Operating System Theory
MCDST 70-272 Exam Cram 2 : Supporting Users & Troubleshooting Desktop Applications on a Windows XP Operating System (Exam Cram 2)
Format: Paperback
Author: Diana Huggins
ReleaseDate: 19 May, 2004
Publisher: Que
Rating:
Deeply insufficient
Extensive familiarity with desktop OS's and apps both as a user and LAN admin. My IT background: ten years as a Unix admin, pursuing a Master's degree in Telecom.
Newcomers to IT hoping to use this book as a primary study source will be disappointed.
I scored a 754 on 70-272 (700 is passing). The Exam Cram helped a bit in focusing which aspects of the Office, Outlook, and IE GUIs with which to become familiar. However, entire topics on the exam were completely unaddressed by this book ("Security Center", GPOs). Moreover, The book was apparently written before XP SP2 was released; the test requires knowledge of SP2 features.
Use As Back Up to Your Other Study Guide "ONLY" 
I was disappointed about the lack of material in this guide, do not rely on this book to pass the 70-272 Exam. I will say that I am a fan of ExamCram2 Series of Study Guides, and that is what they are: "Study Guides". If you pass the test just by reading this book you may have all ready had enough knowledge to pass. This book does not cover all the material in the exam by any means. The MeasureUp testing software is nice to get you use to the way some of the exam questions are. I would use this book to just go over questions and answers before you do a final write. I highly suggest to get Microsoft 70-272 Training Kit if you are new to alot of the material covered by this exam.
Needs a little more meat. 
These new exams appear to give you an entry in the Microsoft arena with out requiring a full blown MCSE track. I recently became involved in a project to setup a course for the 2 new MCDST exam, 70-271 and 70-272. The book takes the finer points of the objectives and breaks it down in to 9 chapters.
The 70-272 exam is focused on the application side of XP and with that this book shows you a lot of customizing, optimizing, configuration and troubleshooting. You'll cover XP, email, Office and the internet and the book includes 2 complete practice exams.
The book has a cd rom with the Measure UP testing engine, but there should be more questions included. Overall this should be on the list of material to use in the study process.
.
|
