This is a good supplemental book that will help you pass the exam. I combined this book, James D. Foxall's "MCSD in a Nutshell", and the Transcender courses to pass the 70-175 exam. I would never recommend just 1 or 2 books to learn a programming language or study for the certification exams. The more you read, the better you'll understand.

The chapters on internet development, Active Server Pages, and IIS were of little help. I did not have any questions on my exam dealing with these subjects so I felt that reading this chapter was a waste of my time. If it had not been for this chapter I would have given the book 5 stars. There are some minor mistakes and/or typos in this book but overall it is a very good resource. You should read this book starting about 1 week before you take the exam. Good Luck with your exams.

This is a good supplemental book that will help you pass the exam. I combined this book, James D. Foxall's "MCSD in a Nutshell", and the Transcender courses to pass the 70-175 exam. I would never recommend just 1 or 2 books to learn a programming language or study for the certification exams. The more you read, the better you'll understand.

The chapters on internet development, Active Server Pages, and IIS were of little help. I did not have any questions on my exam dealing with these subjects so I felt that reading this chapter was a waste of my time. If it had not been for this chapter I would have given the book 5 stars. There are some minor mistakes and/or typos in this book but overall it is a very good resource. You should read this book starting about 1 week before you take the exam. Good Luck with your exams.

I used MCSD In A Nutshell to pass exam 70-176. It also covers the 70-175 exam, but the exam cram was priceless in putting the final pieces together for the 70-175 exam. I used these two books and the Transcender exams. I passed both exams with flying colors!

I wasn't as impressed with this book as the 70-176 Exam Cram, but it still helped. It covered every catagory and laid out the foundation of study very well for the exam. The book's questions and sample exam weren't as tough and devious as the 70-176 Exam Cram's were, but the actual MS Exam was actually much easier with hardly any tricky questions. I scored a 914 on the 70-175 exam and an 814 with the 70-176 exam.

Overall the book was very good, not excellent. The book is a must have if you are taking the exam, but you also need other materials. I suggest at least Trancender exams.

This is an excellent test book for MS 70-175. I just passed the exam in my first try with the help from this book. I found at least 5 test questions the same in the book, and around 15 very similar to the review questions in the book. And you will find the book covers almost everything in the exam. Any way, it is far better than other books I have in hand.

I read this book before I took the 70-175 exam and I passed it. This book is time-saving material to review the skill requried in the exam. I passed the 70-176 also, and read the 70-176 cram book. I can say 70-175 cram book is much better than the 70-176 cram book!

This book can be used for quick reference, but this book alone may not help to clear the exam.

I actually wanted to rate this a 4.5/5 stars, but a 4 seems too low.

I took the desktop exam (70-176) a few weeks before this and then for this exam I studied with only this and the transcenders. It doesn't mention a couple of areas specifically mentioned on the Microsoft site that you'll need (such as listview/treeview), so you may want to look elsewhere for those. Also my exam had a couple of questions on RDO that this book didn't cover (I guessed them right I think!).

Overall though this is an effective way to pass the exam in a fairly short amount of study time. Ideally a person would use the transcender practice questions to supplement this book.

Taken together with the examcram desktop this and that make for a close to perfect fit for the MS VB exams; ie, if you study for both at the same time and take them both within the same couple of days since each book complements the other on certain areas that are on the other one's exam you'll do great.

The main material for the exam I used to prepare were Transcender and MSDN. When I felt very comfortable with Transcender (could answer 207 questions correctly out of the total of 213), I read this book at night before the exam. I found out that it briefly covers ALL the material that a was cramming before. Moreover, it covers ALL the questions that you can get on the exam. Just read it very carefully, remember by heart the meaning of every word that is in bold on every page - and you will easily pass the exam with a big score! This book well brushes up your knowledge.

I am an MCSD who passed this exam with the help of this book. I borrowed this book from another MCSD that had already passed the this exam. I passed the book on to another person who passed the exam and is now an MCSD. I am basically saying that if you are serious about the exam, you will need to use this book, even if you use the Transender cds. "Its like that, and thats the way it is" -Run DMC

This book was a big help for me. I actually got the bundle that includes this along with the Architectures and 70-176 Desktop prep books. They came with a CD that had an excellent Sample test system for all three tests. I took and passed the 70-175 December 20, 2000 and was amazed at the similarity of the test questions. Initially I thought that I might not know enough about MTS or some ASP aspects and it didn't seem like this book covered many details of those. However this book was right on. I recommend this as a single or the complete set. I am also going with this company for my SQL cramming.... Review to follow. Good Luck with the exam!

