MCAD/MCSD Self-Paced Training Kit

Has anyone purchased the "MCAD/MCSD Self-Paced Training Kit: Microsoft® .NET
Core Requirements, Exams 70-305/70-315, 70-306/70-316, 70-310/70-320, and
70-300" books ? See link http://www.microsoft.com/mspress/books/6716.asp

I'm thinking about buying them to train for the MCSD. Can anyone
not/recommend them ?

thanks.

 

I used these books to study for MCAD and MCSD. I found them useful as
introductory guides and as outlines for deciding what to study, but they are
not sufficient.

The quality of the content is generally pretty low. Some of the problems
are:

- Many typos and bugs in the code examples.

- Many of the exercises require you to type in hundreds of lines of code
from the book. (I just skipped those exercises.)

- The practice tests only give a score--they don't provide any way for you
to find out which answers you got wrong, and what the correct answers were.

- There were several exam questions for material that was not covered by the
MS texts. The MS 70-300 text, in particular, seemed to have almost nothing
to do with the actual exam. (I strongly recommend the Exam Cram 2 70-300
book.)

They are rather expensive, and not really worth the cost. If money is not a
problem, then I'd recommend getting the MS books and using them as
introductory material. Otherwise, you can probably get by using MSDN and
some of the other publishers' better guides.

-- Kris

 

These books are so bad that I'm amazed that they are produced by the same
company that came up with .NET, which in my opinion is an amazing acomplishment.
Not only are these books hopelessly bad, but Microsoft charges a huge amount for
them. Microsoft demonstrates a lack of concern and respect for the programming
community by for foisting these things on the public. Everyone who bought one
should be given double their money back and an apology.

Notice that the authors of these boat anchors are not mentioned on the covers.
Could this be because no one wants their name associated with them?

Any comments from Micro Softies, or, better yet, from authors or editors of
these ridiculous tomes?

Mike

 

Thanks.

As i have only studied C before and that a few years ago, it sound like this
might be a good place to start.