It is very readable. A lot of good information and well paced out. Each chapter is marked with time, and ended with good questions for revision. Solutions are readily available to me at the end of the book. There is also an e-book so I can carry with me to my office. Between meetings, eating my lunch. I can maximize the use of my time.

Edward Hsu

I have not yet taken the exam, so I can only tell you about the material covered for it's own value.

The book's authors seem to know very little about UML and RUP, nor do they seem to care about the material. It's written in a sophmoric, disjointed style, somewhat akin to a kid copying sections of a report out of the dictionary. You will learn nothing about analysis and project management, at least nothing that will make much sense, except perhaps to use the made up Microsoft terms for everything instead of the common terms.

In as far as the test goes, I can only hope that the book is not as inadequate as people make it out to be. Since MS seems to be renaming everything in order to impose their branding, I hope at least to use it to pick up their lingo so I can have a chance to understand the questions and answers on the test. I give it two stars because it makes no pretense of being a primer for anything but the test, and for project's sake -- don't look at it as being a primer for anything else.

I have not yet taken the exam, so I can only tell you about the material covered for it's own value.

The book's authors seem to know very little about UML and RUP, nor do they seem to care about the material. It's written in a sophmoric, disjointed style, somewhat akin to a kid copying sections of a report out of the dictionary. You will learn nothing about analysis and project management, at least nothing that will make much sense, except perhaps to use the made up Microsoft terms for everything instead of the common terms.

In as far as the test goes, I can only hope that the book is not as inadequate as people make it out to be. Since MS seems to be renaming everything in order to impose their branding, I hope at least to use it to pick up their lingo so I can have a chance to understand the questions and answers on the test. I give it two stars because it makes no pretense of being a primer for anything but the test, and for project's sake -- don't look at it as being a primer for anything else.

This book gets one star because it does not cover the material required to pass the exam. I would have almost failed the exam had I used just this book for my preparation. Luckiliy I have used online questions from one of the web-sited listed on Microsoft's web-site and that helped me to pass the exam.

The exam contains mainly case studies and this book gives only one of them from start to finish. The exam is mainly a comprehension sort of exam where you read the passage and answer the questions. So get a book that have those case-studies.

This book gets one star because it does not cover the material required to pass the exam. I would have almost failed the exam had I used just this book for my preparation. Luckiliy I have used online questions from one of the web-sited listed on Microsoft's web-site and that helped me to pass the exam.

The exam contains mainly case studies and this book gives only one of them from start to finish. The exam is mainly a comprehension sort of exam where you read the passage and answer the questions. So get a book that have those case-studies.

This book uses words pretty loosely, and frequently confuses the readers. Explanations are not clear. Material is incoherent. Microsoft's proofreaders, reviewers, and/or editors did a poor job on this book. Buying it is a waste of money. Please look elsewhere.

This guide describes MSF (Microsoft Solutions Framework) a methodology for building systems which Microsoft recommends. MSF includes mainly a process model, a team model, an application construction model and a deployment / supportability model.

MSF has similarities with other methodologies for software construction and includes things as use cases, object modeling, etc.

MSF is quite different from other methodologies; less formal than CMM; not object based as OOAD; not for extremely small teams like Crystal Clear.

The key value of MSF is its practical nature, it may however not be your best bet if the system you are developing has very heavy documentation requirements, depends on a sequential life cycle or you live in an organization at odds with the team model proposed.

A great book to pass the Microsoft certification exam. Good material for future reference.

Microsoft has a hard earned reputation of producing verbose self-paced training books that only partially cover the exam objectives. True to form, Microsoft has written a mediocre book that will not adequately prepare you for the new exam (70-300).

Unlike the previous book, which was pathetic and laughable, this one is merely mediocre. Gone are the fictional character dialog, bad jokes, full page meeting agendas, and concerns about late employees. This book covers, in depth, MSF. Other exam objectives are basically ignored or given little coverage.

Included is a CDROM with solutions documents in the form of excel spreadsheets, word documents (specifications), and visio charts. Basically, you walk away with word and excel files you can adapt for your own use. Unfortunately, the samples and documents are only a subset of the MSF templates you can download from Microsoft's website.

Still, the book tries to explain the MSF architecture approach, which makes use of UML, specifications, interviews, memos, and group hugs (MSF Team Model). As a result, much of the coverage is how to produce project documents and artifacts.

I would second the recommendations of the exam cram book.