I have just passed my exam last week with 800 marks. I read the review and bought the book and I must admit that the author has done a great job. He has covered most of the topics very concisely.I also used Transcender product which is a must. I got a lot of questions which were identical in transcendar exam.

This book does not talk about RDO at all and in the exam there were 3 questions about it.If you use transceder then it covers some questions about RDO

One does not need any experience to pass this exam. I also used it to pass VB 6 Desktop exam, and the exam cram for desktop is not at all good compared to distributed. Read all the chapters completly.

I used this book along with Howard Hawhee's Training Guide and got a 928 which surprised me. The distributed exam that I took was quite a bit simpler than the desktop exam. Thomas is a skillful writer and obviously a master VB programmer. He packs a lot of information in a few pages while still maintaining a friendly, human tone. The tests at the end of each chapter and the big practice test at the end of the book are very valuable in preparing for the real thing. Also, don't pass over the preface to the sample test at the end of the book. It gives good test-taking advise although I was not courageous enough to use his technique of quickly reading through each of the questions before answering any of them. Thomas' book has one thing in common with other good (note the adjective) prep books in that they provide a comprehensive reference that is often superior to the reference books themselves. So this book stays on my shelf.

Well organized, relevant and clear(to the extent the authors want to tell you) plus a somehow closed to the real one exam by the end of the book. Those are the pros. Nonetheless, it aint flawless. Comparing this book with its sister "Exam Cram Desktop 70-176" publication, I prefer the style and honesty of the later authors. Things to be aware of when reading this book.

(1)Fewer codes. Which the author could have done a better job. And if you like programming codes, you would be disappointed by it. To be honest, it is at least not code-intensive as the Desktop Exam's book.

(2)Should cover more in Logical Design in a greater length. MS's exam has a closer focus on its MSF(Microsoft Solution FrameWork) than the authors did in the book.

(3)Poor discussion of IIS/ASP. Which is fine if you just want a review on BASIC ASP built-in objects. But it has either nothing to with the test and is poor for those readers want to know more on the topic.

(4)MTS Security and internal logic of MTS is not as good as Haward's book. Becareful.

(5)On Remote Data Access. RDO and RDS are strengths of MS's internet technology and the Software vender won't let you certified without asking you some questions on these interesting topics. I found nothing on this book mentioning RDO,RDS.

(6)If you are lucky to be asked any question on ActiveX documents, this book has some faults in its interpretation. For instance, the positioning of the ActiveX document's "Help" menu in the IE.

In short, I found New Riders' book is better presented for Exam 70-175(but not on Exam 70-176). This book is fair because it covers certain topics the exam will ask you but not worthy as a reference of any sort. Hey, I consider my comment is very fair and I am sure some readers out there will appreciate a reviewer with a neutral position. Why not post it! Good Luck to you all!

Not much to be said about this book. If you have any professional VB experience, and read this book cover to cover, you will cruise on the exam. Everything is covered, sample questions are dead on. This book was my one and only resource to pass.

This book is a must in order to pass the VB6 Distributed exam. (I just took the test today for the first time and passed with a very high score.) It's well written and covers about 70 to 80 % of what's required to pass the certification test. It does have some typos and errors in the sample code but these are covered in the errata section of the Exam Cram Web site.

I would not consider, however, this book to be enough to pass the test unless you have extensive experience in using IIS, MTS and building COM components. The MSDN library is an excellent source of information for those items which only receive light or no coverage in this book. At the end of each chapter, there's a "Need to Know More" section which indicates where to get more extensive explanations and examples of the topics covered in the chapter. I found this to be very valuable in saving me time by not having to research this information on my own.

The test at the end of the book is very similar to the actual test. There's also a test included on a CD when this book is purchased as part of the Exam Cram pack. I bought the 3-book pack myself and believe it's worth buying. I found the exam included on the CD to be helpful plus I have read that the book on the Architectures exam is good too (I haven't read it yet). The book for the MCSD VB 6 Desktop is okay (not great).

In addition to this book and MSDN, I highly recommend taking the Transcender exams. Many of the questions on the test were also similar to the ones on the Transcender CD. And only by taking the Transcender exams, will you know what this book is not covering. Then it's up to you to find this information on your own.

