Exam Ref 70-761 Querying Data with Transact-SQL

Excellent prep for the 70-761 exam, as all Ben-Gan's books have been. Passed the cert exam a couple weeks ago.The only reason for not giving it five stars is by comparison with Ben-Gan's equivalent book for SQL 2005, which is about 50% longer and goes into more fundamental detail on topics that are still relevant, such as pivoting which was introduced in that version. In general, you can't go wrong with any of Ben-Gan's books.Wish the prep book for the next exam, 70-762, were half as good, but the text is riddled with typo's and a few important omissions & errors.Wrote the above on Nov 26 2018; adding this a couple months later. A subsequent comment complains that this book is written at a Ph.D. level, which is pure nonsense. It is written for the intelligent technical reader who is willing to grapple with occasionally tricky aspects of relational database and SQL syntax. Ben-Gan is one of the best technical writers you're ever going to find.

I highly recommend this book if you are preparing for 70-761 exam.I have no idea why people are complaining about this book. Yes, it is very dry, but so querying SQL server topic is. Out of all the materials I used to get ready for the test, I found the book to be the most comprehensive source of most detailed information. Yes, he has links pointing out of the book, so what? It is a ton of material, and you can't fit everything in 1 book, unless you are are OK to have a 2000 pages book. And I found all those links (for example, a link to an 1.5 hour long video about intricacies of CROSS APPLY) very helpful.

I am so frustrated after studying this book that I felt compelled to leave a review - and I never review anything.This book is dry, all over the place, and UNNECESSIARLY WRITTEN AT THE PHD LEVEL.Why are you using PHD Level reading for a SQL book? It makes no sense. Why???Do you talk like this in your every day life?You could've made this book, and this subject, much more user friendly by teaching the concepts in plain English.Please note - I have a Masters degree, and I finished at the top of my class. Many textbooks that I was forced to drudge through during my masters program were not written as difficult as this book is.Also note - this book is heavy on computer science. If you are not a computer science major - you will be completely lost studying this book. The author describes complex computer science concepts as if you already know in depth what he's talking about.Unfortunately, he has a monopoly over the 70-761 exam, because there are literally no other books / courses that teach the full extent of the tested material.I encourage anyone that has a good understanding of T-SQL to please create teaching context in plain, easy to read English.In short, It is impressive that you are so smart Ben-Gan - but the PHD language you use to teach is completely and utterly unnecessary. Save that for the PHD literature courses.

I don't know how and why Microsoft choose their official author or even if they try to use the books they publish but this book is difficult to read beyond comprehension. The phrasing is so boring and so dense that I surprised myself sleeping in the middle of a sentence in almost each paragraph. I don't get it, really, why starting with a soporific introduction, then explaining the very basics of SELECT then introducing functions explained 3 chapters appart, then bypassing or should I say, overlooking most of the basic features after spending a tremendous amount of time on a simple SELECT and finishing the book by what should have been at the beginning. Not to mention the links to even more complex information. In no way would you be able to pass the exam by just reading this book, this is impossible unless you have several years of practice and you can code complex SQL in your sleep. Do not misunderstand my review, there is absolutely no doubt about the knowledge and the high skills of the author about T-SQL but he is not, or at least, this book, is not pedagogical. This book is not a preparation for the Microsoft exam, rather a complement of information or maybe a concentrate of knowledge, if you are looking to prepare for the certification and are rather new to T-SQL, you will need to read more and practice more than what is in this book. This book is very hard to digest, be prepared! Now, I have to find some guided exercices to practice more...

I am a database specialist and had about 7 months experience with SQL Server 2016 and about 2 to 3 years with databases in general including earlier versions of SQL Server when I passed the 70-761 exam.I am currently studying for the 70-762 and wanted to leave a review on this book as so much in it is applicable to the next test also. I did have a hard time reading and comprehending everything my first time through but I then wen through chapter by chapter, memorized and practiced key terms, syntax, and rewrote a lot of the text in my own words.I am inspired to leave this 5 star review here and now because as I study for the next exam, I find that a lot of things I learned out of this book have given me a solid foundation. I am finding the Exam Ref 70-762 a much more difficult read but that could be because the concepts are supposed to be more advanced.

Great book for anyone preparing for the Certification Exam. Also a great book for anyone with strong experience in SQL Server who would like to polish up their query-writing skills. Not a tutorial for a beginner, but a marvelous tool for an experienced developer and has high-quality sample code.

I’m a self thought DB developer and usually learn by doing. This book simply has put together almost everything that I might have known, but after reading it I got to see the big picture more clearly. I enjoyed reading it and am planning to give it a second look as I’m preparing for the exam. I think this book is best for those who have practiced SQL development, and am not sure if someone whiteout can learn as much as those who have. I also may add that the book is well structured and written. Thanks so much for writing the book, Mr. author.

Having worked for several years as a DBA I consider myself to be slightly above average with my T-SQL skills and knowledge, so thought I should go for the 70-761 exam.Well this is an eye-opener! I think I've learned something new every couple of pages.It is written in a very clear style with good explanations (although I had to read some of them a couple of times). The code is all available to download and I would recommend that you do that - it's worth taking the time to play with the code.I've met the author a couple of times and attended lectures by him - this book is in the same easy and engaging style.An essential source for this exam and T-SQL for 2016.

Compared to some earlier books, this book is very concise and clear in most places.The style is accessible without being over-wordy.The sections that were written by the 'guest' authors, such as the XML and JSON chapters were less clear than the rest of the book and took me several goes to get my head round them.Overall, this does what it says it does, can't complain. I passed the 70-761 exam first time with this book.Read it cover to cover. Make sure you understand everything in the book and you will pass.

This guide is very well written and covers all the essentials for the exam. I used it as my main preparation and passed pretty easily. Coverage of XML and JSON is pretty scanty and there's also no mention of the newer spatial types or functions anywhere in the book however, all of these areas are a subject on their own. However, as far as "bread and butter" goes this covers all the bases required for the 70-761. Highly recommended.

Although not a bad book its not a good one either, the text is small the descriptions are short if you want to learn T SQL the look elsewhere far better book is Beginning T-SQL: A Step-by-Step Approach by Kathi Kellenberger

At first it looks like there's a lot of missing information compared to the 70-461 book, but that is also the nature of the exam. The 70-761 is quite tough, and compared to the related 70-461 exam covers less material, but crucially in much greater depth. I've used the 70-461 and 70-761 books and have found the author's style excellent.