Customer Rating: 
Summary: Better than people give it credit for
Comment: I took 70-152 today with a score of 938 (I'm a very experienced ASP developer with some Interdev knowledge), and I only used two sources for my studying - MeasureUP testing software and this book.Ultimately 70-152 is for developers who have already been developing in HTML, ASP/ADO and Visual Basic (preferably under MTS) for at least a year, and possibly longer. Also, some experience with the Visual Interdev product helps, but there's not a lot of coverage of Interdev either in the book or on the test.
But there is a particular reason you have to use THIS book, as opposed to just going on your own knowledge, or using another book - and that is Chapter One. Take a look at the list of what is covered on the test, and you notice that most of it has to do with "Analyzing Business Requirements." It's obviously emphasized in the list of topics, it's also strongly emphasized in the MeasureUp exams, and (though to a lesser extent than I thought) the test itself.
If you've already passed both of the VB tests -- review Chapters 5 and 6 (which are all database related, mostly focusing on ADO) but don't study too hard. Skip chapters 7 and 8 -- there should be nothing new here. A warning though, be able to understand COM from the C++ point of view on the test.
If you are an experienced ASP developer, you should still give chapters 3 and 4 a read as they deal with topics you probably haven't encountered before or could use review on (scriptlets, PageObject, etc.)
Chapters 1,2,9 and 10 are the chapters you should focus on with regards to the test -- unless you aren't an experienced VB/ASP developer, in which case you should look for a different test to take.
Unlike some past study guides, most of chapter 1 can't be found in MSDN :( So you need the book. You won't pass without knowing chapter 1 most likely. It seems simple, but it isn't.
Be warned, neither this book nor the MeasureUP exams will fully prepare you for the test. It helps if you've dealt with quirks and problems before. Some topics that could have been covered better are Content Replication Server, Index Server, FrontPage (98) Server Extensions, Posting Acceptor (3.0), Site Server Replication capabilities, testing and debugging, and of course deployment and replication. Also give yourself a HTML review, particularly on tags whose function is implied in MS's study outline.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Best Available
Comment: If there were more books available, my rating would probably be a little different. However, I would say that this book was pretty good. I went through the entire book and obtained a pretty good overview of the material that would be on the exam. I believe that it was quite helpful to me and would be to others. I would recommend that you purchase Transcender practice exams (...) along with this purchase as they provide a real good view of what the test will be about. Good Luck!
Customer Rating:
Summary: Not sufficient, but really necessary
Comment: I think that, in spite of the errors it contains (part of which are reported and corrected in Microsoft's site, included the unexplainable one of the Response.Buffer default), this book is a must reading in order to know the subjects of the exam.
Now, the cons.
I got 923 at my first test in spite of taking it in a foreign language (I'm Italian). However, If I had relied only on this book for taking it, I would have scored 200. The problem is that for some parts it is a very theoric exam. So, the questions are subject to very varied interpretations, and it's not enough to know the subject: you've got to know WHAT THE AUTHORS OF THE EXAM MEANT WHEN THEY PRODUCED IT. And it is only the simulation tests which helped me with this.
That's why most of my exam points are accounted for by the "MeasureUp" online exam simulations. I don't know about Transcender (I visited their site but it seemed a bit more expensive to me), but if you wanna take the Interdev exam, listen to me, go to Measureup. 50% of the questions of the real test were very similiar to those of the simulations, at times only the names of the variables changed! Moreover, the online test simulation suggested me there were subject I should study which absolutely weren't in the book. For instance:
WHERE IN THE BOOK do they say that a stored procedure must have a "CREATE STORED_PROCEDURE @var int AS ............" (this question WAS in the real test).
Or:
WHERE IN THE BOOK do they talk about the "System DSN"? They only speak about File and Machine DSNs! Yet the System DSN WAS in the exam!
And:
WHERE IN THE BOOK IS "CRS" (for multiple deployment) cited? NOWHERE!
So if you wanna take the exam buy the book, but do the online tests too, or you'd better not try at all.
Thanks Riccardo
Customer Rating:
Summary: Study Guide, NOT User Guide!
Comment: This book is an excellent study guide for the MCSD exam. I passed the exam easily with this as my only resource. But...(there's always a but), this guide doesn't go into depth on the inner workings of InterDev or teach you how to use it. If you want to lean Visual Interdev 6.0, get a different book. PROS: If you need to study for the MCSD exam, get this book. The MTS section is excellent! The ADO and RDS sections are also very good. The book (and the exam) concentrates on interactive database-driven web site design.
CONS: Like all MS Press books, there are several inconsistancies, and the labs have errors. Look at it this way, by figuring out what's wrong with the labs, you actually learn a lot.
TIPS: A couple hints, if you're taking the exam, brush up on HTML, HTTP, and web technologies in general. Don't overlook the architecture section of this book! Understand the sections dealing with why to use Client side as opposed to Server side scripting.
Customer Rating:
Summary: A good general overview -- but that's it.
Comment: I studied this book cover-to-cover in preparation for the 70-152 exam and don't feel it contributed much to my passing the exam. It covers all the relevant areas but tends to avoid detail in most sections. Some sections (like DHTML and scriptlets) are over-emphasized for the weight they carry on the exam. My background in IIS and ASP/VBScript got me about 75% of the way to passing, and the Transcender did the rest. This book might be useful if you're already very comfortable with all the subjects and you want to know exactly what topics are on the exam, but for an exam prep alone, this book is insufficient.