Good luck on the test! I think this exam is easier than the MCSD VB 6 Desktop exam.

I recently passed the 70-176 exam partly due to this book. I worked through the book and tested myself with every question, then worked on weak areas using other resources. It definitely helped but another resource is a good idea. I used MSDN and Hawhee's 70-175/170-176 book also.

This was the only book I really used. The Cram Sheet in the front is all you really need to pass. Just memorize the Cram sheet and that's it. You might have to review MTS alittle more, but for [the price] you have a good chance of passing.

This book was a great way to get all the information you need for the exam. The chapters cover a lot of information and the practice test at the end is a great overview. The quick sheet in the front is very useful as well. By combining this book with some electronic practice tests I passed the exam with no problem.

I was going to give it a 4.5 stars because some of the information is not accurate, but as you read along carefully, you will find that out yourself. Also, the book is excellent if you want to pass the exam, it heavily focues on the exam. Like the book says, if you want hand-on experience, you need to do practice along with the book. If you can afford the MS Press book also, you can do their labs and get some hand-on experiences. I found out that I remembered the details much better when I do the labs and also it make the learning experience more interesting.

You will find the real exam very easy if you digest this book.

I took the 70-175 exam yesterday and passed. I used primarily this book, MSDN (gaps) and Transcender exams to study. This book covered all of the topics necessary to pass the exam.

I originally bought New Riders MCSD Training Guide to help study 70-175 and 70-176. Although helpful in passing the 70-176 exam, it was a little lite in the items needed for exam 70-175.

I would strongly recommend the Transcender exams in addition to this book. They really prepare you for the exam by providing practice exams that are very similar to the real thing.

Buy this book and Transcender practice exams.

Most reviewers agree that Thomas and Fox have produced a terrific book for this exam. It covers the daunting breadth of the exam material in a manner that is perfectly suited for review and pre-exam cramming.

Alone, this book will get you through the exam IF you are an experienced VB 6 developer AND you have worked a fair amount in distributed applications. If you are primarily a desktop developer, are experienced only in VB 5, or are newly attempting to master distributed applications development for this exam, you will likely need additional resources. It is true that if you memorize this book, you will probably pass the exam, but that expectation is unrealistic if much of the material is new to you.

My suggestion for exam candidates who are not already immersed in VB distributed development is that you first read one of the "big" exam books, to gain more comfort and understanding of the unfamiliar technologies, then use this Exam Cram to solidify the concepts and fill in the gaps. You may need to focus on component technology, COM and DCOM, in greater depth than is provided in this or most other exam study books. For that, both "Programming Components with Microsoft Visual Basic 6.0", by Eddon & Eddon (Microsoft Press), and "VB COM", by Lewis (Wrox), are ideal and very readable.

Since nearly every paragraph of this highly condensed book could be material for an exam question, it is unlikely that you will see more than a fraction of it on the exam. But "the exam" implies that there is a single exam, which is not the case. You will sit down to a randomly selected version of the exam, with its own selection of covered material. If you stumble into an adaptive version of the test, then its initial questions may determine your fate.

WEAKNESSES: A small number of technical errors or ambiguities may require you to find clarification elsewhere. They are usually easy to spot. In general, this book has relatively few errors for the genre. The chapter on application design could use more depth. Treatment of MTS will probably get you through related exam questions, but is inadequate for useful MTS development. ADO coverage is adequate for the exam only if you are already familiar with the technology. Each chapter could use a few more sample questions, though the few that are provided accurately reflect the nature of questions on the real exam.

STRENGTHS: For a book of this size, this is a nearly perfect review summary. Its tear-out "Cram Sheet" is well focused and a useful review in the hour prior to taking the exam. Chapter questions employ a simple layout technique that dramatically enhances the effectiveness of the questions. By framing each question within a thin box, the reader is able to easily cover the answer before reading the question. This sounds silly, but without the frame, your eye will see the answer while attempting to locate the end of the question. (Bravo to Coriolis for this! In books with the answers at the back of the book, the correct answers are usually boldfaced, so you see the answers for the next question while reading the explanation of the prior question.)

CONCLUSION: An excellent choice for a "small" book. Consider reading a "big" book first, and possibly following up with in-depth material on DCOM.

