Product Description

This comprehensive book prepares you for Microsoft's new certification, MCTS: Microsoft Exchange Server 2007. Exam 70-236 serves as both the single exam requirement for achieving the MCTS designation as well as the entry exam for the MCITP certification for Exchange Server 2007. Inside, you'll find the practical and in-depth instruction you need, including full coverage of all exam objectives, practical hands-on exercises, real-world scenarios, challenging review questions, and more. The book includes a CD with advanced testing software and electronic flashcards.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #172725 in Books
• Published on: 2007-09-24
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 696 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780470068199
• Condition: NEW
• Notes:
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

From the Back Cover
Your First Stop on the New Exchange Server 2007 Certification Track

This comprehensive book prepares you for Microsoft's new certification, MCTS: Microsoft Exchange Server 2007. Exam 70-236 serves as both the single exam requirement for achieving the MCTS designation as well as the entry exam for the

MCITP certification for Exchange Server 2007. Inside, you'll find the practical and in-depth instruction you need, including:

• Full coverage of all exam objectives in a systematic approach, so you can be confident you're getting the instruction you need for the exam

• Practical hands-on exercises to reinforce critical skills

• Real-world scenarios that put what you've learned in the context of actual job roles

• Challenging review questions in each chapter to prepare you for exam day

• Exam Essentials, a key feature in each chapter that identifies critical areas you must become proficient in before taking exam

• A handy tear card that maps every official exam objective to the corresponding chapter in the book, so you can track your exam prep objective by objective

Look inside for complete coverage of all exam objectives.

Featured on the CD

SYBEX TEST ENGINE:
Test your knowledge with advanced testing software. Includes all chapter review questions and bonus exams.

ELECTRONIC FLASHCARDS:
Reinforce your understanding with flashcards that can run on your PC, Pocket PC, or Palm handheld.

Also on CD, you'll find the entire book in searchable and printable PDF. Study anywhere, any time, and approach the exam with confidence.

About the Author
Will Schmied , BSET, MCITP, MCSE, MCTS, MCSA, CWNA, TICSA, Security+, Network+, A+, is a Senior Systems Administrator for a world renowned children’s research hospital. As a freelance writer, Will has worked with many publishers, including Microsoft and Wiley. Will has also worked directly with Microsoft in the exam-development process on multiple occasions occasions and holds a Bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering technology from Old Dominion University, along with his various IT industry certifications. Before becoming a civilian, he served in the United States Navy for over 12 years in the nuclear power field.

Kevin Miller is an Exchange architect currently working for 3Sharp after leaving the Exchange team at Microsoft and the professional services consulting arm of Dell. Kevin has been involved with Exchange since the beginning, pre-Microsoft, when it was known as Network Courier. Before joining the Exchange team at Microsoft, Kevin was an Exchange MVP for a number of years and is still very involved in the Exchange communities. Kevin currently resides in Woodinville, Washington, with his wife Coraleigh and his son Trenton.

Customer Reviews

Get a Proofreader
Wow, were they ever trying to get this out the door in a hurry. The spelling, grammatical, and punctuation errors in this book are embarrassing. I could overlook that if they didn't make a few technical errors too. The practice test on the cdrom is buggy and contains several answers that are plain wrong. But its the only non-microsoft 70-236 book out there, so you're stuck with it.

Wrong Emphasis
I bought this book and passed up the official Microsoft text (Willis/McLean) due to a bad experience with the previous official Microsoft Exchange book written by the same pair.

I think doing so was a mistake.

I worked my way completely through the Schmied/Miller text, did all the study questions, and at the end redid all the study questions and then took the practice tests included on the CD-ROM. At that point I still felt unprepared for the exam, so I bought a prep kit from MeasureUp for $70 and carefully followed MeasureUp's prep procedure. Finally I felt prepared and took the exam.

I failed with a 667 out of 700.

Now, this was my fifth exam. I've never before failed one. In fact when I went in I felt very confident and was not at all worried about passing. How wrong I was! There were probably between ten and fifteen questions on the 70-236 exam that I flat did not know the answer to, and most of those I was not able to answer even through process of elimination.

Now, before you accuse me of inadequate preparation, keep in mind that I had been preparing about three months for this exam (reading the text, going through study questions, etc). In addition to that, I've been an Exchange Server 2007 admin for more than a year. I thought I was ready. I absolutely was not.

The fact is that the exam focuses entirely on PowerShell. There are absolutely NO questions having to do with the GUI (Microsoft Exchange Management Console) on the exam. And the Schmied/Miller text, while emphasizing that PowerShell is important ("some of these commands are likely to make an appearance on your exam"), does not stress this.

Schmied and Miller have written a lot about using the GUI to accomplish tasks but for some reason leave the equivalent PowerShell commands only as an afterthought. The emphasis is completely backwards -- this book should drill PowerShell into your head and minimize the GUI material. For a Microsoft admin who has grown used to doing things the GUI way over the past fifteen years, this is a particularly hard concept, but it's the way things are going.

In short, while I can't say that there is really anything wrong with this book per se, it is woefully inadequate if you want to pass the 70-236 exam. Buy at least one other book and make sure you dream in PowerShell code at night before you think of taking this exam. Take my word for it, 70-236 is a very challenging exam, and every minute you spend preparing for it will be worthwhile.

It's Ok
I have to give this book two stars mainly because if this is your only or primary source of preparing for the exam you won't pass it the first time or maybe even the second time. I was lucky as I have been working with Exchange for many years now and used other study material in conjunction with this book so I was able to pass the exam the first time up. The authors do a pretty good job of keeping the subject interesting but in my opinion don't go deep enough on a technical level to prepare you for the exam. The CD that comes with the book is nice, but I would avoid the flash cards as a lot of the information was just incorrect.