Microsoft has a hard earned reputation of producing verbose self-paced training books that only partially cover the exam objectives. True to form, Microsoft has written a mediocre book that will not adequately prepare you for the new exam (70-300).

Unlike the previous book, which was pathetic and laughable, this one is merely mediocre. Gone are the fictional character dialog, bad jokes, full page meeting agendas, and concerns about late employees. This book covers, in depth, MSF. Other exam objectives are basically ignored or given little coverage.

Included is a CDROM with solutions documents in the form of excel spreadsheets, word documents (specifications), and visio charts. Basically, you walk away with word and excel files you can adapt for your own use. Unfortunately, the samples and documents are only a subset of the MSF templates you can download from Microsoft's website.

Still, the book tries to explain the MSF architecture approach, which makes use of UML, specifications, interviews, memos, and group hugs (MSF Team Model). As a result, much of the coverage is how to produce project documents and artifacts.

I would second the recommendations of the exam cram book.

This book's content is about 95% Microsoft Solutions Framework (MSF), though the exam, which I wrote and passed, is about 5% MSF. This book is excellent if you want to write the MSF Practioner exam (74-100) because it covers the material for that exam really well albeit with material that is taken almost verbatim from the free downloadable MSF resource whitepapers at http://www.microsoft.com/msf.

I would not recommend buying this book for 70-300 and would suggest that you can probably get by on 74-100 with material you can get for free, if you are interested in writing that.

I didn't read any other books but I found the practice exam available from http://selftest.kaplanit.com to be extremely useful.

This book describes the Microsoft Solutions Framework [MSF]. MSF is a non-code-artifact-heavy application of the waterfall model, with the proviso that a computer-based solution is expected to be deployed, one hopes with improvements, repeatedly during its service lifetime. Essentially MSF is just one waterfall after another. MSF reminds me of Accenture's ponderous development process, something I've seen up close and personal (and that I admire for its single-minded emphasis on obtaining funding commitments from clients before doing anything whatsoever).

Having just failed the 70-300 exam I have a bad attitude about this book, purchased specifically to prepare for the exam. I read it cover-to-cover, wading through the review questions in detail, and can tell you from experience that this book contributes almost nothing to one's preparation for 70-300.

If all you want is a long-winded discussion of MSF, with now and then a useful nugget of information, this is the book for you. The book gives the impression of having been designed by a committee who took concepts and practices from many published methodologies and duct-taped them together to create the MSF.

If your goal is passing the exam, look elsewhere.

Having recently taken this test, I will confirm two two things stated by other reviewers without hesitation. First, the Exam Cram book is much more pertinent to the actual exam. Secondly, this book gives you no guidance with regard to the format of the exam. The sample test bears no similarity whatsoever to the case-study structure of the test while the book barely mentions case studies and offers no suggestions as to how to deal with them.

It's fairly pathetic that a third-party publisher, with evidently no inside information re the content and development of the test, can create a better study guide than Microsoft itself. It really makes me wonder about the whole certification game. Does Microsoft really want to develop a pool of informed IT professionals who can more effectively deploy their technologies within client enterpriese? Or do they just want to nickle-and-dime people on books, exam fees, and course tuitions?

A huge portion of the book is dedicated to the "Microsoft Solutions Framework" (not to be confused with the .NET Framework). Personally, I felt the MSF seemed like a reasonable project management methodology, if only because it seems quite flexible. But the exam had abosolutely no questions regarding the details of project phases, roles, milestones, etc. that constitutes the bulk of the book's content.

I'm really glad that I did not devote very much time to various exercises in the book that deal with creating UML diagrams and other project artifacts. Not only was it just too tedious and boring, but there was nothing on the exam that all that excruciating detail would have helped me with.

There were no questions on UML (despite the fact that the book recommends you read two other books on UML). There was one question on ORM.

This book is also full of chapter introductions, summaries, and other useless filler that servers no purpose other than an excuse for making the book look bigger.

If you need to prepare for this exam, don't waste your time and money on this toilet paper. Get the Exam Cram book (also, I looked over an Osborne book that seemed reasonably good) and study MSDM articles on MSF (to a reasonable extent) and things like Security and Authentication, Globalization/Localization, BizTalk, SQL Server, Host Integration Server, layering, etc. Also, be ready to think through case-study problems that are too lacking in specifics to answer without guesswork, and keep your fingers crossed.