Just to add another voice to the chorus: I passed my exam this week and I owe it largely to this book. I'm not sure I would have liked to rely entirely on Exam Cram as many other reviews have suggested - I'd already read Hawhee for the "desktop apps" exam, plus I used Transcender - but, yes, I guess you could pass with just this book. I'm just starting out with no professional programming experience and I got a 900. This test is much easier than 70-176, study hard but don't worry too much. Do buy this book though, it's a great help.

Very good book. Only what you need for the test. It will not teach you everything, but this book with the MSDN cd's helped me pass. I have tried other books, and found how many the other "Study Guides" left out when I Compared them to this "Exam Cram" If you need to pass the exam, use it. I gave it a 4 star, as there are some holes, but you can fill them with the MSDN and experience!

For only being 400 pages, this book packed an awful lot of good stuff into its chapters. After having read 3 or 4 other "exam prep" books (including the MOC, which was about worthless), this one proved to be golden. I can confirm the statements made on this page that you *will* find questions in this book's practice exam that will also be on the test. After reading other books whose sample exams asked questions that had nothing to do with the real exam, it's nice to have found a book I can trust. I passed the exam using this book, and so can you!

I just passed the VB Distributed test with an 885. I must say that there were many questions on my test that were exactly the same(or close enough) to the questions at the end of the chapters and at the end of the book. I would go so far as to say that the authors of this book had some how got a hold of the actually test and published it in their book. Actually, the questions in the book were harder than the actual test. I have seen almost all the books on the market for this exam and none of them have even come close to this one. It is precise, straight to the point(no fluff), and easy to understand. I must note, however, that this book is not for beginners. The only gripe I have is there were a couple of typos, but it is still well worth it. Now for the Desktop Exam.. Good Luck to all..

The quiz at the end of the book is worth the cost of the book itself - about 8-10 questions on my exam were a close (if not exact) match to the ones on the book's exam. The chapters are well laid out and each one has review questions to reinforce the material. Keep in mind, however, that this book is not for beginners - you should either have some experience and/or it should should be used as a supplement to other study material. I supplemented with the Transcender exam, and it also provided about 8-10 questions which nearly matched those on my exam. Study hard - it isn't an easy exam, but this book will be a big help!

This is the best book there is out there on this exam! Very easy to understand and covers just the material needed and no more in just the right number of pages. In fact, you may even be able to use it for the desktop exam since most of the material is the same. I did. I passed both the desktop and distributed exams with 871, mainly thanks to this book.

Read this book in conjunction with using VB and you will pass the exam. All topics relevant to the exam are covered in this book. You can reinforce with MSDN

I just passed exam today, and i score 840. It cover all stuff needed to review perfectly your knownledge. Combined with official MSPress books will be enough to study suitably.

I passed the test today with a score of 885 thanks to this book. I found about a dozen questions matched exactly (or close enough) to the ones in the book. Now to crack open the Architectures ExamCram....

I used this book to prepare for the distributed exam because of the great reviews it had. But if not for the MeasuareUp test preparation software, I would've passed the exam at all.

I got a score of 942 and I owe it to this book. It's very well written and provides some real good pointers for additional information also. Just the book you need if you want to certify in record time.

This book was an excellent guide for passing the 70-175 exam and I would highly recommend it for anyone with VB-COM experience looking to pass the exam.

This is NOT a book for beginners or those desiring to become a paper MCSD. It is meant to supplement existing knowledge derived from other guides or practical experience. It does an excellent job of filling in the gaps for those lacking significant experience with the lesser used VB technologies such as ActiveX documents, WebClasses and disconnected ADO recordsets (to name a few).

This book is an excellent guide in preparing you for the exam. I probably could have passed the exam simply using this book, but I also decided to use Transcender tests as well. With this book, and the Transcender exams, I scored a 942. Thanks guys. I hope that your 70-100 book is as well written!

It is not a beginner's book. It is very concise and the shortest way to pass in the 70-175 exam, but the reader must have some experience in VB. Some questions in the book are very similar to the ones in the exam. It is actually a helpful preparation guide for a VB exam, unlike the Microsoft Press book, that was my main resource for the 70-176. I just passed in that exam because I am an experienced VB programmer and studied COM by the MSDN.

I bought this book because of the excellent reviews this book has got. And they all turned out to be right. If you want to pass in the shortest possible time, just read this book nothing else. At least three to four questions came straight from the book. Grab it...

