MCTS Self-Paced Training Kit (Exam 70-561): Microsoft® .NET Framework 3.5 ADO.NET Application Development (Self-Paced Training Kits) |  | Authors: Shawn Wildermuth, Jim Wightman, Mark Blomsma
Publisher: Microsoft Press
List Price: $69.99
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Rating:  8 reviews
Sales Rank: 46656
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1 Har/Cdr
Pages: 512
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 2.6
Dimensions (in): 8.7 x 7.4 x 2
ISBN: 0735625638
Dewey Decimal Number: 004
EAN: 9780735625631
ASIN: 0735625638
Publication Date: March 25, 2009
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Product Description
EXAM PREP GUIDE Ace your preparation for the skills measured by MCTS Exam 70-561 and on the job. Work at your own pace through a series of lessons and reviews that fully cover each exam objective. Then, reinforce and apply what you ve learned through real-world case scenarios and practice exercises. This official Microsoft study guide is designed to help you make the most of your study time. Maximize your performance on the exam by learning to: Connect to data sources; query and retrieve data Manage data integrity and transactions Use LINQ to query data across types, including XML Work with DataSets and in-memory stores Synchronize data including smart-caching strategies Generate an EDM using the Entity Framework Use ADO.NET Data Services for Internet applications PRACTICE TESTS Assess your skills with the practice tests on CD. You can work through hundreds of questions using multiple testing modes to meet your specific learning needs. You get detailed explanations for right and wrong answers including a customized learning path that describes how and where to focus your studies. Your kit includes: 15% exam discount from Microsoft. Offer expires 12/31/13. Details inside. Official self-paced study guide. Practice tests with multiple, customizable testing options and a learning plan based on your results. 240+ practice and review questions. Code samples in Microsoft Visual Basic(r) and Visual C#(r) on CD. 90-day trial of Microsoft Visual Studio(r) 2008 Professional Edition. Fully searchable eBook of this guide.
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 8
 Needs Errata August 31, 2009
Charles B. Santee
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Like other Microsoft Press books this one badly needs a proof reader and a comprehensive errata sheet. It is apparent no one used a spell checker on the text portion of the book. The database supplied on the CD is not the same version that was used to generate the examples.
Rough ride June 25, 2009
Dimitri Shvorob (Nashville, Tennessee)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I scored 80% relying almost exclusively on the book, so yes, mastering it is sufficient to pass. Whether the tome is a helpful, well-thought-out reference that will give you competence in the subject is a different question - answered with a "no".
Other reviewers noted the mismatch between the book's coverage and exam's scope. (Sync is the biggest problem area). Sadly, the authors cannot do an A+ job even on bread-and-butter topics like selecting and updating data.
PS. The sample database - and why not use Northwind or AdventureWorks, by the way? - is supposed to be on the CD, but is not. Thankfully, page xviii provides a download link. I got the files and tried attaching the database - no luck, SQL Server aborted with an error.
 Sufficient for the exam May 14, 2009
Michael J. Mcmahon Jr. (Reno, NV USA)
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
This book is sufficient for passing the exam. This was the only resource I used (aside from MSDN), and I passed the exam. However, I must say that this book will only be sufficient if you have experience with some ADO.NET functionality already - preferably database connections and structuring principles. If you are completely new to ADO.NET and database use in general, this will only provide a good starting point and more reading will be required to fully understand the topics well enough for the exam.
Compared to other Microsoft training kits, this one was disappointing for many reasons (hence the lower review than I've given other books). Firstly, the grammatical errors are plentiful. They are present not only in the text but in the example code as well. For example, more than one LINQ query suddenly has a reference to a new variable that should not be there. Look through the examples carefully and do not accept them if they don't make sense. Similar errors exist in the lesson review questions.
The content itself is left at a high level, for the most part. While some areas like connection strings are described with a great deal of verbiage, most areas that need it such as LINQ and Entity Framework are left quite short. For example, useful topics related to those two sections include lambda expressions and better descriptions of WHERE clause syntax - none of which is present. The coverage is broad, yet shallow. While I understand that DataSet use is a deep topic, additional examples and use cases would be helpful for the exam.
The practice tests were typical for the MCTS training kits. The questions helped to illuminate the areas missed by the book, though there are still some errors - e.g. questions that are marked as incorrect when the explanation states it should be correct. The book itself acts more as a supplement to the training exam.
In all, the book was useful as a preparation guide, but only barely. It was far more helpful to me to have a solid understanding of databases and relational structures than it would have been to have only used the book. With some extra content on EF, LINQ, and DataSets, this book could be much better and a more well-rounded preparation guide. As it stands, though, it is merely mediocre - however, mediocre enough to help me pass the exam... If the quality of the material dropped below this level, the value of the study guide would be insufficient to merit using it as preparation for the exam.
It's only 2/3 of a book. April 26, 2009
Xangis (Columbus, OH USA)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
This book needs to be about 200 pages longer to properly cover all of the topics on the exam.
For the most part I agree with Mark Price's review, which is pretty much spot-on. This book is sorely lacking when it comes to Entity Framework, Sync, SQL dependencies and notifications. However, the LINQ to XML lesson was useful (a question on it did turn up on my exam).
Even though the topic coverage in the book is pretty sparse, the practice tests are pretty helpful and cover a range of topics closer to the exam. I passed the 70-561 on the first try, but only because the practice tests were a wake-up call that told me I needed to find another source of information to study the EF, SQL dependencies, and Sync.
Lacks Sufficient Material for MCTS Exam April 22, 2009
T. Cummings
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
In preparation for the MCTS: 70-561 exam, I have read this book cover to cover (twice). As stated by others, while it does cover the basics, such as connection, command, readers, adapters, quite well, it simply glosses over other areas that are a large percentage of the exam. For example, the material on sync services and entity framework is nearly non-existent (however these topics cover nearly 25% of the exam). I was really hoping that this book would deliver, considering other texts in the MCTS series are excellent study guides, but unfortunately, I cannot recommend this book.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 8
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