it for learning about Microsoft architectures even if you aren't planning to take the exam.Other reviewers have written about the execellent references that the book provides, so I won't repeat all of that here, except to say that the book was published after the exam came out and that some of the material in the book is more up-to-date than what is being tested by Microsoft. This will not pose a problem for the person taking the test, however.

I just passed the 70-300 exam and used this book to study for it.The book is a comprehensive review of everything that you may need to know for the exam. However, some sections are repeated without any good reason. The questions at the end of each chapter are similar in nature to the ones that I saw on the exam.It took me 12 days, spending about an hour - an hour and half per day, to get through the book. I did pass the other .Net tests before I read the book, so majority of the material was a review. Although I do have many years of experience as an architect, I found a lot of useful information in this book that will help me design better products and solutions in the future.

This is a focused book - focused on the exam. The microsoft book is a propaganda book for the microsoft method and MIGHT be useful in general terms. However, this one has personality and examples, whereas the Microsoft book is dry, humorless, and is little more than an endless series of lists.This book seems to be written by a person who has a lot of experience doing analysis and design and really wants to comunicate knowledge, whereas the Microsoft book seems written by a computer.

I chose this book over the MS Press offering because of the emphasis on case studies and practice that was more closely matched to the real exam. I highly recommend it to anyone (especially the "classic" MSCD people working toward MCSD.NET certification) about to take the exam. You can go thru this book at different speeds, depending on your prior background.Hint: If you find this book in the bookstore, take a peek at Chapter 12 and at the links at the end of each chapter.

The just-published Exam Cram 2 for .NET Solution Architectures presents a different approach than Microsoft's Exam Guide which I recently reviewed. Both books appear good and my initial reaction is recommend both as there are areas that each cover that are not covered in the other book. If you must choose only one, I recommend this one. Interestingly both books have almost the same number of pages - slightly under 500.Overall in the Exam Cram book, there's much more exam-taking and strategy discussion. This book also appears to have much more up-to-date information including extensive discussion of XML. I was also impressed with the amount of just good practical information in the Exam Cram vs. the Microsoft book. Another plus for this book is it's statement that much of the actual exam involves case studies where a wide range of information is tested on each case as opposed to the earlier 70-100 Solutions Architecture Exam where only a narrow range of topics were quizzed on each case. The Microsoft guide has no case studies in the text as opposed to the Exam Cram version that is chock full of thought-provoking case studies. There is also ample discussion of how this exam uses questions where you must move things around (drag & drop, etc.) as opposed to the classic programming exams that are largely multiple choice.I still haven't taken the actual exam, so I can't speak to which book covers more of the material. The Transcender practice tests for this review aren't due to be ready until June 2003 either. I plan to study both of these books and practice on the Transcender exams when they become available.