Unfortunately, this is the weakest book in the MCSD series. I was not able to even finish this book. Fortunately ExamCram2 has an awesome book which is much better, shorter, and less expensive.

I just took the exam after studying the entire book and I failed. The questions in the actual exam are "case study" style but the included sample test (on cd) looked nothing like it. The book is very general, contains reams of extraneous information and does not focus on the material on the test. I wish I could return it.

A few words based on what I saw (not what I dreamed?). The book seems to cover the bases, but my experience with the MS Press 70-100 book coaxed me into delaying making a purchase decision. Glad I did. Since I first saw this book, the Exam Cram book on the 70-300 exam has hit the street. It has much more interaction with the reader. There are sample case studies and questions that are formatted just like those on the exam. The Exam Cram book was more like an augmented Transcender practice test. Plus (I think its a plus - I haven't finished the book yet), the Cram book is a faster read.

I'm sure personal preference will cause both books to have a good readership, but wanted to add my 10 cents.

This book presents a very luxurious and impractical software development methodology. No software project, no matter how large, could possibly follow their advice with any degree of fidelity. The book is very fluffy, repetitive, and inefficient, and it says almost nothing about .NET. It is basically a feel-good grab bag of techniques. Don't spend [money]on this book.

The book had very little connection to the actual exam. The exam was a set of scenarios with questions afterward. The questions weren't that difficult, but many of the scenarios were too fuzzy, or the questions had fuzzy answers, with a "choose all that apply" format. This was not an objective test. Passing is largely a matter of luck. The predecessor to this exam (70-100) was much more objective.

And of course, Microsoft doesn't tell you your score at the end, only whether you pass, so you don't know how much more studying you have to do for next time. ...

I had a dream last night about this book being kind of good. So it must be good. Thanks.

I was anxious to see what's new in the 70-300 Solution Architectures exam before taking it. To my knowledge this book from Microsoft Press is the first available through Amazon addressing this exam. I've just finished my first pass through the book, some 24 hours after receiving it. I plan to work through it in more detail and complete at least some of the exercises prior to taking the exam. I'm going with the 5 star rating for now since I haven't seen but 1 hiccup (SQL 9.0 - see below) in the text; I haven't gotten into the material on the companion CD yet.

There are substantial changes in the material from the 70-100 exam which it replaces. Although a number of people have passed the new exam without an exam guide, based on my review of this text, I would recommend using a suitable study guide just to insure that you've been exposed to enough of the new material. My initial impression is that this book would be suitable. There are other books on the way including an "Exam Cram"; depending upon your level of knowledge that may be adequate.

Although I have differences of opinion on some of the subject matter presented, I have to assume that this book covers what's needed for the exam. Keep in mind that the exam focuses on the Microsoft Solutions Framework (MSF) which is certainly an appropriate method for a wide range of projects, but is not the only game in town nor is it appropriate for all projects.

The new material includes more in-depth treatment of UML, the use of Visio as a tool to create various models, the .NET framework and ADO.NET, and new security concerns.

The content is good although a number of the topics are covered in a cursory manner with numerous occurrences of "More Info" notes with a relevant references including MSDN (much of the Security chapter), other Microsoft Press books, and seminal books on UML, Use Cases and so forth. The authors assume that the reader is an experienced developer and is well familiar with contemporary technology. There is only passing mention of XML without any of the details and I didn't notice a reference for that.

Interestingly, there's a fair amount of detail about the Data Layer including definition and discussion of the first 3 normal forms and denormalization and database schemas which seemed out of character for the rest of the volume's summary level approach. Historically there have always been specific questions on first, second and/or third normal form on the 70-100 exam so perhaps this level of detail is justified.

There is an example project that is developed throughout the book, a multi-national bicycle manufacturing company which is used for illustrations and reader exercises. Some of the examples include Visio and Excel examples.

The accompanying CD contains the complete text of the book as well as practice exercises and a 100 question practice test. Some of the exercises suggest the reader create various project analysis artifacts on their own then compare them to what's on the CD - the 2 solutions probably won't match exactly, but would give some indication of the suitability of the reader's solution.

The subject material seems to be accurate although in one place there's a curious reference to SQL Server Versions 7.0 and 9.0 without mention of Version 2000. Perhaps the 9.0 is an oblique reference to SQL Server .NET.

If you're in a hurry to get started preparing for the exam, this book should work; otherwise you might want to see what other resources become available in the next month or two.