Exam Ref 70-743 Upgrading Your Skills to MCSA: Windows Server 2016 1st Edition

If you are planning to get MCSA Windows Server 2016 without previous MCSA experience, don't but this book. A lot of areas in this book assumes that you have already have good knowledge with Windows Technologies.I do recommend this book for those who will take 70-743 (Upgrading your Skills to MCSA: Windows Server 2016), topics are on point and there are PowerShell equivalents to most of the UI example mentioned in the book.

After reading through some of the content I expect it to be a good supplement to getting me prepared for the Server 2016 exam.

I see that this book is getting 2 and 3 star reviews saying that it doesn't provide enough material. It is written based off of the categories Microsoft lists as the Skills Measured for the 70-743 certification. It is not in depth but does give a pretty good overview of the topics. This makes the book great for someone who is just looking for a refresher or something to get you started on studying for this cert. If you need more than this then you probably aren't ready to jump right into taking a certification test anyways. You should find a book that much more broadly covers Server 2016 and then come back to this book. Even then, expect to spend a lot of time on the forums, TechNet, YouTube, and hopefully working in your own home lab.In summary, thank goodness there is a book like this one that will just give an overview of the topics for this cert because one that covered it in depth would be thousands of pages long!

Just took, and passed, 70-743. This book was helpful because it provides links to where more information can be found. TechNet is the ultimate source for all certification test prep... But I digress. The content of the book is limited. However, some critical concepts are covered better than others. For example, I was hit hard on IPAM and this book does not go deep enough on this topic. On the other hand, I was also hit hard on Nano Server. I felt this book adequately covered that topic. (But I still needed TechNet as well.)The reference book is just that; a guide on the topics covered in the exam and where more information can be found. However, I would love it if Microsoft published certification material and then produced certification exams based on that book. OR, if we could go to TechNet, look up a test number and read all about the topics for that exam. I don't think Microsoft is being fair on exam objectives versus viable study materials. Searching TechNet for specific test information is like finding a needle in a hay stack!

DO NOT BUY THIS BOOK!!!I recently completed my 2012 MCSA using William Panek's MCSA Windows Server 2012 R2 study guide, and was disappointed with it. It started out well, but by the 412 section, started leaving large gaps of information out. Regardless, it did provide lots of useful information and basic lab exercises.Due to my disappointment with the Panek 2012 guide, I decided to try this book out for my 2016 MCSA cert. This book is horrible. It provides many links to technet articles which you can find on your own. Information in the book is EXTREMELY sparse, with much of it basically just saying hey there is this thing out there, we wont tell you anything about it other than it exists, oh and here is a link that might explain it (you will have better luck finding your own technet links in many/most cases). Labs are almost non-existent, and those that exist are a total joke.I can say the Panek book would have been exponentially better without ever having seen it. If you need anything more than just to look at the changes between 2012 & 2016 (and it is crap for that), this book would only be good for starting fires with the paper it is made from. This book is Total garbage. It deserves a negative 5 star review. I will never again purchase another Microsoft study guide. This guide makes Panek's look like a dream come true.Side Note for anyone not aware: If you are using any study guide to pass your exam, you will probably fail (even if you can setup and configure every aspect of the environment in your sleep). They should however help you understand what you will be testing on, and get you familiar with the technology. After that, study up on the example exams (either pay for them or use one of the many free sites).

This book is an ok place to start to get an overview of the subject matter, but I don't think I could recommend it. Microsoft says that they test real world experience in these exams, but anyone who has tons of experience wouldn't need a book like this. So what's the point of publishing it?

I thought the book was very mediocre. Getting this book you have to have an understanding of some of the technologies already, but it does a horrible job of at least summarizing or giving a quick refresher for the technology being discussed. For example, IPAM - it would have been nice to give some type of explanation about it, but it just jumps in and says, "this is how you do it."Would not recommend.

I have not received this yet, pls advise