This book does an excellent job of highlighting the key aspects of the exam. I passed the exam easily scoring 857.

Write a book for 70-100 - PLEASE!

This book is a very good aid if you want to cram for the VB6 Distributed exam!

It's dense and concise, and tells you exactly what you need to know to pass the test. It's not a beginner's book, however, so to make full use of it, you should have a good knowledge of VB on beforehand.

Several of the test-yourself-questions in the back of the book appeared on the actual exam, so it directly helped me answer a couple of questions correctly!

With this book and a some intermediate experience with VB, I found myself easily passing the test.

If you're looking at passing the 70-175 OR 70-176 (desktop) exams, this book is a must-have! I read the book TWICE and scored over 925, so the book works! Plan on supplementing it with something like "Test Prep MCSD" (ISBN: 073570032x) and a good book on COM like "Programming Distributed Applications with COM and Visual Basic 6.0" (ISBN: 1572319615) and you'll have 'er aced! I have a couple of other reviews at www.certified-training.com if you're out to pass other exams.

This book covers all of the topics on the exam, except RDO, in sufficient depth for you to pass. I do not recommend it as a primary study guide, but for review and practice it is excellent. The sample exam is very good. The Cram Sheet is excellent.

The only reason I gave it 4 stars instead of 5 is that there are a few errors and typos.

I have taken the exam at the end of the book before reading it, scored 33%.Read the book (in a day) got 95%, the next day i took the exam and scored 800 and passed.. I strongly recommend this book to anybody taking this exam.Dont bother with any hands on practice books or any other thick VB study guides.You may not score 100% on the test (especially ado and rdo information is not complete)but i have got at least 20 questions on the actual exam same as the one on the book!!...

This book was concise and very helpful in studying for the exam

Having been instructed by the author, the book is every bit as dynamic as he is in person. It is no surprise that the book was packed with info, and the cram sheet is one of the best parts of the book. His questions are FOR REAL! A MUST have if you want to pass.

I am an MCSE and MCSD and I took exam 70-175 to maintain certification. With the help of this book and Transcender, I passed easily. This is one of the best books of its type that I have read and it is clear that the authors are knowledgeable, well organized, good writers, and, most important, care about what they are doing. Even after passing the test, I am still using it as a "point of entry" reference, combined mostly with "VB & VBA In a Nutshell" by Lomax for detail.

An excellent preparation guide for the exam. Most of the question were either on the exam or very similar to the exam. Please review it to pass (as I did in my first attempt- :-)).

This book is great as a primary source for study. I found that it had about 80% of what you need, and I purchased another book to overlap for the area's that it was light on. Study the Data Access, Active-X, and Package and Deployement with as many resources as possible. These are the areas that are the killers. Although they cover in great detail MTS, SQL Syntax and Internet development... I did not see as many questions. But, each test is different... so try to get good cross coverage from the help files, hands on-time, and any other resource.

You will pass the 70-175 exam if you read this book from cover to cover. If you pass the test at the end of the book, you will pass the exam. There were 2 questions from the end of the book test that were actually on the exam.

Look at ADO and SQL in some other book. There isn't much in this book.

Creating WEB based clients is a little thin in the book, but it will do for the test.

Memorize the Cram Sheet. The Cram Sheet is a great idea, and the best part of the book.

I have used exam cram series to prepare for Microsoft exams and found all of them to be the most concise and to the point exam preparation references available. I have passed 8 of the 9 exams that I used these guides for. The ninth I was not properly prepared for, failing by only 1 question, and attempting the exam on too short notice (only 2 days of studying).

These exam cram guides point you most directly at the Microsoft thought process justifying most questions. This book is no different. But you must understand the overall Microsoft thought process for these guides to assist you to be successful. They don't necessarily give you the answers (and they shouldn't anyway), but they do give the correct pointers so that you know what Microsoft is thinking in their exam questions, which is the most important thing anyway.

If you know the subject matter and what Microsoft is thinking in their exam questions, you will pass the exam. This guide is an excellent assistant toward these goals.

I found this book to be excellent in helping me prepare for the Microsoft Exam 70-175. My only complaint was I didn't have enough time to finish reading it before I took the exam. I passed anyways. If you need a book to help you do your final prep for this exam I would recommend this one.

But don't let it be your only source for preparing for this exam. Also if you are expecting it to have specific exam questions in it think again. The questions are very good but they are not the ones on the exam.