The Windows 2000 Professional Exam Prep is a fairly easy read that will allow you to pass the exam--but not on its own. If you have access to a Windows 2000 computer to run through the Real World exercises presented in the book, you should pass without a hitch. And if you get another book to shore up the minor weaknesses in this tome, you'll also pass. But reading this book and counting on the text alone to ace the exam? Not your best idea. The book is small by MCSE standards, but it does focus nicely on what's actually on the exam--a strength that surprisingly few other books in the field have. Almost every chapter focuses in on some practical aspect of Win2K that you can expect to be tested on, with little meandering off-course. The writing is curt but unambiguous when it explains the various concepts and features of Windows 2000 Professional, and it explains things in a way that even low-level Win2K novices should be able to understand. Hundreds of well-chosen screenshots help flesh out the learning process for the novice, and the explanations of concepts are a cut above what you can expect to find in most books.
However, the real gem here is the Real-World Project sections wedged in at the end of every chapter. These projects assume you have a Windows 2000 Professional computer to tinker with, of course, but editors have chosen their projects well. Each of the project sections goes over the everyday Win2K tasks that you'll be expected to know on the exam, bringing some of the more theoretical aspects of Win2K administration into focus so you'll know how to change disk configurations and audit files. If you have a cheap PC with a trial copy of Win2K to tinker with, the Exam Prep is almost a must-have.
Which is good, because the exam questions presented in the book are fairly weak. Many of them are simple true/false questions, which you'd never expect to see on one of today's MCSE exams, and a lot of others are questions on simple Windows 2000 procedures ("Disk Cleanup is used to perform which of the following actions?"). Situation questions and fill-in-the-blanks are few and far between.
Also, there are some strange gaps in the book's presentation. IP addressing is barely covered at all--admittedly, it doesn't really come up on the exam, but the critical concept of subnetting isn't mentioned. Likewise, the RIS section is rather slim and doesn't go into the distinctions between the various forms of remote installation the way a good book on Windows 2000 should, so readers may well botch this section on the exam entirely. And the section on file security? Well, it's all over the book, which is slightly confusing. The bulk of the information can be found in chapter 13, but there are concepts that are critical to understanding the way NTFS handles files scattered all throughout the book. If you do the exercises or read through the volume thoroughly, you shouldn't have a problem.
Still, when all is said and done, this book is a very good value for the money--competently written, low on errors, and as enjoyable as technical textbooks get. If you have a test box to play around with, definitely make this a part of your curriculum. If you don't, it's still worth your dough; just don't count on it being the be all and end all of your exam course. --William Steinmetz
